State Champ Radio earnings
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Apple says it now has more than 1 billion paid subscribers to its various services, as that line of its business has hit an all-time high.
The company revealed the number in its quarterly earnings report, disclosing total revenue of 81.8 billion, a decline of 1 percent from a year ago. This is the third consecutive quarter to see a decline in revenue from Apple, thanks to slower sales of its hardware devices, like the iPhone and Mac lines. Net income was $19.9 billion.
However, its services business continues to grow at a rapid pace, hitting $21.2 billion in the quarter, up from 19.6 billion last year. Apple services include Apple TV+, Apple Music, Apple Arcade, Apple News, and iCloud+. It also includes subscriptions through apps on the app store. The company did not break out how many subscribers used which service, beyond the topline 1 billion figure.
On the company’s earnings call, however, CEO Tim Cook said that Apple TV+ had hit a revenue record and touted the addition of soccer superstar Lionel Messi to Major League Soccer’s Inter Miami. Apple has the global exclusive rights to MLS.
“We are focused on original content and so we are all about giving great storytellers the venue to tell great stories and hopefully get us all to think a little deeper,” Cook added. “And sport is a part of that because sport is the ultimate original story.”
One thing that did not come on the call was the ongoing WGA and SAG strikes. of course, for Apple, its content business is a tiny piece of the overall pie. Apple’s total profits last quarter were nearly double Warner Bros. Discovery’s total revenue in the quarter, with WBD noting that it is firmly in the content business.
“We are happy to report that we had an all-time revenue record in Services during the June quarter, driven by over 1 billion paid subscriptions, and we saw continued strength in emerging markets thanks to robust sales of iPhone,” said Cook in a statement. “From education to the environment, we are continuing to advance our values, while championing innovation that enriches the lives of our customers and leaves the world better than we found it.”
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.
Continued growth in music subscriptions and new Copyright Royalty Board mechanical royalty rates helped Reservoir Media improve revenue 31% to $31.8 million in the fiscal first quarter ended June 30, the company announced Wednesday. About two-thirds of the improvement came from organic revenue growth while the remainder stemmed from the acquisitions of music catalogs of The Spinners and Greg Kihn, among others.
Digital revenue improved 34% to $17.5 million due to “increasing demand trends for streaming music globally, something we saw evidence of in Spotify’s higher-than-expected subscriber numbers reported last week,” said CEO Golnar Khosrowshahi during the earnings call. Spotify’s premium subscribers rose 17% to 220 million in the second quarter, beating company expectations of 217 million subscribers. Monthly active users, which includes subscribers and listeners to the ad-supported service, climbed 27% to 551 million, easily topping the company’s 530-million target.
Those gains helped Reservoir’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to climb 36% to $10.1 million and outpaced the 20% increase in administration costs in the quarter. CFO Jim Heindlmeyer expects operating leverage — the ability to increase earnings by increasing revenue — to improve in the coming quarters. “Looking ahead, we expect revenue to outpace operating costs as this has generally been the case during our time as a public traded company,” he said.
Reservoir sounded upbeat about Spotify’s decision last week to raise the monthly price of its individual plan in the U.S. and other markets. Spotify’s increase, like the similar increases by Apple Music in 2022 and Amazon Music earlier this year, “will impact our revenues on a pretty linear basis,” said Heindlmeyer. “In other words, a 10% price increase at a streaming service will flow through to us at around a 10% increase to our pool of money.”
Last quarter’s music publishing revenue of $20.8 million was up 26% from the prior-year period and accounted for 65% of total revenue, down from 67% in the prior-year period. New mechanical royalty rates from streaming services established by the CRB for 2023 to 2027 represented “a meaningful increase” and allowed Reservoir “to recognize higher revenue associated with mechanical royalties from digital sources,” said Khosrowshahi. Publishing’s digital revenue grew 41% to $11.9 million and performance revenue improved 28% to $4.5 million. Synch revenue declined 8%, from $3.3 million to $3 million.
Recorded music revenue grew 37% to $10.4 million and accounted for 33% of total revenue, up from 31% in the prior-year period. The segment’s physical revenue grew 176% to $3.6 million. Digital and neighboring rights revenues, which combined to account for about 12% of recorded music revenues, improved 23% and 25%, respectively.
The decline in synchronization revenues — down 8% in publishing and down 68% in recorded music from the prior-year period — were the results of a timing issue, not the strike by actor’s and writer’s unions that has stopped productions of many television shows and motion pictures. Khosrowshahi said the advertising placement and movie trailer businesses are both “strong” but could have varied impacts based on when the strike ends.
Reservoir maintained its earlier fiscal 2024 guidance for both revenue ($127 million to $132 million) and adjusted EBITDA ($49 million to $52 million). “We remain confident about the growth trajectory of the global music industry and how Reservoir is positioned to capitalize on it,” said Khosrowshahi.
Earnings highlights:
Total revenue increased 31% to $31.8 million. Adjusted EBITDA rose 36% to $10.1 million.
Publishing revenue increased 26% to $20.8 million. Publishing’s digital revenue rose 41% to $11.9 million. Performance revenue jumped 28% to $4.5 million.
Recorded music revenue grew 23% to $5.6 million. Physical revenue jumped 176% to $3.6 million. Digital revenue improved 23% to $5.6 million.
Guidance for fiscal 2024 (the year ending March 31, 2024) remained at $127 million to $132 million, representing 6% growth at the midpoint. Adjusted EBITDA guidance remained at $49 million to $52 million, representing 9% growth at the midpoint.
Live Nation Entertainment continued to profit from the red-hot live music market in the second quarter, beating earnings expectations with $5.6 billion in revenue — up 27.1% year over year and coming in a whopping $680 million over expectations. The company generated earnings per share of $1.02, which was $.40 higher than expected.
The financial results, which marked Live Nation’s strongest second quarter ever, also saw the company’s operating income rise 21% year over year to $386 million this quarter, while adjusted operating income was up 23% to $590 million and operating cash flow came in at $491 million, a 41% increase. The earnings report continues an upward trend at the company, indicating that 2023 will again set a revenue record for the concert promotion giant.
“We believe this is a time on a global basis when live will see incredible growth for years to come,” Live Nation chief executive Michael Rapino said on an earnings call after the company’s financial results were released Thursday (July 27).
The report noted that a record number of fans have attended Live Nation concerts this year, with 117 million tickets sold year-to-date for Live Nation shows — an increase of 20% year-over-year. Ticketmaster clients reported sales of 151 million fee-bearing tickets sold so far this year, with Ticketmaster on track to sell 300 million fee-bearing tickets in 2023. The company also reported a double-digit increase in sponsorship revenue and $4.3 billion in event-related deferred revenue, up 37% over last year, while double-digit attendance growth is expected next quarter.
In terms of venue size, stadiums saw the most growth, with attendance up 28% to 8.0 million fans, led by Europe and Asia Pacific. Arenas saw the second-highest growth rate, up 19% to 10.7 million fans, largely from Canada, Asia Pacific and Latin America. Finally, festivals grew 14% to 4.5 million fans, driven by global demand across all markets.
Capital expenditures at Live Nation totaled $158 million year-to-date, driven by investments in on-site venue enhancement and the expansion of the company’s venue portfolio. The 2023 capital expenditures forecast remains at $450 million, two-thirds of which is allocated for revenue-generating projects.
Despite the rosy earnings report, shares were slightly down Thursday after close to $96.93, marking a drop of less than 1%.
Below is a summary of 2023 Q2 results:
Total revenue: $5.6 billion, up 27% from 2022 Q2
Adjusted operating income: $168.1 million, up 37% from 2022 Q2
Concert revenue: $4.6 billion, up 29% from 2022 Q2
Ticketing revenue: $709.3 million, up 23% from 2022 Q2
Sponsorship and advertising: $302.9 million, up 15% from 2022 Q2
North American concerts: 8,111, up .67% from 2022 Q2
International concerts: 4,130, down 8% from 2022 Q2
North American fans: 18.5 million, up 6% from 2022 Q2
International fans: 18.6 million, up 13% from 2022 Q2
Fee-bearing tickets: 78.9 million, up 10% from 2022 Q2
Universal Music Group (UMG) is starting to see the fruit of higher prices and new deals with streaming platforms. The company’s recorded music division saw its subscription revenue climb 10.6% year-over-year (up 13% at constant currency) due in part to price increases at “certain platforms,” the company said in its second quarter earnings release on […]
Merck Mercuriadis‘ publicly-traded Hipgnosis Songs Fund Ltd reported a gross revenue decline for its fiscal year ended in March due to one-time charges and a tough year-ago comparison, but said adjusted revenues in 2022 grew on strong growth in streaming revenues and the return of live performances.
Gross revenues for Hipgnosis Songs Fund declined by 11.5% to $177.3 million for the year ending March 2023 compared to the year-ago period, mainly due to two large, non-recurring adjustments related to usage accrual and other factors. Net revenues also declined to $147.2 million from $168.3 million a year ago.
Stripping out those one-time items and taking into consideration a $16.1 million benefit Hipgnosis expects to gain from the CRB III retroactive accrual, the fund’s underlying revenues rose $12.9 million, chief financial officer Chris Helms said during an investor presentation discussing the results.
The fund’s pro-forma annual revenue (PFAR), which reflects revenue earned from royalty statements and strips out impacts from new catalog acquisitions and one-time items — the metric executives say best reflects the fund’s revenue performance — rose by 12.1% to $130.2 million for the year ending December 2022, rising strongly for catalogs aged younger and older than 10 years.
Overall, streaming income rose 14.8% to generate $52.1 million for the fund, while syncronization income rose 24.7% to make up $19.4 million and performance income rose 9% to $30.8 million, all compared to the year ago period. Mechanical income edged 2% lower to 4.9 million, while digital downloads made up $2.5 million and other publishing income comprised $3.9 million of revenues.
The fair value of the fund’s portfolio rose 4% to $2.8 billion, and the operative net asset value broken down by share price rose 3.6% to $1.9153, driven by revenue exceeding the fund’s independent valuer’s forecast.
Nonetheless, Hipgnosis Songs Fund’s operative EPS for the period is negative 7.41 cents, and adjusted earnings per share is 4.12 cents, down nearly 43% compared to the year leading up to March 2022.
Mercuriadis said this was the company’s “best revenue performance since coming to market in 2018,” reflecting the fund’s high-quality catalog and active song management.
“The songs in our portfolio we’ve bought carefully and we’ve bought well,” Mercuriadis said during the investor presentation. “We have a relatively small portfolio with a very high rate of success. We optimize revenues and collect them as efficiently and cost-effectively as we can.”
Mercuriadis pointed to major synch wins Hipgnosis had from four songs Rihanna sang during the SuperBowl Halftime Show, including “Birthday Cake,” “All of the Lights,” and “Umbrella,” which Hipgnosis from its acquisition of rights held by The-Dream, J eff Bhasker and Tricky Stewart. Other major placements included some on The Masked Singer, where Bon Jovi’s Richie Sambora performed Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way” and “Brass In Pocket” by The Pretenders.
Billboard and The Financial Times reported on Wednesday that Hipgnosis has selectively shopped around a portfolio of non-core assets, possibly with the aim of raising money to buy back shares and shore up the fund’s stock price.
Mercuriadis declined to comment on whether a portfolio was being shopped or what assets it could contain, saying the fund is exploring its options with shareholders and the board.
The fund’s adjusted operating costs were 21.2% lower for the period to $29.5 million, due to lower advisory fees “as a function of the company’s lower share price during the year,” reduced administration, legal and professional fees, and lower aborted deal costs, the CFO Helms said.
The company also recognized a $43.8 million catalog performance provision or bonus relating to 6 catalogs. The provision will be paid out contingent on performance hurdles being met by the catalogs, Helms said, declining to detail the targets, which were detailed in the acquisition agreements.
Here are the key points from HSF’s disclosure:
Gross revenues declined by 11.5% to 177.3 million for the year ending March 2023 compared to 2022, due to two large, one-off adjustments. Stripping out those two non-recurring costs, underlying revenues rose by 10.9%.
PFAR rose 12.1% to $130.2 million.
Hipgnosis operative net asset value per share rose 3.6% $1.9153
Syncronization revenues rose 24.7% to 19.4 million.
Streaming revenues rose 14.8% to 52.1 million
Performance income increased by 9% to 30.8 million
Reservoir Media on Wednesday reported that revenues grew by 13% during its most recent fiscal year, as investments in record labels and artists rights in the Middle East added to its growth from acquiring works by North American artists like Louis Prima and Dion.
Reservoir reported $122.3 million in revenue for their fiscal year 2023 ending March 31, driven by a 9% increase in music publishing revenue and an 18% increase in recorded music revenue, both helped by the digital release of De La Soul‘s first six studio albums in early March. The legendary rap trio’s catalog netted 12.5 million U.S. song streams and sold 28,000 albums in its first week streaming, according to Luminate.
Founded in 2007, Reservoir said it grew by 8% organically and finished at the top-end of its financial targets in fiscal 2023 despite a 1%-decline in fourth quarter revenue driven by lower performance, sync and other revenues in its music publishing division, which suffered from a tough comparison to a strong year-ago quarter.
Fourth quarter music publishing revenue of $23.2 million was off 8% from the year-ago quarter when Reservoir benefitted from a one-off event in Dubai. Recorded music revenue in the quarter rose 10% to $10.8 million, in part due to the outsized performance of De la Soul’s catalog.
Reservoir has made investing in emerging markets a key prong of its growth and diversification strategy, and on a call with analysts, Reservoir CEO Golnar Khosrowshahi referred to it as “highly important to our overall strategy … as we work to become the largest holder of Arabic music copyrights.”
With its partner PopArabia, an independent music company headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, Reservoir has acquired stakes in the Egyptian label 100COPIES, the Lebanese label and music publisher Voice of Beirut and signed publishing deals with Egypt’s Mohamed Ramadan, Lebanon’s Zeid Hamdan and Moroccan hip-hop star 7liwa. In January, Reservoir announced signed publishing deals for the catalogs and future works of Indian rappers MC Altaf and D’Evil and the producer Stunnah Beatz.
Funds like Reservoir also grow inorganically through acquisitions of song catalogs, and over its past fiscal year it acquired rights by “the Saxophone Colossus” Sonny Rollins and Dion, best known for “Runaround Sue” and “The Wanderer.”
Reservoir’s chief financial officer Jim Heindlmeyer told analysts that the company expects 6% revenue growth f 9% growth for adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization for this fiscal year, compared to midpoint of its 2023 guidance ranges.
“Our outlook includes strong top-line growth expectations and margin expansion across our business segments as we continue to see a positive impact on profitability from our strategic acquisitions and benefit from secular tailwinds across the music industry,” Heindlemeyer said.
Warner Music Group’s share price fell nearly 10% on Tuesday (May 9) following the release of the company’s second quarter earnings report, which showed that revenue from the recorded music division was effectively flat over last year ($1.143 billion vs. $1.147 billion in the year-ago quarter).
On Tuesday, Warner’s stock fell from $28.50 at the start of the day to $25.76 at the market’s close — a 9.58% drop.
This marks the second straight quarter of disappointing results in recorded music for Warner, the world’s third-largest label. Last quarter, revenue in the division fell 10.6%, or 5.6% in constant currency, on lower digital, physical and artist services and expanded rights revenue.
In the current quarter, streaming revenue was down 0.4% (or, in constant currency 2.2% higher) on fewer releases and a slowdown in ad-supported revenue due to macroeconomic uncertainty. By contrast, music publishing revenue grew 12% to $257 million, up from $230 million a year ago.
“While our publishing was best in class, we underperformed in recorded music,” said CEO Robert Kyncl on an earnings call Tuesday.
In attempts to bolster confidence, WMG executives on the call stressed that the company is already seeing improvement with the late-April releases of Jack Harlow’s Jackman., Tïesto’s Drive and Ed Sheeran’s Subtract, which was released earlier this month. CFO Eric Levin noted that the label’s release slate “was a little lighter in the first two quarters of the year and will be weighted to (the third quarter) and (the fourth quarter),” with upcoming releases expected from Dua Lipa‘s Barbie soundtrack, among others.
“We absolutely expect this to improve our results in recorded music streaming in the second half of the year,” Levin added.
Nonetheless, investors appear to be growing skittish over the lackluster performance. Tuesday’s closing price marked a sharp drop of nearly 20% of Warner’s stock over the past month, with the share price falling from $32.12 on April 10.
Warner Music Group reported quarterly revenues grew 1.7% to $1.399 billion (4.6% in constant currency) as strong revenues from its music publishing revenue helped offset a slow quarter for recorded music releases.
WMG, the music industry’s third largest major label, reported revenue from its recorded music revenue was effectively flat at $1.143 billion for the second fiscal quarter ending March 31, compared to $1.147 billion in the year ago quarter. (In constant currency, recorded music revenue rose 2.5%.) Streaming revenue in the quarter was down 0.4% (or, in constant currency 2.2% higher) on fewer releases and a slowdown in ad-supported revenue due to macroeconomic uncertainty.
In contrast, music publishing revenue rose 12% to $257 million from $230 million a year ago.
“While our publishing was best in class, we underperformed in recorded music,” Robert Kyncl, chief executive officer, said on a conference call.
WMG executives have said throughout this fiscal year that the label’s major releases of the year would come in the second half, and on the call, they stressed they are already seeing improvement with the late-April releases of Jack Harlow’s Jackman., Tïesto’s Drive and Ed Sheeran’s Subtract, released in early May.
“Our release slate was a little lighter in the first two quarters of the year and will be weighted to (the third quarter) and (the fourth quarter),” Warner chief financial officer Eric Levin said, flagging releases expected from Dua Lipa with her Barbie soundtrack track, among others.
“We absolutely expect this to improve our results in recorded music streaming in the second half of the year.”
Key Points From WMG’s Q2:
WMG’s revenues grew 1.7% (or 4.6% in constant currency, a measure that standardizes foreign exchange fluctuations) to $1.399 billion
Digital revenue increased 1.2% (or 3.7% in constant currency) to
Streaming revenue increased 1.9% (or 4.5% in constant currency) on growth in music publishing streaming
Music publishing revenue increased 12%, or 14.2% in constant currency
Music publishing streaming revenue grew 16.4% (18.3% in constant currency)
Recorded music streaming revenue decreased 0.4% (an increase of 2.2% in constant currency) on a lighter release schedule, foreign exchange currency fluctuations and slowdown in ad-supported revenue.
Net income was $37 million this quarter, down 60% from $92 million one year ago, primarily driven by the negative impact of currency fluctuations on the company’s Euro-denominated debt. Adjusted net income up 5% to $116 million from $111 million a year ago.
Operating income was $124 million, down 25% from $166 million a year ago, with adjusted operating income up 10% to $203 million from $185 million.
Adjusted net income of $116 million was up 5% from $111 million in the year ago quarter.
After teeing up Wall Street for a difficult fiscal second quarter, the tech giant Apple beat analyst expectations for the quarter, delivering revenue of $94.8 billion (expectations were for $92.9 billion), down 3 percent year over year, and earnings per share of $1.52, flat compared to last year (expectations were for an EPS of $1.43).
Apple’s services segment, which includes Apple TV+, Apple Music, Apple Arcade and other offerings, continues to grow at a rapid clip, reporting revenue of $20.9 billion, a new record.
The company reported net income of $24.16 billion, down from $25 billion a year ago.
“We are pleased to report an all-time record in Services and a March quarter record for iPhone despite the challenging macroeconomic environment, and to have our installed base of active devices reach an all-time high,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook. “We continue to invest for the long term and lead with our values, including making major progress toward building carbon neutral products and supply chains by 2030.”
Apple also increased its dividend and announced an additional $90 billion in share repurchases.
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.
LONDON — French music company Believe’s recent investments in Europe, Asia Pacific and Africa helped boost digital sales across its key markets and drive overall revenues up 22% from January through March, despite a slowdown in ad-funded streaming revenue.
The company reported Thursday (April 27) that revenues grew 22.2% to 198.6 million euros ($218.9 million) compared to the prior year’s quarter. The Paris-headquartered company’s premium solutions business — which includes label services, marketing, distribution, promotions and sync — rose 23% year-on-year to 186 million euros ($205 million), while its automated solutions, which includes the TuneCore distribution platform, increased 11.2% to 12.7 million euros ($14 million).
Digital revenue also grew by 22.2% during the quarter, with non-digital sales up 21.8%. Believe didn’t provide financial figures for either market segment, nor an indication of overall net profit or loss for the quarter. The company’s shares, traded on France’s Euronext, fell 2.41% on Thursday to close at 9.70 euros ($10.70).
The company said ad-funded streaming revenue slowed to single digit growth at the start of the year — in line with the challenging global advertising market — but didn’t report financial values or the percentage increase.
Non-digital revenue benefitted from merchandising, branding and live activities in France and India, as well as a film project in Turkey, which Believe said collectively offset the fall in physical sales, most notably in Germany.
Growth of Believe’s core digital business, which focuses on markets and music genres where artist promotion and marketing are predominantly online, was driven by the global rise in paid music steaming and the company’s expanding international portfolio of artists and labels, CEO and founder Denis Ladegaillerie said during Thursday’s earnings call.
Recent investments include partnerships with Filipino label Viva Music and Artists Group (VMAG), India-based imprints Think Music and Panorama Music, French pop label Structure and Germany-based Madizin Music. Last month, Believe acquired U.K.-based publisher Sentric from Switzerland-based Utopia Music in a €47 million ($51 million) deal that marks the French company’s first major entry into the publishing industry. (Sentric is expected to add about 3% to annual revenue growth, the company said Thursday.)
Notable Believe artist signings cited include Thai acts TimeThai and Reinizra, Belgian rapper Hamza and a new multi-album deal with French hip-hop star Jul.
Globally, revenue from Asia Pacific and Africa, which Believe groups together in its earnings report, grew 40% year-on-year to 56.1 million euros ($61.8 million), representing 28.2% of the company’s earnings, compared to 24.7% in the first quarter of 2022.
Within the Asia Pacific and Africa region, Believe said it recorded strong growth in India, Greater China and Southeast Asia, driven by its growing roster of local artists and labels, sustained investment in on-the-ground teams and the rollout of its full label and artist solutions offer in most markets.
Europe, excluding France and Germany, recorded a revenue increase of 21.1% to 54.4 million euros ($60 million), representing around 27% of total revenue.
Believe’s operations in the Americas rose 25.2% to 29.4 million euros ($32.4 million), representing 14.8% of all income, with the company saying that it had a particularly strong sales quarter in Latin America, most notably in Brazil.
The company’s two strongest individual markets, France and Germany, also grew by 13.2% to 32.1 million euros ($35.4 million) and 3.7% to 26.6 million euros ($29.3 million), respectively. France generates 16.2% of the company’s total revenue, while Believe said its performance in Germany was impacted by a “strong decline in physical sales linked to the lowered exposure to physical sales-heavy contracts.”
Over the past 12 months, Believe has made significant moves into the dance music sector with the launch of global label solutions brand b:electronic, which has signed deals with electronic music imprints Hospital Records and Rinse in the U.K.; Big Top Amsterdam, Blackout Music and Mixmash in the Netherlands; and Cercle and Roche Musique in France.
On Wednesday, the company announced that its TuneCore distribution platform had teamed up with Beatport, enabling TuneCore artists to distribute their songs on the world’s largest electronic music platform for working DJs.
“This great start to the year, marked by strong operational milestones and solid organic performance, shows that we are well on track to deliver another year of profitable growth,” Ladegaillerie says in a statement. Believe’s increasing global reach combined with a “successful investment strategy” was enabling “artists and labels to thrive in the digital ecosystem,” he says.
Ladegaillerie says the company is looking to make further acquisitions in the year ahead. Believe, which operates in more than 50 countries and has over 1,600 employees worldwide, says it expects to generate positive free cash flow for the full year and expects to record organic revenue growth of around 18% in 2023. The company says it will “monitor its investment pace and focus on improving efficiency” to reach an adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest and taxes, depreciation and amortization) margin of 5% for fiscal year 2023.
