Queen Bey once again proved her unwavering appeal and popularity after Sony Music Entertainment posted a whopping 23% increase in revenue to $2.7 billion in its first fiscal quarter, largely thanks to the release of hit albums, including Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter.”
On Wednesday, Billboard cited official figures released by Sony and reported that the music company achieved revenue growth in the period ending June 30, despite declining physical music sales, thanks to a significant increase in streaming of releases by artists like Beyoncé.
Recorded music revenue reportedly increased 26% to $1.8 billion. This growth was largely driven by a 19% increase in ad-supported streaming and subscription services, which brought in $1.2 billion, or about 66% of total recorded music revenue.
Notably, physical music revenue fell 5.6% to $150 million, reflecting the industry’s broader digital consumption trend. However, other revenue streams, including merchandise, live performances, and licensing from syncs, public performances, and broadcasts, rose 81% to $453 million.
Billboard pointed out that the main factors contributing to Sony’s success this quarter were Beyoncé’s album “Cowboy Carter”, along with Future and Metro Boomin’s releases “We Don’t Trust You” and “We Still Don’t Trust You”, which dominated the Billboard 200 chart.
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“Cowboy Carter” made a huge splash and broke multiple records upon its release on March 29, debuting with 407,000 equivalent album units and marking Beyoncé’s biggest sales week since 2016’s “Lemonade,” which sold 653,000 units, according to Variety.
Of the 407,000 units, 232,000 were attributed to streaming-equivalent albums, or 300.41 million official streams, the outlet said. At least 168,000 of those units were traditional album sales, while 7,000 were song-equivalent albums. All of that helped Beyoncé earn her eighth No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
Other top-selling albums for Sony during this period included Travis Scott’s “UTOPIA”, SZA’s “SOS”, Luke Combs’ “Gettin’ Old”, 21 Savage’s “american dream” and Doja Cat’s “Scarlet”.
Sony’s music publishing revenue also saw strong growth, up 28.7% to $602 million. Streaming in the division saw a 36% increase to $351 million, while revenue from other publishing activities increased 19.7% to $249 million. As of March 31, Sony’s publishing division owned or managed about 6.24 million songs, marking a 14% increase over the past two years.
Unfortunately, not all divisions saw growth during the period. Sony’s Visual Media and Platforms division, which includes mobile games and software for PCs and consoles, saw revenue fall 7.1% to $246 million. Still, the overall financial outlook remains positive.
Sony Music Entertainment has revised its forecast for the full fiscal year, raising its revenue expectations by 3% to $11.5 billion. The company also expects operating income to rise 5% from its previous forecast, indicating confidence in continued growth.
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