The solely positive factor on this earnings season is unpredictability. Whereas the worldwide financial system stays resilient within the face of U.S. tariffs, and U.S. gross home product grew 3% in Q2, shares took successful from a weak U.S. jobs report on Aug. 1, and a few consultants imagine a continuing drip, drip, drip of detrimental developments will trigger “death by a thousand cuts.”
Music firms’ early outcomes additionally supplied blended alerts. Spotify, the primary music firm out of the gate on July 29, posted strong year-over-year progress however upset buyers with weaker-than-expected steerage for the third quarter. Spotify shares dipped 11.6% in consequence. Two days later, Common Music Group (UMG) posted 4.5% income progress and eight.5% subscription progress. However buyers have been hesitant — was it an absence of margin enchancment or considerations about money stream? — and UMG’s share value dipped 5.2% the next day.
Associated
Under are summaries, listed in alphabetical order, of each music firm to report second quarter earnings as of Aug. 8. Billboard will replace the web page as extra outcomes are introduced. (If the abstract features a hyperlink, click on on it to get the complete story.)
- Cumulus Media. The No. 3 radio firm within the U.S. posted a 9.2% drop in income and an 11.3% decline in adjusted EBITDA. Broadcast radio income was down 13.0% and digital fell 1.4%. CEO Mary Berner referred to a “difficult” promoting surroundings for legacy media firms and famous that Cumulus created an extra $5 million in price reductions within the quarter, bringing its whole annualized price cuts to $175 million over the past 5 years.
- Deezer: Whole income was flat at 267.1 million euros ($298.1 million), and subscribers fell 7.6% to 9.2 million (subscriptions by means of B2B partnerships fell 21% to three.9 million). However the French music streamer managed its prices, leading to improved working loss and adjusted EBITDA. The corporate reiterated its perception that it’s going to end 2025 with each constructive money stream (for the second consecutive yr) and constructive adjusted EBITDA. Go here for the complete article.
- HYBE: South Korea’s HYBE stated on Aug. 6 that its second quarter income rose 10.2% year-over-year to $516.7 million, whereas working revenue jumped almost 30% to $48.3 million as a consequence of profitable world excursions and releases from a number of of its artists, together with BTS members Jin and j-hope. Recorded music income fell by almost 8.5%, however that was offset by double-digit year-over-year will increase in merchandise and touring income. The corporate stated information of BTS members finishing their army service additionally drove record-high engagement for its superfan platform Weverse. For extra, learn the full article.
- Live Nation: Consolidated income jumped 16% to $7 billion and live performance income improved 19% to $5.95 billion, proving that followers proceed to clamor for stay music regardless of no matter weirdness is occurring within the financial system. Adjusted working earnings grew 11% to $798 million. Ticketmaster income grew 2% to $742.7 million whereas sponsorship & promoting rose 9% to $340.6 million. Try the full article with earnings numbers and the follow-up with extra insights from the earnings name.
- Reservoir Media: Quarterly income rose 8% to $37.2 million within the first quarter of fiscal 2026 on sturdy recorded music and sync income. Adjusted earnings earlier than curiosity, taxes depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), a well-liked measure of profitability, was up 10% to $13.9 million. Acquisitions within the quarter, which contribute to the corporate’s income from catalogs, embrace a strategic partnership struck with Idiot’s Gold and an funding in an experiential leisure firm known as Lightroom. Go here for extra particulars.
- SiriusXM: SiriusXM reported that general income of $2.14 billion within the second quarter fell 2% from the year-ago quarter, pressured by decrease subscriber progress, a authorized settlement and better working bills. The satellite tv for pc radio large is rolling out a brand new $7 subscription choice to attempt to enhance lagging advert income and subscriber progress. SiriusXM CEO Jennifer Witz stated they’ll cautiously roll out the brand new providing, as they push different initiatives aimed toward bettering their standing amid a “difficult…advert market.” The complete story is here.
- SM Entertainment: Album gross sales and occasions income from RIIZE and NCT WISH helped SM Leisure’s consolidated income enhance 19.3% to $216.5 million. Album and digital music income jumped 37.9% to $70.8 million, and merchandise and licensing income rose 39.6% to $45.7 million. Live performance income was flat at $24.0 million. For a breakdown of subsidiary income, try the article.
- Sony Music: Led by Unhealthy Bunny’s DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, SZA’s SOS and Sleep Token’s Even in Arcadia, Sony Music’s consolidated income was up 5.3% to $3.22 billion within the first fiscal quarter ended June 30. A powerful yen made year-over-year comparisons a problem. Recorded music was up 0.7% to $2.09 billion however improved 8.4% on a greenback foundation (Sony doesn’t report leads to fixed foreign money). Music publishing income rose 2.1% as reported; on a dollar-denominated foundation, it improved 9.8%. Extra data at the full article.
- Sonos. Income of $344.8 million was down 13.2% from the prior-year interval, the corporate announced Aug. 7. Gross margin fell to 43.4% from 44.7% as CFO Saori Casey famous “a posh surroundings marked by tariffs and an unsure macroeconomic backdrop.” Go here for Billboard‘s protection of Sonos, together with its latest layoffs and the way it lower gross sales projections after a disastrous app redesign in Could 2024.
- Spotify: The streaming large loved one other quarter during which it beat its personal subscriber and month-to-month person progress targets, however a lukewarm monetary forecast from executives and decrease quarterly working earnings as a consequence of foreign money fluctuations and taxes prompted a pointy one-day selloff in its inventory. Try our article in regards to the earnings release and a follow-up story with takeaways from the corporate’s second quarter outcomes.
- Universal Music Group: Income elevated 4.5% to $3.38 billion whereas recorded music subscription income rose 8.5% to $1.36 billion (all progress figures in fixed foreign money). Elsewhere, music publishing soared 14.5% with a lift from Chord Music Companions, however each merchandising and bodily recorded music dipped. For extra, learn our earnings story and a follow-up article with takeaways from the outcomes.
- Warner Music Group: WMG reported income grew to $1.7 billion within the final quarter, due to a double-digit enhance in publishing income and robust subscription streaming returns. That helped offset the impression of shedding BMG as a distribution shopper and helped push Warner’s inventory value up by 3.5%. All the main points at the full article. Extra insights are in the follow-up article.
- YG Leisure: The Ok-pop firm behind BLACKPINK improved its Q2 income 11.6% to 100.4 billion KRW ($72.2 million). Working earnings improved to eight.4 billion KRW ($6 million) from an 11 billion KRW ($7.9 million) working loss within the prior-year interval.
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