Sony Music Entertainment has reported its fiscal Q3 financial results covering the three months to December 31, 2023, as part of parent company Sony Corp’s overall figures.
For the calendar Q4 period, the major’s overall music segment revenue increased by 16% year-on-year to 422.1 billion yen (£2.23 billion) thanks to growth in subscription streaming income for recorded music and publishing, as well higher merchandise sales and licensing for recorded music. The music segment includes the category visual media & platform, which covers areas such as mobile games.
Once the benefit of currency fluctuations are factored in, the constant currency growth rate for the Sony music segment year-on-year was around 12%.
Based on Sony Corp’s financial statements for the fiscal Q3 period (which do not recalculate for constant currency), recorded music revenue increased by 19.9% year-on-year. Within that total, streaming revenue registered growth of 17.2% while physical music sales edged up by 1.6%.
SZA’s SOS was the biggest-selling recorded music project during the quarter, a result she also achieved in the company’s fiscal Q1 last year. SOS was followed by Travis Scott’s Utopia, Rod Wave’s Nostalgia, Doja Cat’s Scarlet and Blink-182’s One More Time.
Looking ahead for the next six months, Sony Music identified key new releases by Calvin Harris, Central Cee, Farruko, Future, Ozuna and Tyla.
Music publishing revenue increased by 16.1% year-on-year in the quarter. Sony’s music publishing catalogue (owned and administered) now totals 5.76 million songs.
The outlook for Sony Music’s full financial year (to the end of March 2024) has improved by 1% with the expectation of total revenue for the music segment of 1.57 trillion yen (£8.3bn), representing a 13.7% year-on-year increase.
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