UMG's Recorded Music results in Q4 was definitely superior to WMG, which experienced a revenue decline over the same period. Having Taylor Swift, Drake, The Weeknd and BTS definitely helped, as did Tay Tay selling 1mn+ units of her Midnights in vinyl format. Enjoyed reading your write-up. I am a music fan myself, and even read Don Passman's book last year
Thanks for the comment! Passman's book is great and one of the first I read to better understand the industry. I agree that UMG's growth was superior to WMG in 1Q. I still think that the "why now" for these moves is related to the rate of change in streaming growth. UMG grew (constant currency) company revenue high teens last year with streaming growing ~20%. That trajectory looks to be decelerating quite meaningfully and is worth keeping an eye on!
UMG's Recorded Music results in Q4 was definitely superior to WMG, which experienced a revenue decline over the same period. Having Taylor Swift, Drake, The Weeknd and BTS definitely helped, as did Tay Tay selling 1mn+ units of her Midnights in vinyl format. Enjoyed reading your write-up. I am a music fan myself, and even read Don Passman's book last year
Thanks for the comment! Passman's book is great and one of the first I read to better understand the industry. I agree that UMG's growth was superior to WMG in 1Q. I still think that the "why now" for these moves is related to the rate of change in streaming growth. UMG grew (constant currency) company revenue high teens last year with streaming growing ~20%. That trajectory looks to be decelerating quite meaningfully and is worth keeping an eye on!