The broader economy’s struggles with increasing prices, worsening consumer sentiment and fears of an AI bubble are not far from music industry executives’ minds this quarterly earnings season. Music companies have been cutting expenses, building up their available cash and prioritizing the music fans and audio entertainment subscribers who deliver the most to their bottom line.
Spotify — the biggest publicly traded music company, with a $122 billion market cap — showed it has not suffered any loss of subscriber growth momentum, even amid global price increases. But to keep growing, executives said they will continue to enhance the platform’s premium tier with add-on subscription offerings like audiobook subscriptions and new features like Reserved, while also adding value to the free tier.
Also on the streaming front, Deezer continued letting low-margin legacy partnership deals roll off in the third quarter in favor of higher-value direct relationships with subscribers. That focus, along with attention to costs, has the company looking ahead to a third profitable year.
SiriusXM focused on stabilizing self-pay subscriptions (+5,000 net adds) and driving down churn to 1.5%, while Universal Music Group (UMG) honed in on integrating Downtown Music Group and reviving its subscription and streaming revenue. UMG’s efforts paid off, as the company reported that revenue from subscriptions and streaming grew by 8.4% on an organic basis and 17.9% when including Downtown’s contribution.
In the live sector, Madison Square Garden Entertainment (MSGE) reported that demand for concerts and other live entertainment offerings remains so high that most events across its venues were sold out in the first quarter, leading the CEO to describe Harry Styles‘ record-setting sold-out residency as “an additional positive” for the company’s financial results.
The first K-pop company to report earnings, HYBE, said BTS‘ ongoing world tour helped it generate $1.135 billion last quarter, or 1.5257 trillion Korean won — the company’s biggest financial quarter in its history.
Deezer and SiriusXM raised their full-year profitability guidance, while Spotify delivered record gross margins (33%) and free cash flow generation. MSGE forecast further growth in the number of events and concerts held at its venues, especially Madison Square Garden, including in residencies.
Nonetheless, all of these companies are keeping a watchful eye on operating expenses. SiriusXM slashed market spend to make up for revenue stagnation, and UMG recently rolled out another raft of layoffs related to a previously announced cost-cutting plan meant to deliver 250 million euros ($271 million) in annual savings by the end of 2026.
In the coming days and weeks, Sony Group, Sphere Entertainment Company, Warner Music Group and others will report their last quarter financial results.
Here is a roundup of the key takeaways from companies’ earnings so far. We will update this list as more results are reported.
