Queen Bey has once again proven her unwavering popularity and influence after Sony Music Entertainment announced a remarkable 23% increase in revenue to $2.7 billion for its fiscal first quarter, driven primarily by high-profile album releases, including Beyoncé's "Cowboy Carter."
On Wednesday, Billboard, citing official figures disclosed by Sony, reported that the music company pulled off its revenue increase in the period, ending June 30, despite declining physical music sales, thanks to a significant surge in streaming of releases made by artists such as Beyoncé.
The recorded music division reportedly saw a 26% jump in revenue, amounting to $1.8 billion. This growth was largely fueled by a 19% increase in subscription and ad-supported streaming, which brought in $1.2 billion, accounting for about 66% of the recorded segment's total revenue.
Notably, physical music revenue dipped by 5.6% to $150 million, reflecting a broader industry trend toward digital consumption. However, other revenue streams, including merchandise, live performances and licensing from synch, public performance and broadcast, saw an 81% increase to $453 million.
Billboard pointed out that the key contributors to Sony's success this quarter were Beyoncé's album "Cowboy Carter," which, alongside Future and Metro Boomin's releases "We Don't Trust You" and "We Still Don't Trust You," dominated the Billboard 200 chart.
"Cowboy Carter" made a lot of buzz and broke 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 grossed 653,000 units, according to Variety.
The outlet said that of the 407,000 units, 232,000 were attributed to streaming equivalent albums or 300.41 million official streams. At least 168,000 accounted for traditional album sales, while 7,000 accounted for track equivalent albums. All these helped Beyoncé snag her eighth No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.
Other major sellers from Sony during the 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 showed strong growth, rising 28.7% to $602 million. Streaming within this division saw a 36% increase, reaching $351 million, while revenue from other publishing activities climbed 19.7% to $249 million. As of March 31, Sony's publishing arm either owned or managed approximately 6.24 million songs, marking a 14% growth over the past two years.
Unfortunately, not all divisions experienced growth during the period. Sony's visual media and platform segment, which includes mobile gaming and software for PCs and consoles, saw a revenue decline of 7.1% to $246 million. Despite this, the overall financial outlook remains positive.
Sony Music Entertainment has adjusted its forecast for the full fiscal year, raising revenue expectations by 3% to $11.5 billion. The company also projects a 5% increase in operating income from its previous forecast, indicating confidence in continued growth.
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