Major labels complain they are struggling financially but Warner Music Group just reported their Q4 and full year earnings ending on Sept. 30, 2015 and things appear to be doing well. The company's overall revenue grew 6.2 percent in constant currency for the full year buoyed by their digital division, which grew 10 percent on constant currency. Some of the artists who sold the best include the Furious 7 soundtrack and Ed Sheeran.
The third largest major showed even more impressive growth to cap off the fourth quarter with total revenue rising 7.3 percent in constant currency for the quarter, with digital revenue spurring that number, showing growth of a whopping 19.8 percent at $1.24 billion.
Current growth shows just how influential digital revenue is to the financial well-being of Warner. Digital revenue accounted for 48.5 percent of the label's global recorded music revenue. This holds true even more in the United States, where 58.8 percent of revenue comes from digital sources.
Some of the major sellers that Warner points to include Ed Sheeran, who sold a ton of records with his album x and the subsequent singles, but also had his music streamed over a billion times on Spotify and hundreds of millions more on YouTube and others sources. The labels reap the rewards of those streams, taking in over 70 percent. Also cited were Iron Maiden, Meek Mill, David Geutta and the Furious 7 soundtrack.
"We had an excellent year," said Stephen Cooper, Warner Music Group's CEO in a statement. "We've topped the charts with break-out talent, legendary songwriters and global superstars. As the first music major to report streaming revenue exceeding download revenue, we've continued to lead the digital transformation, helping us to achieve four consecutive years of revenue growth in our combined recorded music digital and physical business. We've outperformed the industry and we are well positioned to build on our success this coming year and beyond."
Looking at the numbers, constant currency removes the fluctuations in currency that can occur in foreign markets and cause distortions in the numbers. Without adjusting for that factor, revenue was down 2 percent for the year.
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