Sony Music Entertainment has reported its financial results for the three months to December 31, 2022 (the company’s fiscal third quarter).
Recorded music revenue at the major in calendar Q4 surged by 30.1% year-on-year to 239 billion yen (£1.5bn).
The growth for Sony Music was powered by streaming revenue, which was up 33.2% year-on-year in Q3.
However, the results were affected by currency fluctations, including a rise in the dollar versus the yen. Parent company Sony Corp noted that while its total revenues were up 13% in local currency, on a constant currency basis the company would have recorded a 2% drop in sales.
Physical music revenue was down 6% in the quarter. In the UK market, Music Week reported on the CD slump during the busy gifting period.
Sony Music ranked its best-selling music projects in Q3 based on revenue globally. Harry Styles’ Harry’s House was at No.1, followed by Beyonce’s Renaissance and Sza’s SOS. Harry Styles’ Fine Line was the seventh biggest of the quarter.
The power of catalogue was also evident in the fifth place overall in Q3 for Michael Jackson’s Thriller, which was reissued in a 40th anniversary edition in November 2022.
Sony Music Publishing revenue also had a significant increase. Sony Corp reported that music publishing revenue was up 42.9% year-on-year in Q3.
Affiliated Sony Music Publishing songwriters participated in all of the Top 5 most streamed albums on Spotify during 2022.
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