Sony Music Ends Q2 With Notable Growth

Sony Music joined its contemporaries in sharing its latest financial results this week for Q2 2023 (fiscal Q1), notching a revenue increase of 16% year-over-year, amounting to 358.2 billion yen or around $2.64 billion.

How's it looking? Major factors in that growth were paid subscriptions at streaming services as well as the impact of foreign exchange rates. Recorded music took in 237.8 billion yen ($1.65 billion) this quarter, streaming revenue increased 19% to 165 billion yen ($1.15 billion) and music publishing increased 19% to 75.1 billion yen ($523 million). Sony Music's operating income was 73.4 billion yen ($511 million), a 20% year-over-year increase.

Sony Music Entertainment's top artist this quarter (excluding those signed in Japan) was SZA, whose album SOS was also the Japanese firm's best-selling release in Q1. Miley Cyrus' Endless Summer Vacation was at No. 2, the same position it saw in Q1.

In Japan, Sony had notable success with YOASOBIʼs TV anime theme song, "Idol," which surpassed 300 million streams in the country and was No. 1 for 16 consecutive weeks on the domestic songs chart.

What they're saying: Similarly to other earnings calls, this one also mentioned AI, with Sony Group president Hiroki Totoki noting the need for strong copyright protections.

"The stakeholders have the rights and the copyrights and that should be respected in the introduction of AI," he said. "Music copyrights might be violated, so we have to protect the [intellectual property] and the artists and content," he continued, calling for the entire music and entertainment industry to work together “to discuss and identify the future solution."