Universal Music's Q1 Revenue Boosted by Concerts and Vinyl
(Reuters) -Universal Music Group beat first-quarter sales expectations on Tuesday, saying more people went to concerts, bought vinyl records and subscribed to its digital services.
The world's biggest music label, whose artists include Taylor Swift, BTS and Drake, said revenues grew 11.8% from the year-ago quarter to 2.90 billion euros ($3.31 billion) in the period ended in March, above the 2.83 billion consensus estimate by analysts in an LSEG poll.
License and other revenue rose 33.3%, thanks to top-selling concerts by artists including Kendrick Lamar, Sabrina Carpenter and Lady Gaga.
Physical revenue grew 17.6%, driven by vinyl sales growth in the U.S. and Europe, the group said in a statement.
Streaming and subscription revenues, which account for more than half of total sales, rose 9.5% to 1.60 billion euros in the quarter, driven by growth in global subscribers.
Universal partners with streaming giants Spotify and Amazon in what it calls Streaming 2.0 to offer personalized content, new paid subscription tiers, merchandising and stronger engagement between artists and "superfans," their most committed supporters.
Quarterly adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 11.8% to 661 million euros, Universal said.
($1 = 0.8770 euros)
(Reporting by Alessandro Parodi in Gdansk, editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise; Editing by Richard Chang)
