UMG STREAMING REVENUE HITS $1.6B THROUGH SEPTEMBER

Universal Music Group’s revenues are up 10.9% in the first nine months of 2017 to $4.69 billion as subscription and streaming revenues are up by more than 40% vs. 2016. UMG has raked in $1.6b from streaming this year.

Recorded music revenues through 9/30/17 are up 12.1% at constant currency to $3.14b despite third quarter revenue being down 3.9% at constant currency. In the third quarter, Universal made $535m from streaming. The company touted records from Kendrick Lamar and Drake as the new releases that helped bolster income.

Vivendi CFO Hervé Philippe noted that streaming and subscription revenues represented close to 50% of Universal Music's recorded revenue on more than three quarters of its digital revenues in Q3.

“It is worth highlighting that Universal Music face a tough comparable quarter as Q3, 2016 revenues up 11.2%, which were by far the strongest growth recorded for many years,” Philippe said in a call with analysts.

“We expect Universal Music revenues to grow by around 10% and EBITDA by close to 20% for the full year.”

He expects new albums from Taylor Swift and Sam Smith to have a significant impact on the full-year results.

Music publishing revenues, meanwhile, have grown to $642m in the first nine months, a 9.6% rise at constant currency. Those, too, were driven by increased subscription and streaming revenues, as well as growth in synchronization and performance revenues.