SONY MUSIC PULLS IN $8.9B IN FISCAL YEAR

Sony Music saw an 11% spike in its fiscal year ending 3/31, hitting $8.9billion. The division’s operating income grew 36% to $1.8b, and corporate brass are now in buying mode.

Recorded-music sales pulled in $3.16b from streaming, a 25% rise over 2020’s $2.59b. Physical sales posted strong gains driven by releases in Japan, growing 12.6% to $925m.

The top sellers were Harry Styles, AC/DC, Luke Combs and Doja Cat.

Music publishing took a small dip to $1.47b.

Besides the spike in streaming, the unit was helped by the inclusion of the anime business in Japan, where Demon Slayer—Kimetsu no Yaiba—the Movie: Mugen Train was a smash hit.

The significant increase in operating income owed to the sale of a portion of shares of Pledis and a gain recorded in connection with the transfer of an overseas business.

In Q4, the music segment’s revenue was up 30% to $2.5b with the margin up to 15.2%. Operating income rose 38% to $384m, reflecting higher revenues.

Sales are expected to increase in the coming fiscal year mainly due to higher sales for Recorded Music and Music Publishing, primarily resulting from an expected increase in revenues from streaming services.

And apparently Sony Music’s purchase of Kobalt’s recorded-music operations in February was just a start; Executive Deputy President and CFO Totoki Hiroki told analysts that Sony would “aggressively pursue” international music acquisitions.