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Universal revenues dip in first quarter

By | Published on Monday 19 May 2014

Universal Music

Universal Music saw a 2% dip in revenues for its first quarter this year, it was revealed last week, though profits were up thanks to an overall cut in overheads, and the fact that restructuring costs associated with the acquisition of EMI, which were impacting on things a year ago, are winding down.

The 2% dip takes into account currency fluctuations and the offloading of the Parlophone Label Group to Warner last year, so is a proper decline.

Of course nominal rises and falls in year-to-year revenue figures at major labels can always be explained with busy-to-quiet release schedule variations, though some reckon that the widely reported slowdown in the download market – with iTunes revenue actually slipping ever so slightly in the US record industry last year – may also be having an impact.

Booming payments from streaming and subscription services are compensating to a point, though seemingly not quite enough just at the moment, and – of course – there remains the fear that monies from the streaming sector are still being artificially inflated by venture capital and tech firm subsidies at the moment, which is not a problem in the short term, but makes a long-term reliance on Spotify, Beats et al far from secure.

Which was very possibly the subject of this keynote speech at The Great Escape earlier this month.



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