SONY MUSIC CRUSHES

Sony Music pulled in $2.5b in the last three months of 2020, a 27% spike over the same quarter in 2019.

The market was well pleased by the numbers; Sony stock is up a mighty 12% as of this writing.

Streaming revenues rose 26% to $842.7m. Physical sales, driven by hits in Japan, were up 42% to $517.2m, visual media and platform, buoyed by the hit Demon Slayer, spiked 57% to $741m and publishing was up 18% to $430m.

Operating income was up 71% to $571m, and the operating income margin hit almost 23%, a rise of 6%. The strong showing led Sony to up the year-end revenue forecast for the music division to $8.5b. Titles from AC/DC, Harry Styles, Bruce Springsteen, Luke Combs, 24kGoldn and The Kid LAROI were among the quarter’s top performers.

Sony has realigned its product-category configuration in the music segment. Recorded Music—Streaming includes the distribution of digital recorded music via streaming; Recorded Music—Others includes the distribution of recorded music by physical media and digital download as well as revenue derived from artists’ live performances; Music Publishing includes the management and licensing of the words and music of songs; and Visual Media and Platform includes the production and distribution of animation titles.

Overall, Sony Corp.'s fiscal Q3 net profit rose 62% to $3.54b, the result of higher earnings from its game and electronics businesses.