STRINGER SPELLS OUT SONY'S SPENDING HABITS

Sony Music spent $1.4b on music acquisitions in the last six months, Sony Music Chairman Rob Stringer said during Sony Corp.’s Investor Relations Day on 5/27.

“We have bought catalogs not only in the major western markets, but we’ve recently bought catalogs in China and India,” he said. “We have bought merchandising companies in every market in the world. We have bought management companies recently in Germany and Mexico. Our eyes are on the world… anywhere where we think there is a deal that enhances our ecosystem, we will be there.”

Sony’s spending spree is in line with active buyers in the marketplace. Sony’s number crunchers calculated that $7b has been spent on music-related M&A and catalog investment in 2021, Stringer said, an amount near the entirety of 2020.

He spelled out growth areas and how Sony Music stands out from its competitors, noting that Sony’s artists roster has grown by 40% over the last three years, and that social, gaming and fitness, which generated nearly $400m during the past fiscal year, is poised to be a significant growth area.

“We’re finding and creating new revenue opportunities for artists and songwriters with the acquisition of Kobalt Neighboring Rights Sony Music Publishing’s investment in Beatstars, an online marketplace for beats.

“We think we’re on a more rapid growth curve than our competitors. Obviously both our competitors are in an IPO situation. We will learn from that.

“They may do things differently because of the IPO but, in terms of our short-, mid- and long-range plan, we are very clear cut on the rapid growth we need to have, obviously feeding off streaming growth first of all.’

“But as I explained in my presentation, in every level of the company we think we are different.”

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