SONY MUSIC PREDICTS IMPRESSIVE FISCAL '22

Sony Music has upped its projection for fiscal 2022 by 17% after posting significant percentage spikes in its Recorded Music and Publishing units.

In the three-month period ending 6/30, revenues for recorded music were up 52% to $992m, publishing rose 49% to $428m and visual media was up 15% to $483m. Sony Music brought in $2.29b in the quarter.

Streaming was up 56%; physical sales rose 61%. Operating income of $503m was up an impressive 94%, with margins of almost 22%.

The music division attributed the spikes to the usual suspects: gains in paid-subscription and ad-supported streaming services plus a rebound in physical media. The segment also includes Sony’s Japanese anime business, which was boosted by physical media revenue from Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train. Harry Styles, Lil Nas X and Doja Cat were among the artists driving the success of the home of Columbia, RCA and Epic.

The forecast for the full fiscal year has been raised to $9.45b based on stronger than expected sales from streaming services in Recorded Music and the impact of foreign exchange rates. Operating income is expected to be higher than the April forecast primarily due to the above-mentioned expected increase in sales.

In a call with analysts, Sony Group CFO Hiroki Totoki said, “We are steadily improving our ability to generate hits by discovering and nurturing new artists. In this quarter as well, we had an average of 36 songs in Spotify’s Global Top 100 songs ranking and debut songs from our new artists are increasing in this hit ranking.”

He also touted the acquisition of AWAL, the British podcast production company Somethin’ Else and Alamo Records, as well as the company’s alliance with the online game platform Roblox.

When we got out our crayons and adding machine in the wee hours of the morning, we converted Sony’s results—reported in yen—at a rate of 110 yen to $1.