Near Truths

The numbers don’t lie: The majors have been notably aggressive in making the necessary moves to navigate the twists and turns of a rapidly evolving ecosystem.

UMG, which spent more than $1b over the last year buying up assets (most recently Downtown and [PIAS]), saw the most tangible evidence of its value as Pershing Square’s Bill Ackman, in taking some chips off the table—2.7% of its Uni stake, raising a tidy $1.4b—noted that the label was performing as well as anything in its portfolio, commending Sir Lucian Grainge and team for their “superb job growing the company,” adding, “We believe UMG is one of the best businesses we have ever owned.”

Rob Stringer’s Sony Music, meanwhile, which spent a regal £1b (nearly $1.3b) on the Queen catalog alone, was recently dubbed “the fastest-growing major label” by top data-crunchers Midia Research, which called out SME’s 10.2% revenue growth (and an eye-popping 38.6% increase in the revenue category covering performance, sync and expanded rights).