BMG has reported double-digit revenue growth for the first six months of 2024.
The Bertelsmann-owned company’s turnover hit EUR €459 million (USD $496m) in the six months to end of June, up 11.1% YoY, or up 12.5% YoY on an organic basis.
Bertelsmann credited “strong growth in digital income streams” as a key driver of BMG’s growth, noting a “strong performance across its recordings and music publishing business”.
The share of digital business at BMG grew to 69% of its revenues in H1 2024 vs. 63% in the prior-year period.
Just over a third (36%) of BMG’s revenue in the period came from recordings, with 62% derived from music publishing and an additional 2% from ‘broader rights’.
The H1 2024 period marked the end of the first year as CEO of BMG for Thomas Coesfeld, who took over at BMG in July 2023.
During this opening 12 months, Coesfeld implemented a number of key changes at BMG, including a restructure in key functions such as international marketing, a ~10% global headcount reduction, moving to direct digital distribution on Apple and Spotify platforms, selling off and/or closing non-core business units including live music promotion and film/TV development, and a renewed focus on the US market.
In H1 2024, the result of these changes, combined with that double-digit topline revenue increase, was inevitable: strong growth at BMG in profit margin.
In the first six months of this year, Bertelsmann confirmed today (August 28), BMG’s adjusted operating EBITDA stood at EUR €122 million (USD $132m), up 35.5% YoY.
As a result, BMG’s operating EBITDA margin increased significantly to 26.5% in H1 2024 vs. 21.7% in the prior year period.
As part of the ‘Bertelsmann Boost’ strategy, BMG made 10 catalog purchases during H1 2024, bringing total music catalog investments since 2021 to around €900 million.
BMG signed artists and songwriters in the first half of the year including Mustard, YG, New Kids on the Block, and The Script in recordings and Cirque du Soleil, KT Tunstall, and Tyron Hapi in publishing.
In its recordings business, BMG’s most successful projects in H1 2024 included new releases by Jelly Roll, Lainey Wilson, Bruce Dickinson, Everything Everything, Sum 41, Crowded House, Pepe and Paco de Lucía, and Lenny Kravitz.
BMG artists Lainey Wilson (Best Country Album) and Kylie Minogue (Best Pop Dance Recording) were each honored with a Grammy Award.
In its publishing business, new releases by Pashanim (“2000” reached #1 on the German and Swiss albums charts and “Mittelmeer” #1 on the German singles chart), Bring Me the Horizon, and Frank Turner were among the most successful releases.
Via its clients Steve Miller, Trevor Horn and Anne Dudley, BMG has a major share of Eminem’s hit single “Houdini,” one of the year’s biggest streaming hits.
Elsewhere, BMG songwriters collaborated on 13 songs from Beyoncé’s chart-topping album “Cowboy Carter”.
EUR to USD conversions in this article have been made at the average rate for the period according to the European Central BankMusic Business Worldwide
