Sony Music Posts Strong Q3 Results as Streaming, Physical Sales Surge

Sony Music Group reported a double-digit increase in quarterly sales on Thursday driven by the streaming success of new music from Spanish-speaking artists Rosalía and Peso Pluma.

Rosalía’s chart-topping new album Lux and a re-release of Pink Floyd’s classic Wish You Were Here helped push total revenue for the Japanese company’s fiscal third quarter up 60 billion yen to 542.4 billion yen ($3.47 billion), with operating income up 9% to 106.4 billion yen ($681.2 million).

With new music from Harry Styles, A$AP Rocky and Luke Combs expected to be released in the next six months, Sony Music Group said it believes it can now achieve 70 billion yen ($448 million) in total revenue growth, a 4% upward revision from last quarter’s guidance, and operating income growth of 60 billion yen ($384 million), a 16% upward revision.

Streaming revenue growth remains a key driver for Sony Music, with Peso Pluma and Tito Double P’s collaborative album Dinastía ranking among the most streamed of the quarter. On a U.S. dollar basis, streaming revenue in the quarter ending Dec. 31 rose 5% for recorded music and 13% for music publishing.  

Overall recorded music revenue rose 13% to 355 billion yen ($2.27 billion), helped by a 30% uptick in recorded other revenue driving that segment, which includes live events and merchandise sales, to 90 billion yen ($576 million). Revenue from vinyl records and other physical music sales rose 17% to 35 billion yen ($224 million).  

Sony Music’s top selling album for the quarter was Rosalia’s highly anticipated fourth studio album Lux, which debuted with five No. 1 songs across Billboard charts. Pink Floyd’s 50^th edition release of Wish You Were Here, which was the No. 1 album the week of Christmas in the United Kingdom, came in second, and Tylor, The Creator’s 2024 album CHROMAKOPIA came in third.

Publishing revenue rose 14% to 108 billion yen ($691 million), and revenue from visual media and platforms rose 14% to 76 billion yen ($487 million) on the continued success of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle. Adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization, a measure of how much cash the core businesses make, rose 10% to 133 billion yen ($851 million).

Sony said the weaker U.S. dollar resulted in a 5.1 billion yen ($32.7 million) gain in the quarter, as the company benefited from converting U.S. dollar sales into Japanese yen.