{"id":1234175,"date":"2025-03-12T01:07:40","date_gmt":"2025-03-12T01:07:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/pt\/?p=1234175"},"modified":"2025-03-12T01:07:40","modified_gmt":"2025-03-12T01:07:40","slug":"universal-spent-1bn-on-investments-in-2024-and-5-other-things-we-learned-on-umgs-latest-earnings-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/pt\/universal-spent-1bn-on-investments-in-2024-and-5-other-things-we-learned-on-umgs-latest-earnings-call\/","title":{"rendered":"Universal spent $1bn+ on investments in 2024 and 5 other things we learned on UMG\u2019s latest earnings call"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Universal Music\u00a0<\/a>Group published its Q4 and FY 2024 results on Thursday (March 6), posting overall revenues in FY 2024 (across recorded music, publishing, and more) of<\/span>\u00a0EUR \u20ac11.834 billion (USD $12.81bn)<\/strong>, up\u00a07.6% YoY<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The company\u2019s recorded music subscription revenues, meanwhile, hit EUR \u20ac4.624 billion<\/strong>\u00a0annually, up\u00a09.1% YoY<\/span>, <\/strong>which\u00a0represented the equivalent of USD $5.00 billion<\/strong>, according to average exchange rates for the year\u00a0as per IRS data.<\/a><\/p>\n

The firm\u2019s adjusted EBITDA hit\u00a0\u20ac2.661 billion ($2.88bn)<\/strong>, up\u00a013.8% YoY<\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n

In his opening remarks on UMG\u2019s earnings call on Thursday, Chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge<\/a> noted that UMG has \u201cposted healthy revenue and double-digit adjusted EBITDA growth for each and every year since 2021, when UMG became a stand-alone public company\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cAt the heart of our success is, of course, the creative brilliance of our artists and songwriters. The worldwide consumption of the music of our artists and songwriters remains simply extraordinary. They\u2019re shaping culture across the entire globe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grainge also explained on the company\u2019s earnings call how \u201cbreaking new artists is fundamental to [UMG\u2019s] culture\u201d.<\/p>\n

Added Grainge: \u201cWe\u2019re very proud of it. All of our teams around the world share a passion for doing just that. And in 2024, strategic investment in new talent continued to produce remarkable results.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne powerful fact we\u2019re especially proud of; UMG broke the two biggest breakthrough artists in the world last year: Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chappell Roan was named Best New Artist at the Grammys last month. Grainge noted on the call that \u201cUMG\u2019s artists and songwriters won a record-breaking total of more than 50 Grammys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grainge dedicated the second half of his opening statement to the growth strategies outlined by UMG\u2019s leadership team at the company\u2019s Capital Markets Day<\/a> in September. According to Grainge, the company is \u201calready turning those strategies into realities\u2026\u201d and highlighted three particular initiatives on Thursday\u2019s earnings call.<\/p>\n

The first is \u201cworking with [UMG\u2019s] DSP partners to drive the exciting new era of sustained growth we\u2019re calling streaming 2.0\u201d.<\/p>\n

Second, is UMG\u2019s focus on growing its artist and label services business, which, he said, complements the company\u2019s frontline label business and \u201cprovides a broad set of resources to a wide range of artists, labels, and entrepreneurs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The third strategy highlighted by Grainge on the call was the expansion of UMG\u2019s global footprint by \u201cpartnering with local labels, developing local artists, and through M&A.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grainge pointed to Virgin Music Group\u2019s recent strategic partnerships with Hungama Digital Media<\/a> and RainLabs, which are based in India and Ghana<\/a>, respectively.<\/p>\n

He also referenced Universal Music Greater China\u2019s strategic distribution agreement<\/a> with independent label Modern Sky. UMG also recently signed<\/a> an exclusive global agreement with Liu Huan, who Grainge noted, is \u201cknown as the King of Chinese Pop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, h<\/span>ighlighting Universal\u201ds recent acquisition of a majority stake in Japan\u2019s A-Sketch<\/a>, Grainge explained that UMG is also \u201cexpanding [its] presence in established markets around the world\u201d where \u201clocal repertoire and adjacent businesses continue to present exciting growth opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sir Lucian Grainge<\/a>,<\/strong>\u00a0plus\u00a0Boyd Muir<\/strong>, UMG\u2019s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer, and\u00a0Michael Nash<\/a><\/strong>, Executive Vice President and Chief Digital Officer, were grilled by analysts on the company\u2019s earnings call on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what else was said on the call\u2026<\/p>\n

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1. Sir Lucian Grainge says that streaming 2.0 \u2018will build on the enormous scale we\u2019ve achieved thus far in streaming\u2019s initial stage\u2019<\/h6>\n

Universal Music Group<\/a> introduced<\/a> the concept of Streaming 2.0 at the company\u2019s Capital Markets Day for investors in September. It was explained that for UMG, \u2018Streaming 2.0\u2019<\/strong>\u00a0represents a new era of digital music hung on changes, including:<\/p>\n