BMG posts record earnings in half yearly financials

The company's total revenue has now jumped to €282m (about $330m) in quarter one and two, up from €269m in the same period last year. The figures were released by BMG’s parent company, Bertelsmann, on 1 September.

The record-breaking news comes despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the effective shutdown of both the live music business and record stores worldwide. BMG, which is the largest global music company outside the three major music rights holders, closed down 19 of its offices worldwide due to the pandemic, with its 926 staff working remotely.

Key drivers of the results were attributed to strong performance by the company's music publishing business and surging streaming numbers for the company's recording artists. Digital accounted for 83% of recording revenue and 48% of music publishing revenue during the period. BMG expanded its services to musicians in the first half of 2020 with the launch of a new service to collect royalties.

BMG also experienced an increase of 49% year-on-year in streaming of its recorded catalogue. Overall recorded streaming was up by 26% and there were no major acquisitions during the period.

"To deliver a record result in the midst of a pandemic is a remarkable achievement,” BMG CEO Hartwig Masuch said. “It is a testament to our artist-centric business model, but also to our 926-strong team worldwide who went to extraordinary lengths to maintain service to our artist and songwriter clients.

"Our growth is almost entirely organic. Despite the high levels of M&A [mergers and acquisitions] in the wider music industry, we have not made a major acquisition since 2017. Our focus is on growing by delivering better, fairer, more efficient services to artists and songwriters. There is no doubt musicians are hurting through the pandemic, particularly with the loss of live business."

Some of BMG’s successes include Juice WRLD’s catalogue. The late rapper’s first posthumous album Legends Never Die topped the charts following its release earlier this year. The rapper is reported to have an extensive body of unreleased work, which BMG also has the rights to. Lewis Capaldi and NAV also performed well in the first half, according to the BMG report. Additionally, Conkarah’s hit ‘Banana’ was streamed more than 400 million times during the period.

Masuch also noted the company's response to racial disadvantage in a note to his team. "I am glad to say we are already making good progress on the pledges we made in the wake of Blackout Tuesday,” he wrote. “Elections are under way for our new Diversity & Inclusion Council, we will be announcing details of our latest black community outreach effort in the US later this week.”