The most revenue recorded for any Sony Music release during Q1 2025 and the 12-month period ending March 31st.
While Sony Music Entertainment (SME) experienced a double-digit year-over-year revenue increase in fiscal 2024, recorded music streaming revenue only increased by a modest 4.8% in the first three months of 2025.
These and other insights are derived from the most recent earnings report issued by Sony Group Corp. The final quarter of the conglomerate’s fiscal year 2024, which encompasses January, February, and March 2025, is the subject of this performance breakdown.
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Sony Group reported a 9.8% year-over-year increase in music revenue, which amounted to ¥463.57 billion (currently $3.16 billion) on the quarterly side. However, as is customary, the music-adjacent visual media and platform make a substantial contribution to that aggregate.
To provide a clearer understanding of Sony Music’s primary revenue, it is advisable to exclude the latter, which encompasses mobile gaming, anime, and other genres. In addition, it is crucial to mention that Sony Group reports its revenue in yen, despite the fact that it collects revenue in a variety of currencies. The results presented below were influenced by exchange rates.
The document indicates that music revenue increased by approximately 4.5% year-over-year during calendar Q1 2025, with a total of $2.64 billion/¥387.46 billion, owing to a decrease in visual media and platform revenue.
Following the first-quarter total, all categories, with the exception of non-streaming, experienced an increase in recorded revenue from the same period in 2024.
Nevertheless, the growth rate of recorded streaming achieved the previously stated 4.8% ($1.32 billion/¥193.04 billion in total revenue), in contrast to a 16.3% year-over-year increase for Sony Music Publishing ($656.54 million/¥96.28 billion).
Sony Music’s full-year performance is, of course, also worth investigating. In Q1 2025, publishing streaming revenue is reported to have increased by 25.6% year-over-year to $378.20 million/¥55.46 billion.
According to the report, Sony Music Publishing’s owned-and-administered catalog was comprised of 6.63 million works as of March 31st, a significant increase from the 6.24 million works in the previous year.
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Returning to the recorded revenue for the first quarter of 2025, physical sales experienced a 12% year-over-year increase, reaching $183.10 million/¥26.85 billion. Sony Music artists’ Q1 bestsellers, in terms of revenue, were SZA’s SOS Deluxe: Lana, Tate McRae’s So Close to What, Lisa’s Alter Ego, Tyler, the Creator’s Chromakopia, and Igor.
In total, music operating income (including visual media and platform) amounted to $569.97 million/¥83.58 billion in Q1 2025, representing an approximately 17.4% year-over-year increase.
In the transition to Sony Music’s full-year financials, revenue, excluding visual media and platform, increased by 13.1% year-over-year to reach $10.75 billion/¥1.58 trillion.
Within the total, recorded music generated $8.16 billion/¥1.20 trillion (a 12.2% year-over-year increase), with $5.38 billion/¥788.77 billion from streaming (a 11.2% year-over-year increase) and $724.40 million/¥106.15 billion from physical (a 4.8% year-over-year increase).
SZA’s aforementioned endeavor, Cowboy Carter by Beyoncé, We Still Don’t Trust You by Future, Metro Boomin, and Travis Scott’s Utopia were all fiscal bestsellers.
Conversely, publishing revenue increased by 16.3% year-over-year to surpass $2.59 billion/¥379.81 billion during the 12-month period. Additionally, the music operating income for the full year increased by 18.4% year over year to $2.44 billion/¥357.26 billion.
Sony Music executives anticipate that sales will remain relatively stagnant during the 12-month period ending March 31, 2026. Additionally, additional business acquisitions and catalog purchases are anticipated in “high-growth markets such as Latin America, India, and other Asian countries.”
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