BMG revenues up 3.3% in first six months of 2018

Financial postings by its parent company Bertelsmann showed that BMG’s revenue for the first six months of 2018 grew by 3.3% to €241 million (A$387.03 million).

“This was due to organic growth in its recorded music and production music businesses,” Bertelsmann stated in its report. “ The music publishing business proved stable.”

Kylie Minogue, George Ezra and Jason Aldean, whom the company handles in different territories, had #1 chart success.

BMG also acquired the administrative rights for Ringo Starr, Lenny Kravitz and Yusuf/Cat Stevens.

In April, the company acquired Big Bang & Fuzz, one of the leading production music firms in the Asia-Pacific region.

In June, it took over the catalogue of French singer/songwriter Michel Polnareff, and acquired the name rights and selected audio and video material from the 1960s British TV show Ready Steady Go!.

BMG’s expansion into films also saw distribution globally for its Joan Jett documentary.

Songwriters signed with the company were involved in three of the five biggest radio hits of the first half of 2018 in the United States.

In a separate note to staff, BMG CEO Hartwig Masuch stated that revenue growth was actually 9.2%, but reduced due to negative currency effects.

“These figures are significantly better than some of our major competitors and come in the face of some very negative currency effects,” he wrote.

“Growing revenue is important, but we are doing so sustainably and paying a higher percentage of revenue to our artists than our competitors.”

Upcoming releases from BMG are expected from Lenny Kravitz, Good Charlotte, Alice in Chains, Dido and Gabrielle.

Bertelsmann’s revenues in the first half of 2018 were €8.2 billion, ($13.1 billion) the highest result in 11 years, with profits exceeding €501 million ($804.6 million).