Ahead of its expected spinoff from Vivendi SA, Universal Music Group had a strong fiscal second quarter of 2021. UMG’s total recorded music revenue was up 29.7 percent to $1.99 billion, with streaming revenue for the quarter hitting $1.35 billion, also a 29.7 percent jump. Physical music sales grew by 72.6 percent to $302 million. Across all of UMG’s divisions, the company posted $2.44 billion in Q2 revenue.
BTS was easily the company’s biggest generator of revenue during the quarter, followed by Justin Bieber, Olivia Rodrigo, The Weeknd and Pop Smoke. The label status of BTS is a bit complicated though, as their music is distributed outside of South Korea by Sony Music/The Orchard, but UMG partners with Big Hit/HYBE in Japan.
Vivendi is expected to place 60 percent of the company on the Amsterdam stock exchange in September. It has already sold off 20 percent of UMG.
