MUMBAI: Vivendi music subsidary Universal Music Group (UMG) with global businesses in recorded music, music publishing, artist services and merchandising has reported revenues of €4,363 million, a 6.2 per cent decrease compared to 2008.
Vivendi that has activities in music, television and film, publishing, telecommunications, Internet, and video games reported their financial results for the year 2009 this morning.UMG continues to play a leading role in the expansion of the digital music market place and development of new business models as the label reported digital sales to have grown by 8.4 per cent with very strong growth in online sales tempered by softening demand for mobile products in the United States and Japan.
Further growth came from new business lines such as ad-supported music and video streaming, including UMG’s industry leading video channel on You Tube, and the expansion of mobile applications such as ring-back tones. Several new business models were launched during the year including ‘MySpace Music’, a fully integrated global music solution from MySpace, one of the world’s biggest social networks, and ‘Comes With Music’ (CWM), a service from Nokia that bundles a 12 month, unlimited music subscription into the price of certain phones.
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In the digital business, UMG continues support innovation such as Spotify’s premium service accessible on the iPhone and MusicStation’s launch on the Android platform. UMG’s 3/16 a service launched in December 2009 has o far garnered which with a 35 million unique users.
Music publishing revenues increased 1.7 per cent and merchandising grew 24.6 per cent reflecting the successful integration of that business into UMG. However, recorded music sales declined due to a decrease in demand for physical products and lower license income. Best sellers for the year included new releases from Black Eyed Peas, U2 and Eminem and from Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift. Local best sellers included titles from Japan’s GreeeeN, Dreams Come True and Masaharu Fukuyama, as well as Germany’s Rammstein, and France’s Myl?¨ne Farmer.
