Warner Music Group also recently published its financial performance for the second quarter of 2024, reporting a total revenue of about $1.554 billion (USD), encompassing recorded music, publishing, and other segments.

Q2 Performance Highlights

Overall Revenue: $1.554 billion

Recorded Music Operations: $1.251 billion (1.1% decrease)

Music Publishing Operations: $305 million

Recorded Music

Warner generated $1.251 billion in recorded music revenue in Q2 2024, marking a 1.1% year-on-year decrease. Despite the slight overall decline, streaming played a crucial role, contributing $863 million, a 10.2% increase YOY. Within this category:

• Subscription (Premium) Recorded Streaming: $640 million (up 13.7% YOY)
• Ad-Supported Recorded Streaming: $223 million

During the earnings call, Warner CEO Robert Kyncl highlighted the contributions of several artists to the company's Q2 performance. He specifically mentioned projects from Benson Boone, Zach Bryan, Dua Lipa, Twenty One Pilots, Artemas, Teddy Swims, Megan Thee Stallion, Gunna, Charli XCX, Burna Boy, and Myke Towers as key contributors.

Kyncl emphasized the importance of streaming in amplifying an artist's entire catalog, stating:

"The beauty of streaming is that newly released hits have a halo effect on the rest of an artist's catalog. As we help artists develop loyal fan bases, each new hit drives an uptick in their catalog. And when we amplify and extend that halo effect, it builds the stickiness that transforms hits into evergreen deep catalog."

Music Publishing Operations

Through its publishing arm, Warner Chappell Music, the company generated $305 million in publishing revenue, reflecting an 8.9% YOY increase. The breakdown of this revenue includes:

• Music Publishing Streaming: $192 million
• Performance Revenue, Mechanicals, and Sync: Comprising the remainder

Speaking on Warner’s 10.2% growth in overall recorded streaming and 13.7% growth in subscription streaming—at a time when its major label counterparts reported a slowdown in streaming revenue growth—the company’s EVP/CFO noted,

"A number of new releases and carryover from prior ones gave us momentum this quarter."

This mirrors a story reported yesterday about Tyla's debut album contributing to Sony’s $1.92 billion Q2 performance. We can do with more of this, as African artists like Burna Boy and Tyla are now making noticeable impacts on the balance sheets of major music companies.

Having closely studied major label financials for years, observing two such cases in one quarter marks an interesting shift in the commercial potential of African music.