As you might expect from a mainstay of indie music, the latest financial results from Beggars Group reveal that Martin Mills’ company is about more than just profit and loss.
As well as revealing a generous payout to artists from the company’s Spotify shares windfall, Beggars has also issued a stark warning on Brexit just as the country has a new PM open to a no-deal scenario.
“Revenues from the EU are a critical element of the business,” said the company’s financial report for 2018. “A no-deal Brexit may interrupt our domestic physical supply chain in the short term, and we have built contingencies accordingly. Our global reach and customer base mean that we would be mostly insulated from domestic harm.
“However, we are not and never have been just about the money. We are gravely concerned that a longer term negative political climate, if we leave the EU, would do irreparable political, social and economic damage by association to our sector’s soft power.”
The company said it also valued the “effectiveness of collective European regulatory influence over powerful US technology companies”.
We are not and never have been just about the money
Beggars Group
Just to prove that it’s not “just about the money”, Beggars also disclosed the scale of its payout to artists from the company’s Spotify windfall from the sale of shares in the streaming giant.
“We believe that our artists should share equally in that windfall,” said the company. Accordingly, Beggars accounted 50% of those revenues to artists past and present. After allowing for recoupment on advances, 44% was paid out in cash.
“Certain other companies apparently distributed these revenues based on the artist royalty rate, meaning they would have paid out a far lower percentage irrespective of recoupment,” added the company report.
Revenue at the indie giant edged up 1.1% to £74.2 million last year. Total operating profit was £11.95m, compared to £8.24m in the prior year.
XL Recordings was responsible for £48m of overall revenues at Beggars Group.
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