Sony Corp’s global financial results for the first quarter of the year reveal a strong performance in streaming and physical sales of recorded music.
 
The major’s revenue from streaming totalled 38.44 billion yen (£263.4 million) in Q1, a 25.4% increase on the previous year.
 
Digital downloads fell by 22.1% over the same period, down to 12.94 billion yen (£88.7 million). Overall, the combined digital revenue totalled 51.39 billion yen (£352.1 million) in Q1, an increase of 8.7%.
 
Physical sales proved strong in Q1 2017, up 16.3% to 33.55 billion yen (£229.9 million) on the same period in 2016. Sony Corp’s total revenues from recorded music in Q1 were up 11.3% year-on-year to 99.82 billion yen (£683.9 million).
 
The major said Harry Styles’s debut was its biggest global seller in the second quarter of 2017. Other successful artists in the same period include The Chainsmokers, DJ Khaled, Rag ’N’ Bone Man, Calvin Harris and Roger Waters. Looking ahead to the end of September, Sony singled out Q3 releases from Arcade Fire, Foo Fighters and LCD Soundsystem.
 
Sony Corp’s overall music division – including Sony/ATV – reported a Q1 revenue increase of 18.8% year-on-year to 168.6 billion yen (£1.16 billion).
 
In its music publishing business, Sony Corp said it now owned or administered a catalogue of 4.49 million songs within Sony/ATV and EMI Music Publishing. 
 
Operating income from the music segment is up 57.6%.

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