It’s been a marquee year so far for Warner Music UK. Notably, Ed Sheeran has broken several sales and streaming records as well as ripping up the charts with ÷.
We’ve had big new records from the likes of Royal Blood and Gorillaz as well as supporting Stormzy’s big breakthrough. Clean Bandit have come back with two of the biggest tracks of the year.
We’re also really proud of the work we’ve done in breaking new artists, it’s no easy task but we’ve seen massive progress with the likes of Anne-Marie and Dua Lipa, the biggest British female artist this year.
Everybody wants to hear great music and our established and emerging acts are making their mark across the globe. Looking at the overall UK market performance, it’s good to see that the growth in streaming is continuing at a pace and that more music fans are moving to the subscriber platforms.
What’s interesting, especially leading into the Q4 period, is the resilience we’re seeing with physical product. Vinyl continues to grow and the CD market seems to be flattening out, which hopefully will continue into Christmas and beyond.
We’ve tailored our release schedule with the gifting period in mind. We’re going into Q4 with stellar new releases from the likes of Liam Gallagher, Sia and Stereophonics.
We have big catalogue looks from David Bowie, The Smiths and the Eagles, as well as brilliant music from entertainment crossover acts like Leading Ladies, Sheridan Smith and Alexander Armstrong.
As always, we’ll be targeting the younger audience and at the same time marketing towards an older demographic, to make sure our artists perform across all formats – from vinyl to streaming.
There’s a busy release schedule across all of the indies and majors over the next few months, and 2017 should prove to be a year worthy of a suitable Christmas celebration.
Viewpoint By:
Peter Breeden,
CFO & COO, Warner Music UK
