#TheWeeklyRoundUp – 04.08.23

Believe revenues up 17.9% YoY in first half of 2023 to EUR €415.4 million (Music Business Worldwide)

For the first half of 2023, across Believe’s entire business, the company, which trades on the Paris Euronext, generated EUR €415.4 million, representing growth of 17.9% YoY. On an organic basis (i.e. discounting acquisitions made this year), Believe’s revenues grew 17.5% YoY.

Believe breaks down its global operations into two divisions:

(i) DIY distributor TuneCore (referred to as ‘Automated Solutions’ in its results), as well as

(ii) The performance of its core premium label and artist services operation (referred to as ‘Premium Solutions’)

According to the company’s latest financial results, in Q1, its Automated Solutions division’s revenues grew 17.1% YoY to €26.9 million in H1.The company’s ‘Premium Solutions’ revenues grew 18% YoY to €388.5 million in H1 2023.

Denis Ladegaillerie, Believe’s founder and CEO said: “The start of the year has been marked by another strong performance of the roster thanks to our unique model and digital expertise despite currency headwinds and lower ad-supported monetization. This is a testament to the quality of service, which is at the core of our positioning in the industry.

He added: “We have been focused on improving profitability and efficiency across the organization. We have also been in a great position to seize commercial opportunities and to invest in advances against better conditions to fuel long-term growth.

“We are heavily engaged in several innovative AI and Generative AI exploratory partnership discussions in H1 and strongly believe that AI and Generative AI will have a strong positive impact for the music industry and particularly for Believe, as a digital end-to-end large-scale music and technology-driven business…”

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Is Deezer In Trouble? Total Subscribers Edge Downward, Financial Losses Mount (Digital Music News)

The DSP has continued to grow subscribers in France, with 3.6 million subs representing 8.8% growth compared to H1 2022. But elsewhere in the world, it’s not a rosy picture at all for Deezer. The DSP went from having 2.3 million subscribers in H1 2022 to 2.0 million at the end of H1 2023—representing a 12.4% subscriber shed. That’s not too surprising, as Deezer previously affirmed it would be focusing its efforts on select markets rather than tackling behemoths like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music.

Deezer says the ‘Partnerships’ category revenue accounted for €62.4 ($68.2M) in H1 2023, for 8.5% growth compared to the previous year. Deezer says that growth reflects the gradual build-up of its RTL partnership before the launch of its Multimedia App planned in Q3 2023 and the Sonos partnership it launched in Q2 2023.

Deezer renewed partnership agreements with Orange in July and signed a new agreement with Latin America’s e-commerce platform Mercado Libre. Deezer says its ARPU rose by 14.9% mainly due to the improved geographical mix of its partnerships. Deezer says it expects revenue growth to accelerate in H2 2023 thanks to its partnerships and new sources of revenue.

“Our H1 results confirm that our strategy is bearing fruit, and that we are able to drive significant operational performance improvements,” adds CEO Jeronimo Folgueira. “We continue to grow and have cut our losses by almost half compared to last year.”

“Additionally, the recent signatures and launches of large, new partnerships will help us accelerate growth in the years to come. Our direct subscription and freemium businesses show stronger economics, and we continue to optimize our market position and strictly control our costs. All of this makes me very confident that we are on the right path to achieve our profitability and cash generation objectives.”