#TheWeeklyRoundUp - 12.08.23

THE 3 MAJOR MUSIC COMPANIES GENERATED $1BN MORE IN THE FIRST HALF OF 2023 VS. THE FIRST HALF OF 2022 (Music Business Worldwide)

Music Business Worldwide has been crunching a veritable mountain o’ numbers today (August 9).

That’s because the past 48 hours have seen two major music companies – Warner Music Group (WMG) and Sony Music Group (SMG) – post their calendar Q2 revenue/profitability figures for investors. (Sony did so earlier today via its Japanese parent, Sony Group Corp.)

These results followed the equivalent calendar Q2 numbers from publicly-traded Universal Music Group (UMG), the world’s biggest music rightsholder, which it reported to the Amsterdam Euronext late last month.

All of this means that – combined with previously-reported calendar Q1 figures from UMG, Sony, and WMG – we’ve been able to apply MBW’s microscope to how the ‘majors’ performed across the first six months of 2023.

What have we discovered?

Well, for starters, there’s that headline above: The three ‘majors’ – across recorded music, publishing, and other income streams – jointly generated USD $12.99 billion in the first six months of 2023.

This figure was a clear billion dollars (almost to the penny!) larger than the $11.99 billion that the ‘Big Three’ generated in revenues in the same period of 2022.

It also means – oh yes – that the three majors combined generated an average of approximately $72 million per day in the first half of this year… or roughly $3 million per hour.

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Sixto Rodriguez, subject of the Searching For Sugar Man film, dies aged 81

He passed away on Tuesday 8th August

American folk rock singer Sixto Rodriguez, who was the subject of the multi award-winning 2012 documentary film Searching For Sugar Man, had sadly died aged 81.

A statement on Rodriguez’s website reads: “It is with great sadness that we at Sugarman.org announce that Sixto Diaz Rodriguez has passed away earlier today.

“We extend our most heartfelt condolences to his daughters – Sandra, Eva and Regan – and to all his family.

“Rodriguez was 81 years old. May His Dear Soul Rest In Peace.”

Stephen “Sugar” Segerman, who runs SugarMan.org, told News24: “We’ve confirmed with his daughter, Sandra, that he passed away yesterday, August 8, at 17:30 Detroit time.”

No cause of death has been revealed, however it’s reported he suffered a stroke in the months before his death and struggled with illness following the incident.

Born in Detroit, Michigan on 10th July 1942, Rodriguez released two studio albums - ‘Cold Fact’ in 1970 and ‘Coming from Reality’ in 1971 – which sold poorly in his native US and he was soon dropped by the imprint Sussex Records.

He quit the music business in 1976 and worked in the demolition and construction industry, yet despite being unknown on home turf, his music gained popularity over the years in countries including Australia, Botswana, New Zealand, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Following the turn of the millennium he travelled to play shows in South Africa and Australia, and in 2006 his track ‘Sugar Man’ was used in the 2006 film Candy, starring Heath Ledger.