Digital is GOOD: Warner Music
p2pnet.net News:- Warner Music is one of the Big Four Organized Music cartel, the others being , EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG.
They’re individually and collectively bent on continuing their derisory sue ‘em all marketing scheme under which they’re trying to bludgeon their customers into buying low-quality, high-priced digital downloads.
Once the labels adjust their pricing structures and begin treating their customers as responsible people, instead of would-be criminals and thieves, the corporate music industry will start raking it in, an indication of the potential coming from the Warner Music Group’s fourth-quarter results.
Year-end results, “highlight the continued transformation of Warner Music Group in 2006,” says chairman and ceo Edgar Bronfman, Jr.
“Continued focus on the digital music business yielded dramatic growth in digital revenue. The increase in our digital Recorded Music revenue for the fiscal year more than offset declines in our physical Recorded Music revenue. For the first time our quarterly digital revenue broke the $100 million barrier. Our quarterly digital revenue represented 12.2% of our total revenue – about double last year’s quarter in dollar terms.”
But, “Without the gain from the settlement of a lawsuit against online file-sharing service Kazaa, the company lost $1 million, or 1 cent a share, missing the average estimate for a profit of 0.2 cents a share, based on a survey of nine analysts by Thomson Financial,” says Bloomberg News. “Thomson didn’t say what the estimates may exclude.”
Warner Music is about 62% owned by private equity firms Thomas H. Lee Partners LP, Bain Capital LLC and Providence Equity Partners, says the story, going on that Warner rejected a bid in June from EMI, “which valued it at $4.6 billion”.
“Warner Music made an approximately equal offer for EMI, before a regulatory ruling led both bids to be abandoned,” says Bloomberg, adding:
“Both companies backed off after a European court vetoed the 2004 merger of the music units of Sony Corp. and Bertelsmann AG to form Sony BMG Music Entertainment, the world’s second-largest record company after Universal Music Group. That ruling is being contested.”
Also See:
Warner Music Group – Warner Music Group Corp. Reports Full-Year and Fourth-Quarter Results for the Period Ended September 30, 2006, December 1, 2006
Bloomberg News – Warner Music Reports a Profit as Album Sales Decline, December 1, 2006
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December 3rd, 2006 at 1:19 pm
I am so sick of these record labels making out like digital single sales are saving them – copyright law was never meant to protect them it was meant to protect artists and provide incentives for creation – the real question here is how many artists have made a cent from these sales – my guess, not one… okay maybe one – but not many and my point is, not enough. Meanwhile technology companies and record labels are making the cash and creating an even greater strangle hold on innovation and culture.
Up yours warner.