It’s earnings season once again, with Spotify the first music company set to report second-quarter earnings on July 23. Which is fitting — not only is the Swedish streaming giant the most valuable publicly traded music company by market capitalization at $60.4 billion, it’s also an important bellwether for much of the music business.
Music subscriptions will continue to be the driving force for Spotify, other streaming companies, record labels and music publishers. Subscriber gains mean more money flowing through to creators and rights owners, while rising prices are benefitting streaming services and could flow down to creators and rights owners, too — although analysts have mixed opinions on whether price increases have those downstream benefits or simply pad streaming companies’ bottom lines. Another giant of the music business, Universal Music Group, is up next, with its earnings slated to drop the day after Spotify’s (July 24).
Believe and SiriusXM earnings are due the following week (both Aug. 1), while Warner Music Group is set for the week after (Aug. 8).
Follow Billboard ‘s list of upcoming industry events for more earnings release dates once they’re announced. On the touring front, for all the hullabaloo about weakened consumer demand and canceled tours and festivals, the live music market is likely to have produced another banner quarter. While everyone’s eyes will be on Live Nation to gauge the health of the business, the concert giant has yet to.
