Sony Music Group
The Ledger: Music Stocks Are Rebounding at the End of a Rough Year
The Ledger is a weekly newsletter about the economics of the music business sent to Billboard Pro subscribers. An abbreviated version of the newsletter is published online. After a miserable year for music stocks — and stocks in general — 2022 could end on a string of positive notes. As rising interest rates have hammered stocks and erased big gains made during the pandemic, the Billboard Global Music Index, a float-adjusted group of 20 publicly traded music companies, is down 36.1% in 2022, and shares of vital companies such as Spotify and Warner Music Group are down 65.7% and 20.5%, respectively. But in recent weeks, the momentum has reversed dramatically. The Billboard Global Music Index is up 12.6% over the last two weeks and 14.6% in the five weeks since Oct. 28....
The Ledger: Music Stocks Are Rebounding at the End of a Rough Year
The Ledger is a weekly newsletter about the economics of the music business sent to Billboard Pro subscribers. An abbreviated version of the newsletter is published online. After a miserable year for music stocks — and stocks in general — 2022 could end on a string of positive notes. As rising interest rates have hammered stocks and erased big gains made during the pandemic, the Billboard Global Music Index, a float-adjusted group of 20 publicly traded music companies, is down 36.1% in 2022, and shares of vital companies such as Spotify and Warner Music Group are down 65.7% and 20.5%, respectively. But in recent weeks, the momentum has reversed dramatically. The Billboard Global Music Index is up 12.6% over the last two weeks and 14.6% in the five weeks since Oct. 28....
Music Companies Must Now Include Salary Ranges on New York Job Postings
A new New York City law requiring employers to disclose salary ranges in job postings has officially gone into effect this week, with music companies hiring in the city mandated to comply. On the first day of the law, a picture of at least one of the major music companies’ salary ranges has come into focus. The day the law went into effect, several companies were criticized for overly-broad salary ranges that effectively subverted the point of the regulation, which was designed to give prospective employees insight into what they could be expected to earn at different companies in the city and address salary discrepancies between men and women and for people of color. The Wall Street Journal, for instance, posted reporting and producing jobs with ranges between $40,000 to $160,000; te...
Sony Music to Offer Financial Support for College Students With New Initiative
Sony Music Group will offer financial and other support to students studying music and music business-related fields via a new program announced Tuesday. Funding for the program is being provided by Sony’s $100 million social justice fund, unveiled by the company in June 2020. The Sony Music Group Global Scholars Program will provide scholarships to up to 50 students from diverse backgrounds who are enrolled at accredited colleges and universities across the globe. Students accepted into the program will receive annual financial support for the period of the degree program or upon completion, whichever is sooner, depending on a student’s financial need and the region where they’re based. For students in countries where colleges and universities are publicly funded or subsidized, applicants...
Sony Music Group Extends Program for Unrecouped Artists and Songwriters
More legacy artists and songwriters are going to be able to profit from the boom in streaming and other digital royalties after Sony Music Group expands its program for paying royalties to more artists with unrecouped royalty balances, chairman Rob Stringer announced Wednesday evening (May 25) during a presentation to Sony Corp. investors. With Artists Forward and Songwriters Forward, both launched in 2021, Sony Music decided to pay royalties to artists and songwriters who were signed before 2000 and haven’t received advance since. Sony Music didn’t wipe the slate clean by modifying contracts or adjusting the account balances. Instead, it would ignore the negative account balances of artists whose royalties earned over the previous two decades never caught up with their advance and expense...
Sony Music Opens Singapore Office, Shifting Asia Hub From Hong Kong
Sony Music Group is moving its Southeast Asia headquarters to Singapore, joining a host of other music and tech companies that have shifted regional business hubs away from Hong Kong amid street protests and crackdowns by the Chinese government. The new Singapore office will house SMG companies Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Music Publishing and artists and label services company The Orchard, the company said in a press release Tuesday (March 22). It will also serve as the new base for Sony Interactive Entertainment, creators of PlayStation. A host of pan-regional specialists focused on Singapore and the wider region will work out of the new headquarters, including in marketing, data analytics, human resources, finance, digital innovation, business development, A&R, and publicity. Esta...
Sony Music Suspends Operations in Russia Over Ukraine Invasion
Sony Music Group has joined a growing list of global music companies pulling out of Russia following the country’s invasion of Ukraine. “Sony Music Group calls for peace in Ukraine and an end to the violence,” the company said in a statement on Thursday. “We have suspended operations in Russia and will continue our support of global humanitarian relief efforts to aid victims in need.” The move by Sony to suspend its operations in Russia, where it has roughly three dozen employees, follows similar actions by Universal Music Group, Spotify, YouTube, TikTok and Live Nation, among others. A source familiar with Sony’s decision tells Billboard that the company will continues to provide financial and wellbeing assistance to the impacted employees but could not elaborate further.This is a develop...
Sony Music Launches $100M Fund to Support Social Justice & Anti-Racist Initiatives
The company has also pledged to expand mental health resources for employees and work with outside experts to advise the company on its inclusion and diversity commitments. Sony Music Group has launched a $100 million fund “to support social justice and anti-racist initiatives around the world,” the company announced Friday (June 5), noting it will immediately begin donating to “organizations that foster equal rights.” “Racial injustice is a global issue that affects our artists, songwriters, our people and of course society at large,” said Sony Music Group chairman Rob Stringer in a statement. “We stand against discrimination everywhere and we will take action accordingly with our community fully involved in effectively using these funds.” Sony Music earlier revealed it would be mat...
