Label news

Warner Music saw revenues rise by 8% year on year in the quarter to 31st January 2013 to $675 million, while operating income was up 159% to $57 million and net income moved into profit, to $2 million, from a loss in the same quarter a year earlier. In other Warner's news, Edgar Bronfman Jr, the former CEO of the mini-major, who led the consortium that bought the music firm from Time Warner in 2004, has left the company's board.

Revenues at Universal owner Vivendi were stable in the first quarter of its current financial year, though net income slipped by 18.5%, from 825 million euros to 672 million. The entertainment and communication group's mobile business that caused most of the slide. Universal Music, in contrast, saw its revenues rise 13.5% year on year in the first quarter, to 1,091 million euros. Better than expected income from the mega-major's newly acquired EMI units contributed to that upturn. Digital products generated 54% of Universal's recorded music revenue in the period, compared to 46% in the first quarter of 2012.

And the CEO of hedge fund Third Point, Daniel Lobe, has called on Sony Corp to sell off a slice of its entertainment business in a bid to boost profits, according to the New York Times. The US-based Sony entertainment group includes the Sony Music record company and the firm's half of the Sony/ATV music publishing business. Third Point own 6.5% of the shares in Sony Corp.