Warner losses narrow, Sony post 14% growth

Warner Music saw revenues grow and losses narrow in the final quarter of 2013. Revenues were up from $769 million in the same quarter a year earlier to $815 million, while net loss was down from $80 million to $37 million. Warnerr's 2013 acquisition of the Parlophone Records business in Europe aided the revenue hike. WMG CEO Stephen Cooper told reporters: "There were a number of bright spots this quarter, including strong growth in steaming revenue for our recorded music business and solid performance from our music publishing business. While we had a light release schedule this quarter, we are enthusiastic about our release schedule for the second half of the fiscal year".

Global releases from One Direction, Beyoncé and Miley Cyrus helped Sony Music (both the record label and sony/ATV music publishing) post revenues up 14.4% year-on-year in the last quarter of 2013 resulting in an operating profit rise of 32.5% -  $1.38 billion in revenue and $207 million in profit. Record sales in Japan, however, were down a little year-on-year, though that was blamed on a light release schedule compared to late 2012.