Revenue up 10% for Universal after a year of landmark deals and streaming growth

Universal Music Group posted revenue of €5.673 billion in 2017, up 10% from the previous year. Recorded music revenue rose by 11.3% and music publishing revenue rose by 9.6%. The higher revenue drove EBITA up 20.6% to €761 million. Revenue from streaming and subscriptions grew 35.4%, which offset declining revenue from both downloads and physical sales.

“In 2018, UMG should be able to benefit from the growth of the market particularly as a result of the development of subscription and streaming services,” parent company Vivendi said in its press release announcing the results.

Universal landed several notable deals for use of its catalog in 2017. Those included agreements with Spotify, Tencent, YouTube, and Facebook.