Streaming is Sony’s top music revenue source in Q1

Sony logo canvasSony Music Entertainment’s latest quarterly results show the continued importance of streaming in the company’s financial health. Quarterly streaming revenue from audio and video sources increased 39% from the year-ago period to 30.67 billion yen ($300 million). It is now the majority source of revenue for the label, pulling in about $25 million a week and accounting for 34.2% of the recorded music revenue.

Digital downloads fell 21% on-year to 16.61 billion yen ($162 million), securing a share of 18.5% of Sony’s revenue. Physical revenue’s share was 32.3%, a 13% decline to 28.86 billion yen ($282 million).

Total recorded music revenue was 89.71 billion yen ($877 million) in Sony’s first quarter of 2016, up just slightly from 89.33 billion yen in the year-ago period following the yen’s stronger growth against the dollar. In FY 2015, Sony reported streaming revenue growth of 57%, falling just shy of $1 billion.

Anna Washenko