The company’s 284-page annual report for 2024, published last week, is no different – packed with fiscal, operational, and, yes, philosophical detail.
Try this, for example, from Sir Lucian Grainge‘s opening remarks in the document: “The reason so many independent music entrepreneurs actively seek to partner with UMG when they have more alternatives than ever before is that we provide what they’re seeking: the most innovative creatives and finest resources that will advance the careers of their artists and achieve their financial goals within a culture that respects artists and their music.
“After all, we’re not a financial institution that views music as an ‘asset’. And we’re not an aggregator that views music as ‘content’. We are a music company built by visionary music entrepreneurs. For us, music is a vital — perhaps the vital — art form.”
“we’re not a financial institution that views music as an ‘asset’. And we’re not an aggregator that views music as ‘content’. We are a music company built by visionary music entrepreneurs.”
Sir Lucian Grainge, Universal Music Group
In general, UMG’s 2024 annual report proudly trumpets a solid commercial year — a period in which UMG amassed USD $12.88 billion in total revenues, with annual adjusted EBITDA soaring to USD $2.88 billion.
Beyond the headline numbers, the tome contains plenty of nuggets of industry intelligence that warrant closer inspection.
Here are seven of them…
1. ‘Catalog’ sales accounted for 66% of UMG’s recorded music sales/streaming revenue in 2024
In 2024, catalog sales (defined as music older than three years) accounted for 66% of UMG’s recorded music digital and physical revenue (aka: money from record sales and streaming).
Meanwhile, frontline releases (music less than three years old) accounted for 34%.
This represented a shift from 2023, when catalog sales accounted for 62% of UMG’s recorded music digital and physical revenue, highlighting the growing importance of UMG’s extensive back catalog in generating consistent revenue.
This is a continuation of a long-time trend.
Back in 2018, the balance between catalog and frontline in UMG’s digital recorded music revenues was much closer to parity, at 54% (catalog) and 46% (frontline).
2. UMG now generates 52% of its recorded music revenues in North America
Despite UMG’s global presence in more than 60 territories covering nearly 200 markets, its North American operation remains the company’s primary revenue driver.
North America (the USA plus Canada, obvs) accounted for 52% of UMG’s recorded music revenues in 2024, slightly up from 51% in 2023.
Why did that happen? The opening note of the annual report from Sir Lucian Grainge, UMG’s CEO and Chairman, provides a clue.
“UMG had its best US performance in six years [in 2024], according to Luminate.”
Sir Lucian Grainge, Universal Music Group
Grainge writes: “In early 2024 we executed on our vision to realign our US label structure, and within months we were operating with greater agility and efficiency. We then saw something exceptional take place: UMG had its best U.S. performance in six years, according to Luminate.”
The North American market represented just 39% of UMG’s global recorded music revenues back in 2014.
UMG’s geographical revenue breakdown in 2024 shows that Europe accounted for 28% of recorded music revenue in 2024, while Asia (12%), Latin America (5%), and the rest of the world (3%) made up the remainder.
In terms of UMG’s total external revenues (including recorded music, music publishing, merch, and other activities) in 2024, 51% were generated by the firm’s US company, according to the annual report – up slightly on a 50% share in the prior year.
UMG’s UK company generated 9% of these revenues in 2024, the same percentage it claimed in 2023 (see below)
3. UMG’s music publishing catalog now contains 5 million owned and administered titles – around a million more than two years ago
According to the latest UMG annual report, the company’s publishing division (UMPG) now represents songwriting cuts in approximately 5 million songs.
This figure has grown considerably, up by approximately 500k songs vs. 2023, and by 1 million songs vs. 2022.
This demonstrates UMG’s continued investment in music publishing assets, which helped UMPG’s annual revenues jump 9.0% YoY at constant currency in 2024 to hit USD $2.30 billion (EUR 2.12bn).
Meanwhile, the recorded music catalog represented by UMG hit approximately 3.4 million different titles in 2024, up by around 200k YoY.
For comparison, Sony‘s global music publishing operation represented 6.24 million songs as of the end of March 2024, according to company filings, up by a similar YoY volume to UMPG’s catalog.
4. UMG’s top 50 artists accounted for just 24% of its recorded music revenue in 2024
Thought UMG was heavily reliant on the ‘superstar economy’ to thrive? Think again.
“Reads the report: Our extraordinarily diverse roster of artists… means that our business’ success is not reliant on one artist or even a small number of artists. [Our] top 50 artists only accounted for 24% of UMG’s recorded music revenue in 2024.”
Photo Credit: ElenaR/Shutterstock5. UMG’s catalog acquisition spending jumped to USD $288 million in 2024. It spent a further nine-figure sum to buy stakes in various companies.
UMG significantly increased its catalog acquisition spending in 2024, splashing EUR €266 million (USD $288m) to buy music publishing and recorded music catalogs.
This represented a substantial increase from the EUR€178 million ($193m) spent on catalog acquisitions in 2023.
UMG said in its 2024 report that the YoY jump in catalog M&A spending was primarily “due to the timing of deals”.
That catalog M&A investment was separate from UMG’s USD $240 million investment in music copyright M&A vehicle Chord Music, which closed in February 2024.
And speaking of Chord… UMG further confirms in its annual report that it spent a total of EUR €619 million (USD $670m) on the purchase of “consolidated companies, equity affiliates and financial assets” in 2024.
This figure, up €289 million YoY, included UMG’s purchase of: (i) a majority stake in Nigeria’s Mavin Global; (ii) a 25.8% stake in Chord; (iii) a 28.6% stake in live-video shopping platform NTWRK; and (iv) a 51% stake in [PIAS], which completed UMG’s full acquisition of the company.
MBW reported last year that UMG’s cumulative investment in Mavin (majority stake) and Complex/NTWRK (minority stake) would have been in the region of USD$247 million.
6. UMG employs over 10,000 people across more than 60 territories
UMG’s global workforce increased slightly to 10,346 employees as of December 31, 2024, up from 10,290 at the end of 2023.
Of those 10,346 employees, 9,636 were full-time with 710 temporary staff.
The company maintains a gender-diverse workforce, with women representing 51.9% of all employees in 2024 (5,370 female employees compared to 4,955 male employees).
Despite the global headcount of UMG rising slightly, the firm’s headcount in North America (the US plus Canada) reduced YoY: from 4,051 in 2023 to 3,715 in 2024.
Still, at the close of last year, the United States was UMG’s biggest employment base with a headcount of 3,512, followed by the United Kingdom with 1,562 employees.
7. Artist costs reached USD $5.9 billion in 2024
UMG spent €5.46 billion ($5.9bn) on artist costs in 2024, representing an increase from €5.15 billion ($5.6bn) in 2023.
These costs include royalty expenses (including those applied against unrecouped artist/writer accounts), advances to new and unproven talent that are immediately expensed, and write-downs on any advances deemed unrecoupable.
This substantial investment in artists underscores UMG’s commitment to talent development and retention.
Artist costs accounted for approximately 46.2% of the company’s total revenues in 2024, down slightly from 46.4% in 2023.
8. UMG now speaks to an ‘owned audience’ of over 200 million fans – thanks to superfan-driven D2C investments
UMG has made significant progress in scaling its D2C capabilities and monetizing ‘superfans’.
The company’s “owned audience”, referring to customers registered to receive marketing materials from UMG’s owned and operated websites, grew to over 200 million fans in 2024 as UMG expanded its D2C capabilities into additional territories.
That D2C platform is already supporting more than 1,000 artist stores globally, helping to rapidly grow UMG’s D2C revenues.
All EUR-USD conversions in this report have been made at average annual rates (for both 2024 and 2023) as per the IRS.Music Business Worldwide
