EMI revs on the rise
Releases from Coldplay, Gorillaz help numbers jump
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EMI made £41 million ($70.4 million) pre-tax profit in the six months to the end of September, on sales up nearly 6% at £925 million ($1.6 billion).
Encouraging investors about the group’s performance, the company revealed that while the global recorded music market was down by almost 1%, EMI’s artists helped it to grow by 4.3%. That also boosted the company’s market share from 12.5% to 13.1%.
EMI Group chairman Eric Nicoli blamed the slight decline in global recorded music sales on the growing popularity of digital music (now 6% of global music sales) being downloaded to computers, mobile phones and other devices.
Nicoli says, “We bucked the trend, essentially, with great music. EMI Music, our recorded music division, had releases from new stars like KT Tunstall, from established superstars like Coldplay and Gorillaz and from long established superstars like the Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney. EMI Music Publishing had releases from leading songwriters like Alicia Keys, James Blunt and Jermaine Dupri.”
Refusing to be drawn on rumors about a merger with Warner Music, Nicoli concludes, “Longer term, we believe that the market will return to growth, driven by digital growth. And we believe that EMI will flourish in that growing market because we will be more focused than ever on creating wonderful music and more focused than ever on marketing that music effectively in the many different ways now available to us.”
The company also said that it expects a healthy second half to the year. Robbie Williams’ latest album, Intensive Care, released last month, has sold 3.5 million units to date, while other releases for the all-important December holidays include albums by Kate Bush, Depeche Mode and Beastie Boys.
