Universal Music Group (UMG) earned a lot more money in the first quarter of this year with the music of the record label. In particular, the company benefited from the popularity of Japanese artists such as the band King & Prince, singer Fujii Kaze and singer Ado. The singer The Weeknd was also one of the top sellers of UMG in the past quarter.

The company, listed on the Amsterdam stock exchange, earned almost a fifth more from subscriptions and streaming of music. That is the main source of income for UMG. Revenues from download sales continued to decline, which is the industry-wide trend according to the largest record label in the world. UMG also managed to earn a lot more from merchandising because artists can perform live again more often because the corona pandemic seems to have been brought under control in large parts of the world.

In the first quarter of this year, the company posted a turnover of 2.2 billion euros. That is almost 22 percent more than the 1.8 billion euros in the same period last year. Profit before tax, among other things, rose by 15 percent to 454 million euros. UMG made its debut on the Amsterdam stock exchange in September. It was one of the largest IPOs on Damrak in recent years.