Universal Music Group is worth more than $50 billion, as firm’s share price hits highest point in 2 years

Universal Music Group (UMG) is ending 2023 with a bang.

The world’s largest music rightsholder ended its buying and selling day immediately (December 12) on the Amsterdam Euronext with its highest share worth of the yr so far.

Actually, with a share worth of EUR €25.77, UMG completed immediately with its largest public valuation for two years.

In accordance with Euronext data, UMG’s share worth immediately translated right into a market cap valuation of EUR €46.944 billion.

In US Greenback phrases at present change charges, that’s price USD $50.68 billion.

That is Common’s highest share worth since December 7, 2021 (€25.78) – simply over 24 months in the past.

UMG’s share worth peak got here in mid-November 2021, when its day-close inventory worth crested at €27.72.

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Common’s present inventory worth (€25.77) is up by 12.39% year-to-date.

That progress has been helped by positive analyst reaction to UMG’s efforts across the ‘artist-centric’ royalty mannequin – including a partnership with Deezer that has modified how artists are paid by the platform in France.

The corporate’s ‘artist-centric’ philosophy – first laid out by Chairman/CEO, Sir Lucian Grainge, in January – additionally seems to have had an inluence on changes coming to Spotify‘s royalty mannequin in Q1 2024.

Common has loved a sturdy monetary yr to this point: Within the first nine months of 2023, UMG’s general revenues hit EUR €7.901 billion, up by 9.4% YoY at fixed forex.

When it comes to recorded music streaming revenues – together with ad-supported and subscription – UMG generated EUR €4.169 billion within the first 9 months of this yr, up by 9.7% YoY in fixed forex.

Common Music Group is at present price extra when it comes to public valuation than the world’s largest audio streaming service, Spotify.

Spotify’s share worth has risen previously eight days following information – introduced by CEO Daniel Ek final Monday (December 4) – that the corporate is to put off roughly 1,500 folks, round 17% of its world workforce.

On the shut of immediately (December 12) on the New York Inventory Alternate, Spotify’s share worth stood at USD $199.00 – representing a year-to-date improve of a exceptional 142.98%.

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Even so, Spotify’s market cap is considerably smaller than Common Music Group’s with the top of 2023 in sight.

In accordance with Google Finance, Spotify’s market cap on the shut of immediately was USD $38.83 billion – that’s round USD $12 billion decrease than UMG’s.

MBW not too long ago reported on a submitting from Common Music Group with the US Copyright Workplace (USCO), which set out UMG’s place on the thorny subject of copyright and generative AI platforms.

UMG’s submission, which turned publicly available in November, railed towards the concept the ingestion of copyright materials by generative AI platforms might be deemed ‘honest use’ beneath US regulation.

In a written reply to a query posed by the USCO that asks, “beneath what circumstances would the unauthorized use of copyrighted works to coach AI fashions represent honest use?”, UMG’s submission was unequivocal.

“The wholesale appropriation of UMG’s huge catalog of copyright-protected sound recordings and musical compositions to construct multibillion industrial enterprises is something however honest use,” mentioned UMG.

“It’s merely theft on an unprecedented scale that threatens the core of our enterprise and our mission.”

Common Music Group on AI techniques ingesting copyrighted materials with out permission

It added later within the part: “We are able to consider no precedent for locating this sort of wholesale, industrial taking that competes straight with the copyrighted works appropriated to be honest use”.

UMG argued that “such appropriation” – coaching AI techniques with copyrighted materials with out permission – “falls exterior of the broad justifications that sometimes characterize honest makes use of – resembling parodic remark or factual information reporting – and doesn’t fulfill the statutory requirements for honest use”.

It added: “It’s merely theft on an unprecedented scale that threatens the core of our enterprise and our mission.”Music Enterprise Worldwide