Sony Music Entertainment reported flat sales of $7.20 billion for the last year. Profits almost doubled to $2.08 billion, reflecting the consolidation of EMI Publishing. But for the current year, the company forecast far lower profits of $1.20 billion.
Sony attributed the poor results to lower physical sales and a new accounting standard.
But streaming growth also slowed, with revenue from streaming up just 15.3% to $2.04 billion. That’s a far cry from the 40% increase in 2018. Streaming now accounts for 53.3% of Sony’s recorded music revenues.
Physical music revenues fell 33.7% to $801 million. Competitor Warner Music Group recently posted a small increase in physical sales.
Travis Scott’s Astroworld was Sony’s biggest seller during the financial year, followed by albums from Camila Cabello, Luke Combs, George Ezra, Calvin Harris and Khalid.