BMG to Hit 1 Billion Euros in Revenues by 2024

BMG says it will start generating one billion euros in revenue starting in 2024, achieving a financial target the company set for itself a full two years ahead of schedule, according to a corporate presentation made last week.

The record label and publisher improved its growth forecast thanks to strategic investments from parent company Bertelsmann and a strong performance from several recently acquired song catalogs, BMG chief executive Hartwig Masuch told a gathering of senior Bertelsmann executives.

Meeting its billion-euro goal will make BMG one of the fastest-growing new music companies in the industry, executives said.

Founded in 2008, BMG generated 663 million euros ($784.13 million) in revenues in 2021, a 10.1% increase from 2020. In the first half of 2022, the company reported revenues grew 25% to 371 million euros ($405.7 million, based on an average exchange rate over the first six months) compared to the period a year ago.

By comparison, Korean music company HYBE, home to K-pop superstars BTS, has reported revenue for the first half of 2022 totaled 797.2 billion KRW ($623.7 million). There are concerns that HYBE’s growth for the second half of the year may be dented by BTS’s “hiatus,” which the band announced on June 14.

Bertelsmann has said it would invest between five billion and seven billion euros in BMG, beginning in 2021 and continuing through 2025. In addition, BMG announced a partnership with private equity firm KKR last March, which could bring in as much as $1 billion in joint investment capital to buy song catalogs.

Some of the early results of that partnership included BMG and KKR acquiring music rights from John Legend and ZZ Top. Separately, BMG acquired an extensive portfolio of Tina Turner rights and the entire Mötley Crüe master recording catalog in 2021. Terms of those deals were not disclosed.

Speaking at the Bertelsmann gathering, Masuch said the company’s investments accelerate BMG’s core strategy, and that meeting this billion-euro goal will translate to a 15-year compound annual growth rate of 36%.