Mass Media Notes

摘要

Warner Music Group “would welcome Apple’s entering into the digital radio business,” CEOnStephen Cooper said on the company’s fiscal Q2 earnings call Tuesday. That was in response to a requestnfor comment about Universal Music’s reported royalty deal with Apple for its as-yet-unannounced streamingnmusic service. Widely published reports indicate that stalled negotiations with Sony Music and Warnernover licensing fees for iRadio have slowed the streaming music service’s ramp to market. While carefullynselecting his words Tuesday, Cooper said: “We, I think, as well as the rest of the industry, wouldnwelcome Apple’s entering into the digital radio business.” The move by Apple “would lead the charge fornother entrants and would accelerate also the growth of simulcast and digital radio from terrestrial participants,”nhe said. He said he hoped “Universal, Sony, we and others in the industry will come to terms withnApple in the near future.” Apple declined to comment. On whether iRadio as a streaming service wouldnbe a threat to Warner Music’s download business, Cooper said other prominent digital radio services —nciting Pandora as the leading example — haven't resulted in "any meaningful shift in consumer behaviornaway from collecting music.” Cooper cited RIAA data showing U.S. recorded music revenue slipped lessnthan 1 percent in calendar 2012. Digital revenue grew 14 percent and accounted for 59 percent of totalnU.S. recorded music revenue for the year, he said. Subscription, streaming and digital radio services generatedn15 percent of U.S. recorded music revenue for the year, up from 9 percent in 2011, according tonRIAA data. Warner’s track-equivalent album unit sales, meanwhile, grew 7 percent year-over-year for thenquarter in the U.S., “significantly outpacing the industry,” which was down 4 percent, Cooper said. Warner'sntrack-equivalent album share grew two percentage points to 20 percent, its highest quarterly share inn30 months, he said. Cooper said he “wouldn’t want to assume what Apple’s long-term plans are,” but saidnApple continues to “build and complement all of the facets of its ecosphere.” Cooper’s view is that whilenApple likely has “more information about consumer behavior and preferences than anybody on thenplanet,” digital radio “hasn’t eroded the consumer’s preference to collect music and want to control andncollect that in their own way.” Cooper said of Apple, “I suspect that they suspect that this will be complementary as opposed to creating erosion in the overall demand for either downloads or the collecting ofnmusic in other forms.” On the Local Radio Freedom Act, which by NAB's account is now co-sponsorednby 133 members of the House and 10 senators, Warner Music Chief Financial Officer Brian Roberts saidnWarner is “supportive, clearly, of a performance right in terrestrial radio for the recorded music industry.”nFrom an industry perspective, he said, “We’re very supportive of getting that right.” For fiscal Q2 endednMarch 31, Warner Music Group posted revenue of $675 million, up 8 percent year-over-year. Digitalnrevenue grew 20 percent over the year-ago quarter to $281 million. The company swung to a profit of $2nmillion after posting a $36 million loss in fiscal Q2 2012, it said.