Music Industry Q1 2026 Earnings: Who's Hitting the High Notes?

The first quarter of 2026 saw major music and entertainment companies reporting strong earnings, though investor reception was mixed.

Spotify and Universal Music Group (UMG) both surpassed expectations on key metrics. However, their share prices experienced declines of 13% and 9%, respectively, following the results. Investors expressed concerns over Spotify's operating income forecast and investments in AI and marketing. UMG's lighter release schedule compared to the previous year also played a role. (UMG did have a piece of BTS’s first studio album in five years, ARIRANG; however, last year, they put out hit albums from Kendrick Lamar, Sabrina Carpenter, The Weeknd and more.)

South Korea’s HYBE reported record-setting revenue driven by BTS, with their album and world tour contributing to the company's highest-ever Q1 revenue. In the live entertainment sector, Live Nation's stock saw an 8% increase following near-record first-quarter revenue. Sphere Entertainment Co. also experienced a 4% stock rise, fueled by the success of its immersive adaptation of The Wizard of Oz at the Sphere in Las Vegas.

Sony's music segment, encompassing Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment (Japan), and Sony Music Publishing, achieved a banner fiscal quarter and year, ending on March 31. Sony music reported record-high operating income for the year, while Warner Music Group also reported a strong quarter that demonstrated "we have now hit our stride,” according to WMG CEO Robert Kyncl.

Meanwhile, SiriusXM mitigated subscriber losses through family plan subscriptions, price adjustments, and increased advertising revenue from Pandora. Madison Square Garden Entertainment reported higher revenue due to an increase in concerts, including sold-out shows at The Garden from Cardi B and FKA Twigs.

iHeart Radio and Tencent Music Group are scheduled to report earnings this week.

Here's a detailed look, in alphabetical order, at the music companies that have released their earnings results for the quarter ending March 31, 2026 (as of May 11). This list will be updated as more companies report.

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<span>L</span>ive Nation&rsquo;s quarterly earnings ending March 31 of $3.79 billion almost tied its best-ever quarter for quarterly revenue from two years ago, as the promotion giant reported a 12% year-over-year increase in revenue despite legal expenses related to its antitrust trial. The company reported on Tuesday (May 5) that adjusted operating income (AOI) rose 9% to $371 million, with AOI from its concert segment up 7% to $3 million on 24 million fans attending events. Ticketing AOI rose 4% to&nbsp;$256 million from 81 million fee-bearing tickets, and sponsorship AOI was up 21% to $165 million.&nbsp;&nbsp;






The company&rsquo;s Q1 deferred revenue for concerts and Ticketmaster&nbsp;&mdash; money collected for future concerts &mdash;&nbsp;also hit record levels.&nbsp;






&ldquo;We are seeing a fundamental shift as fans prioritize the &lsquo;live&rsquo; experience &mdash; the chance to be physically present with their favorite artists and share that energy with friends and fellow fans in a way a screen simply cannot replicate,&rdquo; <a href="https://www.billboard.com/pro/live-nation-q1-earnings-revenue-concerts-ticketing-aoi/">said Live Nation president and CEO&nbsp;**Michael Rapino**</a>&nbsp;in a press release. &nbsp;

<span>M</span>adison Square Garden Entertainment reported on Thursday (May 7) revenue for its third fiscal quarter rose 2% to $246.3 million as The Garden hosted more concerts in the quarter, including from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.billboard.com/artist/cardi-b/">Cardi B</a>, but profit fell 36% to $5.1 million on higher event, suite licensing and healthcare costs. Operating income also fell to $16.1 million, a decrease of 41%, and adjusted operating income of $46.0 million was down 20% from the year-ago quarter. Another Harry Styles residency&ndash;twice as long as last year&rsquo;s&ndash;this August is expected to fuel record-setting concert revenue, MSGE Chief Financial Officer <a href="https://www.billboard.com/pro/msge-q1-earnings-2026/">David Collins told investors. </a>

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<span>O</span>n Thursday (April 30), SiriusXM Holdings <a href="https://www.billboard.com/pro/siriusxm-2026-q1-earnings-report/">reported double-digit profit growth </a>for the first quarter, driven by subscription price hikes, increased advertising revenue from Pandora and companion plans boosting customer loyalty.






Net income rose 20% to $245 million, and overall revenue edged 1% higher to $2.1 billion in the quarter ending March 31 compared to the same period a year ago. The company&rsquo;s adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose by nearly 6% to $666 million for a margin of 31.9%, and the drop-off rate among self-pay subscribers was at an all-time low despite the company raising prices for the second year in a row in February. 






SiriusXM lost around 111,000 self-paying subscribers compared to 303,000 this quarter last year, which the company attributed to the success of its companion, or family, plans. 






SiriusXM&rsquo;s stock has been on a headline-fueled run-up, climbing more than 15% in April to nearly $27 a share as investors speculated it may be in talks to acquire terrestrial radio company iHeartRadio and could benefit from a regulatory change related to spectrum. Executives declined to directly address both matters on a call discussing earnings.

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<span>S</span>M Entertainment reported that first-quarter revenue rose 20.6% to KRW 279.1 billion ($189.4 million) and operating profit increased 18.5% to KRW 38.6 billion ($26 million) from a year ago as global tours by<a href="https://www.billboard.com/artist/super-junior/"> Super Junior</a>, <a href="https://www.billboard.com/artist/nct-dream/">NCT DREAM</a>, <a href="https://www.billboard.com/artist/aespa/">aespa</a>, <a href="https://www.billboard.com/artist/riize/">RIIZE</a> and NCT WISH drove a surge in concert revenue.






Concert revenue was up 56.0%, and merchandising and licensing revenue grew 20.3%, which the company said was driven &ldquo;by strong sales of light sticks &hellip; merchandise [and] pop-up events tied to EXO&rsquo;s full-length album release, NCT WISH projects, and aespa&rsquo;s ongoing touring.&rdquo;






The company projected further growth in recorded music, digital distribution and live performance revenues in the second and third quarters, fueled by second-quarter releases from TAEYONG, aespa, NCT WISH, SHINee, RIIZE, Hearts2Hearts and RYEOWOOK. Live revenues will be supported by touring activities from aespa and EXO.

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<span>S</span>ony&rsquo;s music segment <a href="https://www.billboard.com/pro/sony-music-group-yearly-revenues-fiscal-25-26/">reported on May 8</a> that quarterly revenue rose 21% to 570 billion Japanese yen ($3.6 billion) on higher recorded music streaming revenue,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.billboard.com/artist/bad-bunny/">Bad Bunny</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.billboard.com/artist/harry-styles/">Harry Styles</a>&nbsp;album sales, and live events and merchandise. The division of the Tokyo-based entertainment giant includes Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) and Sony Music Publishing. It was a strong quarter and capstone to the major&rsquo;s fiscal year in which Sony Music generated 2.120 trillion yen ($13.3 billion) in revenues and record-high operating income of 447 billion yen ($2.8 billion). 

Not included in its earnings release but disclosed a short time later, Sony Music Publishing, in a partnership with Singapore sovereign investment fund GIC, reached an agreement <a href="https://www.billboard.com/pro/sony-music-publishing-acquires-recognition-catalog/">to&nbsp;acquire&nbsp;the music assets</a> of the Recognition Music Group from private equity giant Blackstone.<a href="https://www.billboard.com/pro/sony-negotiating-buy-recognition-music-group-blackstone/"> <em>Billboard</em> first reported Sony was in talks to acquire the Recognition portfolio on May 1. </a>

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<span>T</span>he Sphere Entertainment Company <a href="https://www.billboard.com/pro/sphere-entertainment-q1-2026-earnings/">reported on Tuesday (May 5) </a>that its first quarter revenue of $386 million was up nearly 40% from a year ago on the continued success of <em>The Wizard of Oz at Sphere</em>&nbsp;and residencies from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.billboard.com/artist/eagles/">The Eagles</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.billboard.com/artist/illenium/">Illenium</a>&lsquo;s Odyssey. Despite a decline in overall tourism to Las Vegas in 2025 and this past January, Sphere business operations and strategy head **Jennifer Koester** said the company&rsquo;s 20,000-seat flagship venue in the city is an incremental driver of tourism, with nearly 3 million <em>Oz</em> tickets totaling $370 million in revenue being sold since the show&rsquo;s debut last August.






&ldquo;We&rsquo;re seeing solid demand for&nbsp;<em>The Wizard of Oz</em>&nbsp;from all segments of that market, and that includes our cost-conscious consumers,&rdquo; Koester said on a call discussing the company&rsquo;s quarterly earnings.






Vegas tourism appears to have rebounded in February and March, and Koester pointed to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.billboard.com/artist/phish/">Phish&rsquo;s recent</a> sold-out, nine-show run, <a href="https://www.billboard.com/artist/backstreet-boys/">Backstreet Boys</a>&lsquo; return for a 21-show residency this summer, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.billboard.com/artist/metallica/">Metallica&rsquo;s</a>&nbsp;sold-out 24-concert residency this fall as fuel for higher concert revenues this year.

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<span>S</span>potify&rsquo;s stock price fell more than 12% on April 28 following guidance from executives that the company expects lower operating income in the second quarter as it invests in technology, AI and marketing. Still, the streaming giant&rsquo;s largest-ever single-day share price decline followed <a href="https://www.billboard.com/pro/spotifys-26-q1-earnings-10-million-new-monthly-users/">first-quarter earnings</a>&nbsp;that beat company guidance on nearly all metrics. Monthly active users (MAUs) rose by 10 million in the quarter to a total of 761 million, driven by a 14% increase in ad-supported MAUs and a 9% increase in premium subscribers. Revenue topped 4.5 billion euros ($5.3 billion) on 10% growth in subscriber revenue, and operating income of 715 million euros ($821 million) beat guidance by 55 million euros ($63.2 million) due to lower-than-expected social charges, giving the company an operating margin of 15.8%.






<a href="https://www.billboard.com/pro/spotify-stock-down-q1-earnings-report-why/">Investors reacted negatively </a>to a piece of the company&rsquo;s forward-looking guidance that called for 630 million euros ($723.4 million) of operating income in the second quarter, with 10 million euros ($11.5 million) in expected social charges and elevated operating expenses for the next two quarters due to Spotify&rsquo;s technology, AI and marketing investments. While that figure is down from the first quarter, Spotify executives said they expect second-quarter revenue of 4.8 billion euros from an additional 17 million monthly active users, for a total of 778 million MAUs.

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<span>U</span>niversal Music Group (UMG) <a href="https://www.billboard.com/pro/universal-music-reports-2026-q1-earnings/">reported</a> on Tuesday (April 29) that first-quarter revenue was flat at 2.9 billion euros ($3.33 billion), as the success of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.billboard.com/artist/bts/">BTS</a>&lsquo;s first studio album in five years couldn&rsquo;t compare to the first quarter of 2025, when UMG released albums from Kendrick Lamar, Sabrina Carpenter, Lady Gaga, The Weeknd and Mrs. GREEN APPLE.






In UMG&rsquo;s preferred constant currency metric, which normalizes foreign currency fluctuations that hurt its dollar-denominated earnings this quarter, the company saw overall revenue increase by 8.1%.






UMG chairman and CEO&nbsp;**Lucian Grainge**&nbsp;said in an earnings call that the company&rsquo;s board had approved a doubling of its share buy-back program to 1 billion euros and the sale of half of UMG&rsquo;s equity stake in Spotify, with a portion of the proceeds going to UMG artists as a non-recoupable check. <a href="https://www.billboard.com/artist/taylor-swift/">Taylor Swift</a> may<a href="https://www.billboard.com/pro/taylor-swift-umg-deal-artists-spotify-share-sale-payout/"> have had something to do with that. </a>






Grainge declined to comment on Pershing Square&rsquo;s recent merger offer for UMG. Analysts noted that in the April 7 offer, Pershing suggested UMG sell its Spotify stake.

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<span>W</span>arner Music Group (WMG) reported on May 7 that first-quarter revenue was up 17% to $1.7 billion, driven by a 17% increase in recorded music revenue and a 14% increase in music publishing compared to last year. The quarter benefitted from major releases from artists including&nbsp;<a href="https://www.billboard.com/artist/bruno-mars/">Bruno Mars</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.billboard.com/artist/sombr/">sombr</a>, but Warner Music Group CEO&nbsp;<a href="https://www.billboard.com/pro/warner-music-q1-earnings-revenue-up-bruno-mars-sombr/">**Robert Kyncl&nbsp;**said </a>the strong quarter was the result of &ldquo;years of &hellip; hard, unsexy, foundational work. We have now hit our stride.&rdquo; 






On an call discussing earnings, WMG&rsquo;s CFO **Armin Zerza** said the company has spent $650 million from its joint venture with Bain Capital on &ldquo;f &ldquo;heavyweight &hellip; iconic, high-margin catalogs.&rdquo; On May 8, <em>Billboard </em>confirmed almost $300 million of that was spent to acquire <a href="https://www.billboard.com/pro/red-hot-chili-peppers-sells-recorded-catalog-warner-music/">the&nbsp;Red Hot Chili Peppers&nbsp;</a>recorded music catalog, which Billboard f<a href="https://www.billboard.com/pro/red-hot-chili-peppers-shopping-music-catalog/">irst reported</a> in February 2025.

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