This week, Sony Music generated a record $3.15 billion from recorded music and music publishing in calendar Q3 2026, up 8.9% year-on-year.
Meanwhile, MBW founder Tim Ingham unpacked five takeaways from Universal Music Group‘s Q3 earnings, from ‘supercharged’ artist-centric royalties to Downtown‘s margins and more cost cuts.
Elsewhere, Influence Media Partners completed its acquisition of Anthem Entertainment‘s catalogs in a deal valued at over $600 million.
Also this week, Warner Music Group acquired German independent distributor Zebralution Music from Bookwire.
Plus: Musixmatch and DistroKid renewed their lyrics distribution partnership under a new multi-year agreement.
Here are some of the biggest headlines from the past few days…
1. Sony generated a record $3.15B from recorded music and publishing in calendar Q3 2026, up 8.9% YoY
Sony‘s combined revenues from recorded music and music publishing topped $3 billion for a fourth consecutive quarter in calendar Q3 2026, hitting a new quarterly high in the process.
Across both recorded music and music publishing, the company’s operations generated USD $3.15 billion in the three months to end of September 2026.
That’s according to MBW’s calculations based on Sony Group Corp’s calendar Q3 2026 (fiscal Q2 2026) results, as announced by the Japanese conglomerate today (Thursday, November 5). (MBW)
2. ‘Supercharged’ royalties, Downtown’s margins, and cost cuts: What I learned from UMG’s Q3 earnings
Back in April, Sir Lucian Grainge compared the quarter-to-quarter rhythm of Universal Music Group’s business to a bottle of tomato ketchup. Sometimes nothing comes out… then you leave it a few minutes, and the whole lot glubs out over your plate.
Q3 2026: Glub.
UMG’s results for the three months to the end of September, published last Thursday (October 29), showed revenues up 11.7% YoY at constant currency to €3.394 billion ($3.90B). Adjusted EBITDA climbed 9.0% YoY to €729 million ($838.7m). (MBW)
3. Influence Media Partners completes acquisition of Anthem Entertainment's catalogs in deal valued at over $600M
Influence Media Partners has completed its acquisition of “substantially all of” Anthem Entertainment‘s assets, in a transaction valued at over $600 million.
The deal was struck in collaboration with funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, as confirmed by an announcement today (November 5).
It covers Anthem‘s music publishing catalogs, its film and TV publishing assets, and its portfolio of master recordings, according to a press release issued by Influence Media. (MBW)
4. WMG acquires indie distributor Zebralution Music
Warner Music Group has acquired Zebralution Music, a distributor for independent record labels in Germany and across Europe that was spun off from Zebralution this year.
The seller is Frankfurt-based digital publishing company Bookwire, which is controlled by New York-based private equity firm Insight Partners through UK-based Delta Software Group. Insight agreed to buy Zebralution from German collecting society GEMA in January and folded it into Bookwire when the deal closed in March.
Bookwire kept Zebralution’s audiobook and digital publishing business and announced in April that it would set up the music business as an independent company. (MBW)
5. Musixmatch and DistroKid renew lyrics distribution partnership under multi-year deal
Musixmatch and DistroKid have renewed their worldwide lyrics distribution partnership under a new multi-year agreement.
Under the deal, announced on Thursday (November 5), DistroKid will continue to offer Musixmatch’s lyric distribution through its Lyric Blaster service.
Powered by Musixmatch, Lyric Blaster lets artists deliver their lyrics to streaming and social platforms including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Instagram, and Amazon, according to the companies. (MBW)
