14 MusicWeek 27.04.12
BUSINESSANALYSISPUBLISHING2011 EDITORIAL
More power in fewer hands
EMI TOP SINGLES PUBLISHER AGAIN, Universal once more ruling on albums. On the face of it, at least, there was a real air of familiarity about how 2011 played out among the biggest players in the world of music publishing. But, as we all know, with the European Commission
approving the Sony/ATV-led $2.2bn (£1.4bn) planned takeover of EMI Music Publishing, things within this part of the music industry may well never be the same again. Such is the scale of this deal, the biggest there has ever been
in music publishing, that it makes it impossible to assess 2011’s newly-unveiled market shares for the UK without making proper reference to it. As it was, the figures were already somewhat out of kilter with
normality given the extraordinary impact on the numbers by Adele, who swelled her publisher Universal’s score to record levels, but the results also have to be looked at from the point of view of what they may mean in the context of EMI and Sony/ATV’s assets being administered jointly. What we can safely assume is that Sony/ATV, which plans to run
its current publishing operation and that of EMI as separate businesses but administer both, will overtake Universal on a global basis if the deal is passed by all regulators. It would also move ahead in the UK where, at least in terms of chart market share calculated by Music Week, EMI has managed to more than hold its own against a rival in Universal whose own interests were substantially swelled when it bought out BMG Music Publishing in 2006.
‘The deal Sony/ATV has led for EMI will change the face of music publishing forever’
One easy assessment of the 2011 market share figures from
the aspect of the EMI takeover is the simple arithmetic of adding up EMI and Sony/ATV’s individual market shares and coming up with supposedly what Sony/ATV will then oversee. However, history tells us this may not throw up an accurate
forecast, a point illustrated when Sony and BMG merged in 2004. The new company ended up controlling a much smaller slice of the global music market than the two majors did collectively when they were individual businesses. And there has been a similar outcome with the amalgamation
of Universal and BMG’s music publishing assets with the two companies’ combined UK albums chart market share having been 38.4% in 2005, the year before their merger, but in this year just gone even an Adele-boosted record performance from Universal left it 10 percentage points short of that total. As was the case when BMG Publishing was taken over, in the
EMI deal we also have to take into account assets being sold off to allow regulators to grant approval, so that would further reduce the size of the assets Sony/ATV would look after. But, however much of the market Sony/ATV would end up
overseeing, the deal it has led for EMI will if fully approved change the face of music publishing forever, further reducing the number of individually-administered major owners and leaving more power in fewer hands. Paul Williams, Head of Business Analysis
Do you have views on this column? Feel free to comment by emailing
paul.williams@intentmedia.co.uk
www.musicweek.com
CHANGING THE
The ubiquitous Adele propelled Universal to the top of the albums publishing market in 2011 – but with the effects of the Sony/ATV-EMI Publishing merger just over the horizon, the future will be a very different place
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Universal top albums publisher with personal best score of 28.8% thanks to Adele (right) EMI top singles publisher for second successive year with 23.1% share including Rihanna hit We Found Love penned by Calvin Harris Sony/ATV’s 17.4% albums score company’s highest yet and includes contributions from Ed Sheeran, Jessie J, Lady Gaga and Noel Gallagher Warner/Chappell’s singles and albums market shares below 10% to place it fourth in both markets Kobalt top indie publisher after successes such as Moves Like Jagger with BMG Chrysalis runner-up
ALBUMS BY PAUL WILLIAMS
A
dele helped Universal Music Publishing dominate the albums market last year like no other publisher has this century as it
grabbed a record share of sales. UK and Europe president Paul Connolly and his
company claimed a 28.8% share of the sector across the whole of 2011, which not only represented a new annual high for Universal but was also the largest yearly albums market share by anyone since the turn of the millennium. Crucial to this achievement was its writer Adele
whose own record-breaking 2011 with her albums 21 and 19 came largely with repertoire under Universal’s control. Through Adele’s co-writes and a cover of The Cure’s Lovesong, which is also on the publisher’s books, Universal commanded a 54.6% share of the year’s top seller 21, while 87.5% of 19 was made up of the company’s copyrights. This took in Adele’s contributions and co-writes such as
Chasing Pavements by its then signing Eg White, who has since moved to Sony/ATV and turned up again as a contributor on the second album. Adele’s two albums sold nearly 5 million copies
in the UK in 2011 with Universal’s own shares of them equating to more than 3 million of these sales. The closest share any other publisher had of the 21 album compared to Universal’s was BMG Chrysalis with a 15.5% stake, while EMI’s handled 13.6% of the repertoire. The Adele factor put clear water and then some
between Universal and the rest of the field with second-placed EMI a distant 11.2 percentage points behind in market share calculations that reflect publishers’ interests in the year’s Top 50 sellers. The gap between the two rivals in 2010 when Universal was also top was 7.2 points and increased by nearly 60% over the following 12 months despite EMI’s own score rising. But, while the XL Recordings superstar made all
the difference between Universal having a good year and a great one, the company was hardly reliant on
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