Los Angeles - Warner Music Group, home to artists such as Madonna, Green Day and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, said Thursday
quarterly profits were down by 74 per cent as demand for recorded music dropped in the US and Europe.
The company said it earned 18 million dollars in its fiscal first quarter, compared to 69 million dollars in the same period last year. Revenue fell 11 per cent to 928 million dollars.
The poor results reflected the continued challenge facing music companies as they struggle to deal with online music sharing that cuts into sales. Warner had also warned that profits would be down as its best selling artists failed to release new albums over the recent holiday period.
The company said that during the quarter, sales of albums by artists including Josh Groban, My Chemical Romance, Eric Clapton, Diddy and Luis Miguel, failed to match those of hit albums a year earlier by artists such as Madonna, James Blunt and Green Day.
The company said recorded-music revenue fell 13 per cent to 800 million dollars from 920 million dollars. The shortfall was too big to be made up by a 45 per cent jump in Warner's digital music sales, which reached 100 million dollars but accounted for only 11 per cent of total revenues.
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/b..._profits_crash
ouch, that really sucks. madonna and the peppers better release another album soon or else they're in trouble.
