BMG Tightens Focus and Boosts Profitability Despite Revenue Dip in First Half of 2025
BMG saw its revenue decline by 7.8% in the first half of 2025, dropping to €424 million (down from €459 million in the same period in 2024)
This year’s downturn reflects both strategic portfolio realignments, namely the divestment of its live business and shedding lower-margin activities, and broader market shifts.
Despite the revenue fall, the company’s adjusted operating EBITDA remained flat at €122 million, matching the figure from H1 2024.
This stability helped push BMG’s EBITDA margin to a record-high 28.7%, up from 26.5% the previous year.
Executive leadership attributes the improved profitability to the success of the “BMG Next” strategy, under which the company is focusing on its core strengths in music publishing and recorded music, scaling back less lucrative segments, and investing heavily in digital-first innovation.
Additional financial insights:
Organic revenue, which strips out currency effects and acquisitions/disposals, fell by 4.4% YoY
Underlying streaming revenues continued to grow strongly, with high single-digit increases reported.
Geographically, more than 50% of revenue came from the U.S., followed by 10.9% from the UK and 8% from Germany.
The company also maintained its aggressive investment in music rights. BMG completed 17 catalog acquisitions in the first half of 2025, bringing its total investments in music rights since 2021 to approximately €1.2 billion.
CEO Thomas Coesfeld emphasized that:
“Our results for the first half of 2025 demonstrate the effectiveness and strength of our BMG Next business model: disciplined, digital-first, and built for long-term value for all stakeholders.”
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