Paris-headquartered music firm Imagine generated annual revenues of €760.8 million in 2022.
That income determine converts to USD $800 million (at common annual change charges as per the IRS).
The corporate’s full-year monetary outcomes (its second set of full-year outcomes since floating on the Paris Euronext in 2021) had been revealed on Wednesday, (March 15).
In line with Imagine, its annual revenues grew €183.6 million, from €577.2 million in 2021, reflecting a rise of 31.8% YoY.
Imagine’s efficiency in 2022 marked an acceleration in progress versus the prior 12 months, when the corporate grew its revenues by €135.8 million (30.7%) YoY, from €441.4 million in 2020.
These FY 2022 outcomes beat the corporate’s personal full-year forecast for 2022, which it raised twice final 12 months. The corporate mentioned in November that it anticipated its revenues within the 12 months to finish of December 2022 to develop by a minimum of 30% (it beforehand forecast 29%+).
The corporate’s revenues in 2022 surpassed the €750 million milestone for the primary time in its historical past.
Imagine breaks down its world operations into two divisions:
- (i) DIY distributor TuneCore (known as ‘Automated Options’ in its outcomes), in addition to
- (ii) the efficiency of its core premium label and artist providers operation (known as ‘Premium Options’)
The corporate’s ‘Premium Options’ revenues grew 31.6% YoY, from €541.3 million in 2021 to €712.6 million in 2022 (see beneath).
Imagine’s revenues from its ‘Automated Options’ grew 34.5% YoY, from €35.8 million in 2021, to €48.2 million in 2022.
Digging deeper into Imagine’s full-year outcomes for 2022 reveals that the corporate’s Digital revenues, which represented 92.3% of its general revenues (in contrast with 90.9% in 2021) had been up 34.7% YoY.
Talking on the corporate’s earnings name on Wednesday, Imagine’s Founder and CEO Denis Ladegaillerie, mentioned that the firm’s “progress in digital music gross sales is an illustration of two issues”.
He added: “It’s an illustration of our capability to proceed gaining market share by attracting new artists” however additionally of the corporate’s “capability to innovate” utilizing “instruments such as Spotify Discovery” and [how to] “finest monetize YouTube to drive increased revenues for artists and labels”.
Imagine says its non-digital revenues elevated by 7.6% in the course of the 12 months, primarily pushed by income progress in merchandising, stay and branding actions which the corporate says offset the decline of bodily gross sales.
The Group’s Adjusted EBITDA (earnings earlier than curiosity, taxes, and depreciation) was €34.7 million in 2022 (representing a margin of 4.6% versus 4.0% in 2021).
The publication of Imagine’s 2022 outcomes arrives a month after it reported that it surpassed the milestone of €1 billion in digital music gross sales (DMS) for 2022. Imagine says that DMS is the income generated from its digital retailer companions and social media platforms earlier than royalty fee to artists and labels.
The corporate provides in its earnings announcement that its enterprise mannequin’s “attraction to artists and labels was confirmed in all markets” in 2022 and was “illustrated by the geographical variety of the massive variety of artists and labels becoming a member of Imagine”.
Imagine stories that the variety of artists served straight (presumably through TuneCore) or through labels by the broader Group (through its artist/label providers operations) elevated by round 200,000 artists to achieve the milestone of roughly 1.3 million artists in 2022.
Breaking Imagine’s outcomes down by area reveals that in 2022, Asia Pacific and Africa mixed noticed income progress of 52.7% to €199.3 million, which represented 26.2% of the group’s revenues (versus 22.6% in FY’21).
Imagine notes that “market dynamics remained robust all year long regardless of a slowdown within the progress of ad-funded streaming revenues since June 2022 which impacted the exercise of the area”.
Moreover, Imagine says that the growth of its ‘premium providers’ providing and ‘investments’ in India-based Suppose Music and Philippines-based VMAG “enabled robust progress in India and Southeast Asia, whereas the Group accelerated its improvement in Higher China in the course of the 12 months”.
In France, Imagine’s revenues elevated by 34% in 2022 to €128.6 million. The market represented 16.9% of the corporate’s revenues.
Imagine notes that it “elevated its attraction to a greater variety of music genres” in France, because of strategic partnerships with Play Two and Jo&Co which, it says, “contributed to accelerating the income progress” in 2022.
Within the Americas, Imagine grew its revenues by 30.7% to €109.2 million in 2022, which represented 14.3% of the corporate’s whole revenues.
Imagine additionally says that it benefited from the energy of its enterprise in Brazil.
In Europe (excluding France and Germany) Imagine’s recorded revenues grew 27.6% to €210.2 million and represented 27.6% of its whole revenues in 2022 (versus 28.5% in 2021 reflecting what it says was “lowering weight” of its Russian enterprise).
Elsewhere in Europe, Imagine says that it “remained on a robust progress trajectory within the UK, Southern Europe and Jap Europe, whereas the extent of exercise remained sustained in Italy”.
Revenues within the area had been affected by decrease income progress in Turkey (as a result of a forex impact in the marketplace) and in Russia (that represented round 7.5% of the Group income in FY’22).
In Germany, revenues elevated by 11.0% YoY to €113.6 million in 2022 and represented 14.9% of Imagine’s revenues.
“We goal to be the most effective music firm at growing artists and labels within the digital ecosystem. On a regular basis my perception that Imagine is finest positioned to succeed turns into stronger.”
Denis Ladegaillerie, Imagine
Denis Ladegaillerie, Imagine’s Founder and CEO mentioned: “We ended 2022 strongly delivering above our IPO commitments each operationally and financially for the second 12 months in a row.
“In 2022, as we’ve executed every year since 2005, we did what we mentioned we might do … or higher. We grew our market share; we improved profitability; we generated important money circulation from our operations. Every single day the music market turns into extra digital and our differentiated positioning and our aggressive benefits within the digital world turn out to be clearer to our artists and our companions.
Added Ladegaillerie: “The standard of providers that our groups present by leveraging their ardour for music, digital experience and know-how options contributes to the success of all kinds of native labels and artists all around the globe in any respect levels of their profession.
“In 2023, we’ll proceed our worthwhile progress technique: spend money on our groups to develop market share, innovate in viewers improvement merchandise for our artists and labels, and additional drive operational efficiencies by know-how and scale to extend profitability. We goal to be the most effective music firm at growing artists and labels within the digital ecosystem. On a regular basis my perception that Imagine is finest positioned to succeed turns into stronger.”Music Enterprise Worldwide
