Universal Music Posts Double-Digit Q1 2025 Subscription Revenue Jump, Addresses Spotify’s Superfan Comments

Universal Music Group CEO Lucian Grainge. Photo Credit: UMG

Is the streaming plateau over? A growth-minded Universal Music Group (UMG) generated $3.30 billion/€2.90 billion during 2025’s first quarter, when subscription revenue grew by 11.5% year over year. That’s according to the major label’s just-released Q1 earnings breakdown, which points to roughly $2.55 billion/€2.24 billion (up 12.7% YoY) in recorded revenue for the three-month stretch. As usual, the lion’s share of the sum ($1.83 billion/€1.61 billion, up 9.5% YoY) resulted from streaming.

Within that €1.61 billion tranche, ad-supported contributed $402.15 million/€353 million (up 2.9% YoY), compared to $1.42 billion/€1.25 billion for the aforementioned subscription category, UMG relayed.

Against the backdrop of streaming price increases, long-running freemium-monetization woes, and the company’s aggressive acquisitions approach, the figures don’t exactly come as a surprise.

More interestingly, given UMG’s “artist-centric” obsession, the Modern Sky partner acknowledged “double-digit revenue growth from four of our major DSP partners” for the first quarter. (Here, “major” refers to the top 10; chief digital officer Michael Nash elaborated that UMG also enjoyed double-digit Q1 revenue jumps with three of its top-five DSP partners.)

Meanwhile, the A-Sketch owner identified double-digit subscription-revenue spikes in Japan, Germany, China, and Mexico on the quarter.Each of those nations has found its way into UMG’s top-10 markets by subscription revenue, execs emphasized. Among other things, that raises questions about the precise revenue-growth trajectory of several emerging music sectors. But this discussion is best left for another time.

Rounding out the recorded side, where fitness revenue was “stable,” Universal Music attributed $45.56 million/€40 million (down 13% YoY) in revenue to permanent downloads, $341.77 million/€300 million (up 17.6% YoY) to the sale of vinyl as well as other physical formats, and $337.19 million/€296 million (up 33.3% YoY) to licensing.

A sync boost and “strong live income in certain markets” fueled the licensing surge, per UMG, which touted as the quarter’s top sellers Kendrick Lamar, Sabrina Carpenter, Lady Gaga, The Weeknd, and Mrs. Green Apple.

(The live-income hike didn’t translate into bolstered merch sales, which came in at $127.56 million/€112 million, down 1.8% YoY, during the quarter.)

Shifting to publishing, the company disclosed revenue of $632.22 million/€555 million (up 11.9% YoY). Every sub-category save performance (which was flat YoY at $129.84 million/€114 million) and digital ($386.11 million/€339 million total, up 19.4% YoY) achieved modest growth.Overall, UMG posted an 11.8% YoY improvement to adjusted EBITDA ($752.78 million/€661 million) for Q1 2025. During today’s trading, Universal Music stock (UMG on the Euronext Amsterdam) saw its value fall slightly to $28.48/€25.01 per share.

Elsewhere in the earnings report and the corresponding call, UMG didn’t divulge too many significant details. But higher-ups did reiterate plans for another round of “strategic organizational redesign” efforts this year – referring to cuts totaling $142.26 million/€125 million.

Lastly, Universal Music execs opted to focus on Spotify’s positive comments about a Super-Premium tier – not the streaming service’s newfound indifference to the offering.