Sony Music generated ¥501.80 billion ($3.17 billion) in revenue in the three months ended September 30, 2026, up about 16% year over year. The figure excludes Sony Group’s visual media and platform business, giving a clearer view of its core music results.
Including that business, music-segment revenue reached ¥592.30 billion ($3.75 billion), an 11.3% increase. The period is the third calendar quarter of 2026 and Sony Group’s second fiscal quarter.
Recorded music and publishing
Physical formats, including vinyl and CDs, brought in ¥31.80 billion ($201.05 million), up 16.5%. Merchandise, live and licensing revenue contributed to an “other” category that rose 31% to ¥102.10 billion ($645.45 million). Permanent downloads generated ¥7.10 billion ($44.88 million), a slight year-over-year increase.
ATEEZ’s Golden Hour: Part 5 led Sony Music releases by quarterly revenue, followed in order by Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Ella Langley’s Dandelion, Bad Bunny’s DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, SZA’s SOS and Shakira’s Dai Dai.
Music publishing revenue rose 12.1% to ¥118.60 billion ($749.70 million). Streaming accounted for ¥74.4 billion ($470.38 million), up 14.3%. Sony Group also corrected its previously reported count of songs owned and administered in its publishing catalog as of March 31, 2026, from 5.45 million to 7.57 million, citing a disclosure error.
Profit and outlook
Sony Group’s music operating income increased 6.4% to ¥122.76 billion ($776.24 million). Visual media and platform contributed slightly more than 10% of that profit.
The company raised its music-segment revenue forecast for the fiscal year by about 5% to ¥2.30 trillion ($14.45 billion), citing growth in live events, merchandise and streaming. The dollar figures above use the exchange rate at the time of the report; at Sony’s average quarterly rate of ¥159.30 per dollar, core music revenue was about $3.15 billion.
