BMG has reported a solid financial performance for the first half of 2025, highlighted by a strong EBITDA margin of 29%, an increase of 2%-points compared to H1 2024. This growth was driven by a more profitable business mix, resulting from a strategic focus on digital and scalable business models as well as continued cost control. Despite market dynamic shifts in BMG’s core regions, operating EBITDA remained stable at EUR 122 million. BMG’s underlying music streaming revenue demonstrated high single-digit growth, highlighting the company’s continued focus on optimizing its relationship with digital platforms. Overall digital revenue now constitutes a 72% share of total revenue, up from 69% in the first half of 2024.

While reporting strong EBITDA margin, organic revenue growth stood at -4% as BMG strategically scaled back lower-margin activities, sharpening its focus on digital income streams and long-term profitability. BMG’s revenue for the first half of 2025 decreased by 8% to EUR 424 million, compared with EUR 459 million in the same period of 2024. The decline primarily reflects the disposal of non-core businesses, including the divestment of live.

BMG CEO Thomas Coesfeld said, “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. Our strategy is rooted in what we do best – music publishing and recorded music – while continuously building new capabilities to enhance our service. Innovation and technology are the engines driving how we work and how we support our artists and songwriters. We’re building a future-forward music company, uniquely positioned at the intersection of creativity and technology.”

As part of its BMG Next strategy, the company has continued to refine its go-to-market approach, integrating its Sync and Production Music teams into a unified, customer-focused Sync+ structure. It also expanded its direct licensing agreements with DSPs and advanced its direct-to-digital efforts to deliver measurable benefits such as improved access to listening data and audience insights, and enhanced on-platform marketing capabilities.

Innovation remains central to the BMG Next strategy, with the use of GenAI now accelerating across the business. Strategic partnerships with Google Cloud and OpenAI, among others, are enhancing BMG’s AI capabilities – supporting marketing content creation, streamlining workflows, and enabling more consistent marketing efforts across its entire catalog at scale. In line with BMG’s philosophy that every innovation should start and end with a human, these tools are designed to empower teams – allowing them to focus on serving their clients with creativity and delivering high-impact work.

Additional initiatives include upgrading its Music Rights infrastructure, developing automated data chains in Finance & Royalties and rebuilding copyright and royalty systems.

Fueled by Bertelsmann’s Boost strategy, BMG continued its strategically ambitious investment program in iconic repertoire, completing 17 acquisitions in the first half of 2025. This brings BMG’s total investments in music rights catalogs since 2021 to EUR 1.2 billion, with acquired catalogs consistently delivering strong returns and fueling future growth. Marquee signings and extensions during the period included multi-Platinum selling band OneRepublic, MEEK, Olly Murs, Evanescence, Mark Keller, i-dle, Joyce Wrice, Fredrik, and Jessi in recordings, as well as Gareth, James Arthur, Snoh Aalegra, Tom Walker, Steven Wilson, Juicy Bae, Robert Harvey, Dardan, ALOK, Michael Schulte, and Sabotage in publishing.

BMG’s recorded music and publishing divisions delivered standout results, with high-performing music from artists such as Spiritbox, Jelly Roll, yung kai, Wiz Khalifa, Billy Idol, MARINA, Dope Lemon, Francesco Gabbani and Daniela Alfinito. Jason Aldean and Blake Shelton each achieved their 30th No. 1 country single, while Lainey Wilson dominated the 2025 ACM Awards with four wins, including a second consecutive Entertainer of the Year award. In publishing, global hits co-written by BMG songwriters continued to perform strongly on the charts, including Bruno Mars and D’Mile’s “Die With A Smile,” Mars’ “APT.” and roselilah and Kamasi Washington’s “luther.” BMG songwriters also earned top GRAMMY honors: The-Dream winning Album of the Year for co-producing Beyoncé’s groundbreaking album COWBOY CARTER, and Bruno Mars, alongside Lady Gaga, won Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for their chart-topping collaboration “Die with a Smile.”