No Universal Panacea

It seems that not even the world’s biggest music company has a remedy against piracy, as Universal Music Group has announced 2007 revenues down 1.7 percent to euro 4.9 billion (US$7.2B).

The news hardly contradicts Universal chief exec Jean-Bernard Levy’s upbeat speech at MIDEM, as the part-year contributions from new acquisitions such as BMG Music Publishing and the U.K.’s Sanctuary Music Group more than compensated for the drop in income.

It was the fourth quarter that did the damage when, despite an impressive release schedule, revenues (excluding the acquisitions) were down 5 percent.

Recent figures from the IFPI showed the global recorded music market dropped 10 percent.

French telecom and media group Vivendi, Universal’s parent company, saw revenues up 8 percent year-on-year to euro 21.66 billion (US$32.06 billion).

Net adjusted earnings are expected to reach about euro 2.8 billion (US$4.2 billion).