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A live performance from Bruce Springsteen, whose 83-song Tracks II: The Lost Albums box set generated the most recorded revenue of any Sony Music project during Q3 2025. Photo Credit: Thomstrom5700
Sony Music has posted a double-digit revenue increase for Q3 2025, when publishing’s contribution spiked nearly 16% year over year (YoY) thanks to significant streaming gains.
As usual, the major label’s quarterly results – covering July, August, and September, or the 2025 fiscal year’s second quarter – emerged in a report from the overarching Sony Group Corp. Also as usual, the music category contains revenue from more than recorded and publishing operations.
That refers specifically to the music-adjacent visual media and platform, consisting of revenue from, among different things, mobile gaming and evidently popular films such as Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle.
In other words, while the surging sub-category (revenue from which improved 70.2% YoY to ¥105.92 billion, currently $687.17 million) helped elevate Sony’s total Q3 music revenue 19.9% YoY to $3.45 billion/¥532.41 billion, it’s best omitted to paint a clearer picture of the core publishing and recorded showing.
Less visual media and platform, then, Sony Music generated $2.77 billion/¥426.49 billion during the third quarter, up a still-solid 11.7% YoY.
(Collecting revenue in many currencies but reporting in yen, the company pointed to a $36.98 million/¥5.70 billion exchange-rate hit for the three-month stretch.)
Behind the sum, recorded streaming revenue came in at $1.35 billion/¥208.58 billion (up 10.1% YoY), against $727.51 million/¥112.14 billion for non-streaming recorded sources (up 11.3% YoY).
Within the “non-streaming” sub-category: Physical including vinyl (up 6.9% YoY to $176.80 million/¥27.25 billion); permanent downloads and ringtones (down 8.8% YoY to $44.75 million/¥6.90 billion); and the grouped-together neighboring rights, concerts, sync, and merch (up 15.2% YoY to $505.96 million/¥77.99 billion).
By recorded revenue contribution, Sony Music Entertainment’s top-selling Q3 2025 projects were Bruce Springsteen’s Tracks II: The Lost Albums, SZA’s SOS, Don’t Tap the Glass by Tyler, the Creator, Bad Bunny’s Rimas-released Debí Tirar Más Fotos, and Tate McRae’s So Close to What, respectively.
Meanwhile, bestsellers including Nogizaka46’s Same Numbers and Hinatazaka46’s Onegai Bach! propelled Sony Music Japan to “its highest-ever quarterly sales and operating income,” according to the conglomerate.
Shifting to Sony Music Publishing, Q3 2025 revenue rose 15.6% YoY to $686.27 million/¥105.78 billion – with the lion’s share of the total having derived from streaming (up 23.1% YoY to $422.54 million/¥65.13 billion). Non-streaming publishing, for its part, kicked in the remaining $263.74 million/¥40.65 billion (up 5.3% YoY).
All told, Sony Music’s across-the-board Q3 operating income hiked 27.7% YoY to $748.54 million/¥115.38 billion; visual media and platform accounted for “slightly less than 30%” of the figure.
Looking ahead to the rest of the fiscal year – ending on March 31st, 2026 – Sony Music bumped its full-year sales forecast 6% to $12.85 billion/¥1.98 trillion, with the operating income target 7% larger at $2.50 billion/¥385 billion.
