Warner Music Group Corp (WMG) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to Warner Music Group's First Quarter Earnings Call for the period ended December 31, 2023. At the request of Warner Music Group, today's call is being recorded for replay purposes. And if you object, you may disconnect at any time. Now I would like to turn today's call over to your host, Mr. Kareem Chin, Head of Investor Relations. You may begin.

歡迎參加華納音樂集團截至 2023 年 12 月 31 日的第一季度收益電話會議。應華納音樂集團的要求，我們對今天的電話會議進行錄音以供重播之用。如果您反對，您可以隨時斷開連線。現在我想把今天的電話轉給東道主投資者關係主管 Kareem Chin 先生。你可以開始了。

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Warner Music Group's Fiscal First Quarter Earnings Conference Call. Please note that our earnings press release, earnings snapshot and the Form 10-Q are on our website. On today's call, we have our CEO, Robert Kyncl; and our CFO, Bryan Castellani, who will take you through our results, and then we'll answer your questions.

大家早安，歡迎參加華納音樂集團第一季財報電話會議。請注意，我們的收益新聞稿、收益快照和 10-Q 表格均位於我們的網站上。出席今天的電話會議的有我們的執行長 Robert Kyncl；我們的財務長 Bryan Castellani 將向您介紹我們的結果，然後我們將回答您的問題。

For our prepared remarks, I'd like to refer you to the second slide in the earnings snapshot to remind you this communication includes forward-looking statements that reflect the current views of Warner Music Group about future events and financial performance. We plan to present certain non-GAAP results during this conference call and in our earnings snapshot slides and have provided schedules reconciling these results to our GAAP results in our earnings press release. All of these materials are posted on our website.

對於我們準備好的評論，我想向您推薦收益快照中的第二張幻燈片，以提醒您此通訊包含前瞻性陳述，反映了華納音樂集團當前對未來事件和財務業績的看法。我們計劃在本次電話會議和收益快照幻燈片中展示某些非 GAAP 業績，並在收益新聞稿中提供將這些結果與 GAAP 業績進行協調的時間表。所有這些資料都發佈在我們的網站上。

Also, please note that all revenue figures and comparisons discussed today will be presented in constant currency unless otherwise noted. All forward-looking statements are made as of today, and we disclaim any duty to update such statements. Our expectations, beliefs and projections are expressed in good faith, and we believe there is a reasonable basis for them. However, there can be no assurance that management's expectations, beliefs and projections will result or be achieved.

另請注意，除非另有說明，今天討論的所有收入數據和比較都將以固定匯率表示。所有前瞻性陳述均截至今日作出，我們不承擔更新此類陳述的義務。我們的期望、信念和預測是真誠表達的，我們相信它們有合理的基礎。然而，不能保證管理層的期望、信念和預測將會實現或實現。

Investors should not rely on forward-looking statements because they are subject to a variety of risks, uncertainties and other factors that can cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations. Information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements is contained in our filings with the SEC.

投資者不應依賴前瞻性陳述，因為它們受到各種風險、不確定性和其他因素的影響，這些因素可能導致實際結果與我們的預期有重大差異。有關可能導致實際結果與前瞻性陳述中的結果有重大差異的因素的資訊包含在我們向 SEC 提交的文件中。

And with that, I'll turn it over to Robert.

有了這個，我會把它交給羅伯特。

Thank you, Kareem, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. We're moving at velocity to seize the growth opportunities that exist in the music industry today, and we see in the future. I'll talk about how the industry is transforming, the unique opportunities here at WMG and how we're laying the groundwork to propel our growth for the next decade.

謝謝你，卡里姆，大家早安。感謝您今天加入我們。我們正在快速行動，抓住當今音樂產業存在的成長機會，並展望未來。我將討論產業如何轉型、WMG 的獨特機會以及我們如何為推動未來十年的成長奠定基礎。

But first, I'll start with Q1 results. By references to year-over-year growth rates will be in constant currency and references to normalized revenue and adjusted OIBDA are adjusted for items that impact comparability. The details of these can be found in our filings and Bryan will provide commentary as well. I'm happy to report that the momentum we saw in the second half of 2023 has not only continued but accelerated into Q1 with both our Recorded Music and Music Publishing segments generating record high quarterly revenue.

但首先，我將從第一季的結果開始。同比成長率將以固定匯率計算，而標準化收入和調整後的 OIBDA 則針對影響可比性的項目進行調整。這些細節可以在我們的文件中找到，布萊恩也將提供評論。我很高興地向大家報告，我們在 2023 年下半年看到的勢頭不僅持續而且加速進入第一季度，我們的錄製音樂和音樂出版部門都創造了創紀錄的季度收入。

Total revenue increased 16% and on a normalized basis, 11%. Recorded Music revenue accelerated to 15%, on a normalized basis, revenue grew 9%. Streaming grew 11% and Subscription streaming increased 12%. These results reflect solid new release and catalog performance, which were supported by DSP price increases.

總收入成長 16%，標準化基礎上成長 11%。錄製音樂收入加速至 15%，在正常化基礎上，收入成長了 9%。串流媒體成長 11%，訂閱串流媒體成長 12%。這些結果反映了新版本和產品目錄的穩健表現，這得益於 DSP 價格上漲。

Music Publishing continued to deliver impressive results with revenue growth of 20%, driven by Streaming growth of 30%. Total adjusted OIBDA increased 33% or 10% on a normalized basis. I am thrilled with the momentum we're building with Recorded Music, driven by our ability to deliver great hits across multiple labels and geographies.

在串流媒體成長 30% 的推動下，音樂出版持續取得令人矚目的業績，營收成長 20%。調整後的 OIBDA 總額在標準化基礎上成長了 33% 或 10%。我對我們在錄製音樂方面所建立的勢頭感到非常興奮，這得益於我們在多個唱片公司和地區提供熱門歌曲的能力。

Recent artist successes in developments include Atlantic Jack Harlow with top Billboard Hot 100 with his single Loving On Me. Warner Records Kenya Grace who climbed to #1 in the U.K., Cher whose album Christmas debuted #1 on the Billboard Top Holiday Albums chart, Myke Towers whose recent album went to #1 on Spotify's top album debut for both global and U.S.A. charts. Korean grew Fifty Fifty win the biggest hit of the year on TikTok with Cupid and King, who had the most streamed track of 2023 in India. We are firing on all cylinders across many territories around the globe. We had #1 hits by C.Gambino in Sweden, (inaudible) in Denmark, Viktor Sheen in Czech Republic, SIRA in Germany, Smolasty & Doda in Poland, just to name a few.

最近藝術家的成功發展包括大西洋傑克哈洛 (Atlantic Jack Harlow) 以其單曲《Loving On Me》躋身 Billboard Hot 100 榜首。華納唱片公司的肯亞·格蕾絲(Kenya Grace) 在英國排名第一，雪兒(Cher) 的專輯《聖誕節》首次亮相就在Billboard 熱門假日專輯排行榜上排名第一，Myke Towers 的最新專輯在Spotify 首張專輯在全球和美國排行榜上排名第一。韓國成長起來的《Fifty Fifty》憑藉《Cupid and King》贏得了 TikTok 年度最熱門歌曲，他們的歌曲成為 2023 年印度流媒體播放量最多的歌曲。我們正在全球許多地區開足馬力。我們在瑞典獲得排名第一的 C.Gambino、在丹麥（聽不清楚）、在捷克共和國的 Viktor Sheen、在德國的 SIRA、在波蘭的 Smolasty 和 Doda，僅舉幾例。

In Music Publishing, our strong performance and momentum continued with the fifth consecutive quarter of accelerating year-on-year growth. Warner Chappell was named #1 Hot 100 publisher on billboard year-end charts with its songwriters landing number 1s on the Hot 100, Hot R&B and Hip-Hop songs and hot country song charts, to name a few. Our songwriters contributed to massive songs, including, I Remember Everything by Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves and Miley Cyrus' Flowers, which both won Grammies and First Person Shooter by Drake featuring J.Cole.

在音樂出版方面，我們持續保持強勁的業績和勢頭，連續第五季實現同比加速成長。華納·查佩爾(Warner Chappell) 在公告牌年終排行榜上被評為Hot 100 發行商第一名，其詞曲作者在Hot 100、熱門R&B 和Hip-Hop 歌曲以及熱門鄉村歌曲排行榜等方面均名列第一。我們的詞曲作者創作了大量歌曲，包括 Zach Bryan 和凱西·穆斯格雷夫斯(Kacey Musgraves) 的《我記得一切》(I Remember Everything) 和麥莉·賽勒斯(Miley Cyrus) 的《Flowers》(皆榮獲葛萊美獎)，以及德雷克(Drake) 與J.Cole 合作的《第一人稱射擊》(First Person Shooter)。

We're always expanding our publishing roster. Earlier this week, we signed a deal with Country Superstar, Morgan Wallen. We recently signed deals with Kenya Grace and with Swedish Bolaget, both Warner Music recording artists. We also entered into agreements with Gabito Ballesteros, one of the most in-demand Mexican music stars and with Boef, the most streamed artists in Netherlands in 2023 for Spotify Wrapped.

我們一直在擴大我們的出版名冊。本週早些時候，我們與鄉村巨星摩根沃倫簽署了一項協議。我們最近與華納音樂唱片藝術家肯亞格雷斯和瑞典博拉傑特簽署了協議。我們還與 Spotify Wrapped 的 2023 年最受歡迎的墨西哥音樂明星之一 Gabito Ballesteros 以及荷蘭串流播放量最高的藝術家 Boef 簽訂了協議。

We are in a very unique asset class of our own. The shortfall nature of music means it's well aligned with today's discovery and consumption trends, which are driven by the algorithms of the large platforms, and use sharing playlists with each other. Music has the highest repeat consumption of any medium. Music is evergreen, you'll still want to go back to your favorite song 30, 40 years later and music is easy for fans to create with, users of the world's largest social media platforms of using music to sound track their own content, further increasing the reach, virality and popularity of our catalog.

我們處於一個非常獨特的資產類別。音樂的短缺性質意味著它非常符合當今的發現和消費趨勢，這些趨勢是由大型平台的演算法驅動的，並使用相互共享的播放清單。音樂是所有媒體中重複消費率最高的。音樂是常青樹，30、40年後你仍然想回到你最喜歡的歌曲，音樂對於粉絲來說很容易創作，世界上最大的社交媒體平台的用戶使用音樂來為自己的內容配樂，進一步增加我們目錄的影響力、病毒性和受歡迎程度。

And as the music business has grown larger, faster, noisier and more complex with the marketized distribution, creating a flood of content on platforms, the role of large music companies is growing exponentially more relevant. It's harder than ever for any one artist to break through the clutter and that's where we come in. We collect and process large volumes of data and make it usable and actionable driving repeatable results, a task that is very difficult for any individual artist or a small business because of the resources and skill sets it requires.

隨著音樂業務隨著市場化發行而變得更大、更快、更吵鬧、更複雜，在平台上創造了大量的內容，大型音樂公司的角色正呈指數級增長。對於任何一位藝術家來說，突破混亂比以往任何時候都更加困難，這就是我們的切入點。我們收集和處理大量數據，並使其可用且可操作，從而推動可重複的結果，這對於任何個人藝術家或個人來說都是非常困難的任務。小型企業，因為它需要資源和技能。

Our global marketing footprint and expertise combined with deep technical capabilities to build systems and data insights enable us to differentiate ourselves in this regard. In fact, looking at the last quarter, songs from the major music label groups represented 94% of the songs on Billboard Hot 100. Additionally, our ability to aggregate large volumes of rights across Recorded Music and Publishing provides individual artists and songwriters with more collective bargaining power when dealing with complex existing and new distributors and technologies. This will be even more crucial in the age of AI because everyone wants the most popular music of today and an iconic catalog.

我們的全球行銷足跡和專業知識與建構系統和數據洞察力的深厚技術能力相結合，使我們能夠在這方面脫穎而出。事實上，從上個季度來看，來自主要音樂唱片公司的歌曲佔Billboard Hot 100 歌曲的94%。此外，我們在錄製音樂和出版領域聚合大量版權的能力為個人藝術家和詞曲作者提供了更集體的機會。在處理複雜的現有和新的分銷商和技術時的議價能力。這在人工智慧時代變得更加重要，因為每個人都想要當今最受歡迎的音樂和標誌性的目錄。

WMG is a thriving company in a unique and growing industry. We're in a position of strength at a pivotal moment in the music business, and that's the smart time to change, innovate and lead. Yesterday, we announced a plan to free up more funds to invest in music and accelerate our growth for the next decade. To do that, we have to make thoughtful choices about where we put our people, resources and capital. We will realize approximately $200 million in annualized cost savings by the end of September 2025, the majority of which will be reinvested into our Recorded Music and Publishing businesses.

WMG 是一家在獨特且不斷發展的行業中蓬勃發展的公司。我們正處於音樂產業的關鍵時刻，這也是變革、創新和引領的明智時機。昨天，我們宣布了一項計劃，將釋放更多資金投資於音樂並加速我們未來十年的成長。為此，我們必須對人員、資源和資本的配置做出深思熟慮的選擇。到 2025 年 9 月底，我們將實現約 2 億美元的年度成本節省，其中大部分將再投資於我們的錄製音樂和出版業務。

Our plan includes a reduction of our workforce by 600 employees or roughly 10%, most of which will relate to our owned and operated media properties as well as corporate and various support functions. Yesterday, we began exiting these media properties as well as our in-house ad sales function, as they operate outside our core responsibilities to our roster. We're in an exclusive process for the potential sale of the news, entertainment websites, UPROXX and HipHopDX, with more to say on that soon.

我們的計劃包括減少 600 名員工或約 10%，其中大部分將涉及我們擁有和經營的媒體資產以及公司和各種支援職能。昨天，我們開始退出這些媒體資產以及我們的內部廣告銷售職能，因為它們的運作超出了我們的核心職責範圍。我們正在就新聞、娛樂網站、UPROXX 和 HipHopDX 的潛在銷售進行獨家流程，很快就會有更多消息公佈。

After a thorough exploration of alternatives, we have decided to wind down the podcasting brand and overall presence and a social media publisher IMGN. Bryan will provide more details on the financial implications of the plan. But I'd like to tell you a little bit more about it and how we'll be using these cost savings to deliver on our 3 strategic priorities, which are to grow engagement with music, to increase the value of music and evolve how we work together.

在對替代方案進行徹底探索後，我們決定放棄播客品牌和整體業務以及社交媒體出版商 IMGN。布萊恩將提供有關該計劃的財務影響的更多細節。但我想告訴您更多相關信息，以及我們將如何利用這些成本節省來實現我們的 3 個戰略重點，即增加人們對音樂的參與度、增加音樂的價值以及發展我們的方式一起工作。

To grow engagement with music, we're signing and developing the most talented artists and songwriters, sharpening our focus on high-growth geographies and vibrant genres and using our data and insights to help original talent stand out. Look at the great artist development success stories like Dua Lipa, Jack Harlow and Zach Bryan. We're also thinking a more holistic approach to the management of our deep and shallow catalog. We're doing the detailed work of priming our entire catalog, which achieves maximum impact on the DSPs.

為了提高人們對音樂的參與度，我們正在簽約和培養最有才華的藝術家和詞曲作者，加強我們對高增長地區和充滿活力的流派的關注，並利用我們的數據和見解來幫助原創人才脫穎而出。看看杜阿·利帕 (Dua Lipa)、傑克·哈洛 (Jack Harlow) 和扎克·布萊恩 (Zach Bryan) 等偉大藝術家發展的成功故事。我們也正在考慮採用更全面的方法來管理我們的深層和淺層目錄。我們正在做啟動整個目錄的詳細工作，這將對 DSP 產生最大的影響。

At the same time, we're identifying select albums for targeted campaigns similar to those we run by frontline repertoire. Recent examples of successful catalog projects include 30th anniversary of Green Day's Dookie and the 40th anniversary of Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense, which drove 33% jump in annual revenue across the bands in higher catalog. We're expanding our distribution and administration by building scaled and effective infrastructure to efficiently cater to larger and larger volumes of aspiring artists and songwriters.

同時，我們正在為類似於我們透過前線曲目運行的目標活動確定精選專輯。最近成功的目錄項目的例子包括 Green Day 的《Dookie》30 週年紀念日和 Talking Heads 的《Stop Making Sense》40 週年紀念日，這使得更高目錄中的樂隊的年收入增長了 33%。我們正在透過建立規模化且有效的基礎設施來擴大我們的發行和管理，以有效地滿足越來越多有抱負的藝術家和歌曲作者的需求。

You've heard me say many times that music remains significantly undervalued, especially when compared to video. The most recent step in the right direction came from Spotify. We're pleased they're introducing a new royalty model, which better aligns economics with the quality content that drives engagement. We view this as just the beginning, and we're continually engaged with our partners to drive faster growth. Another lever to increase the value of music is by strengthening our artist direct relationships with their super fans. We'll accelerate the building of our new products and experiences as it's an area that's relatively untapped and undermonetized.

您曾多次聽我說過，音樂的價值仍然被嚴重低估，尤其是與影片相比。 Spotify 朝著正確方向邁出了最新的一步。我們很高興他們推出了新的版稅模式，可以更好地將經濟性與推動參與的優質內容結合起來。我們認為這只是一個開始，我們將不斷與合作夥伴合作以推動更快的成長。增加音樂價值的另一個槓桿是加強我們的藝術家與其超級粉絲的直接關係。我們將加快新產品和新體驗的建設，因為這是一個相對尚未開發且貨幣化不足的領域。

Everything we do is in service of our artists and songwriters and we're evolving how our company is structured in order to maximize our impact on their behalf. In today's global economy where scale and speed matter, shared services are often the best way to pool our resources and promote best practices. We already made moves in this direction by centralizing our technology, finance and business development teams last year. At the same time, in a creative industry like ours, instincts relationships and subject matter expertise can make all the difference. So we're working hard to find the right balance so that we'll become more efficient, increase operating leverage and free up more funds to invest in music and tech, which in turn will drive further sustainable growth.

我們所做的一切都是為了為我們的藝術家和詞曲作者服務，我們正在不斷改進我們公司的結構，以便最大限度地發揮我們對他們的影響。在當今規模和速度都很重要的全球經濟中，共享服務通常是匯集資源和推廣最佳實踐的最佳方式。去年，我們已經透過集中我們的技術、財務和業務開發團隊朝著這個方向邁出了一步。同時，在像我們這樣的創意產業中，本能關係和主題專業知識可以發揮重要作用。因此，我們正在努力尋找適當的平衡點，以便提高效率，提高營運槓桿，並騰出更多資金投資音樂和科技，從而推動進一步的永續成長。

Above all, we're positioning ourselves to be first, to be different and to be exceptional. We look forward to keeping you updated as we make progress. Our amazing roster of artists and songwriters, combined with our strategy to stay several steps ahead of our fast-evolving industry will enable us to thrive. Q2 is already off to a strong start, and it was great to celebrate all of our wins at the Grammys this past weekend. Fresh off of signing a new deal with Megan Thee Stallion, she skyrocketed to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. This week, we have 5 of the top 10 artists on the chart, including Jack Harlow, Teddy Swims, Zach Bryan and Benson Boone. We also have some massive artists dropping later this year including releases from Cardi B, Coldplay, SIA, Charli XCX, Gunna and Benson Boone.

最重要的是，我們將自己定位為第一名、與眾不同、卓越。我們期待在我們取得進展時向您通報最新情況。我們令人驚嘆的藝術家和詞曲作者名單，再加上我們在快速發展的行業中保持領先一步的策略，將使我們能夠蓬勃發展。第二季已經有了一個好的開端，很高興能夠慶祝上週末我們在葛萊美頒獎典禮上獲得的所有勝利。剛與Megan Thee Stallion 簽訂新合約後，她在Billboard Hot 100 排行榜上飆升至第一名。本週，我們列出了排行榜前10 名藝術家中的5 位，包括Jack Harlow、Teddy Swims、Zach Bryan 和Benson Boone 。我們還有一些大型藝術家將在今年稍後推出，其中包括 Cardi B、Coldplay、SIA、Charli XCX、Gunna 和 Benson Boone 的作品。

We're incredibly optimistic about the future of the music industry in general and the Warner Music Group, in particular, with a refreshed leadership team that is gelling incredibly well and our significantly upgraded tech capabilities that are starting to drive results were laying the building blocks for future success. The music ecosystem is healthy and growing, and we're excited about the industry's continued progress and realizing the true value of music.

我們對整個音樂產業，特別是華納音樂集團的未來非常樂觀，他們的領導團隊煥然一新，凝聚力非常好，我們顯著升級的技術能力正在開始推動成果，正在奠定基礎為了未來的成功。音樂生態系統健康且不斷發展，我們對產業的持續進步和實現音樂的真正價值感到興奮。

Now here's Bryan to walk you through our financial results.

現在布萊恩將向您介紹我們的財務表現。

Thank you, Robert, and good morning, everyone. In Q1, we returned to healthy double-digit growth on a reported and normalized basis, that was underpinned by strength across both Recorded Music and Music Publishing.

謝謝羅伯特，大家早安。在第一季度，我們在報告和正常化的基礎上恢復了健康的兩位數成長，這得益於錄製音樂和音樂出版的實力。

Before I get into details, I want to remind everyone that our references to normalize will adjust for items that impacted year-over-year comparability. The previously disclosed items affecting comparability include the BMG digital revenue roll-off, which was $13 million unfavorable in the quarter and a catalog licensing agreement extension, which had a favorable impact to Recorded Music licensing revenue and adjusted OIBDA of $68 million and $67 million, respectively.

在詳細介紹之前，我想提醒大家，我們對標準化的引用將針對影響同比可比性的項目進行調整。先前揭露的影響可比性的項目包括BMG 數位收入下滑（本季不利的1300 萬美元）和目錄授權協議延期（這對錄製音樂授權收入產生有利影響）以及調整後的OIBDA 分別為6800 萬美元和6700萬美元，分別。

In addition, there was a renewal with one of our international digital partners that resulted in upfront incremental revenue recognition of $27 million in the quarter. This favorably impacted Recorded Music streaming revenue. The adjusted OIBDA associated with this renewal was approximately $10 million. The details relating to these items can be found in our earnings press release.

此外，我們與國際數位合作夥伴續約，導致本季的預增量收入確認為 2,700 萬美元。這對錄製音樂串流收入產生了有利影響。與本次更新相關的調整後的 OIBDA 約為 1000 萬美元。與這些項目相關的詳細資訊可以在我們的收益新聞稿中找到。

In Q1, total revenue grew 16% and adjusted OIBDA increased 33% with a margin of 25.8%, an increase of 330 basis points over the prior year quarter. On a normalized basis, revenue grew 11% and adjusted OIBDA increased 10% with a margin of 22.6%, which was in line with the prior year quarter.

第一季度，總營收成長 16%，調整後的 OIBDA 成長 33%，利潤率為 25.8%，比去年同期成長 330 個基點。在標準化基礎上，營收成長 11%，調整後的 OIBDA 成長 10%，利潤率為 22.6%，與去年同期持平。

Recorded Music revenue grew 15% and 9% on a normalized basis. Additionally, Streaming revenue grew 11.4% on a normalized basis, an improvement from the 9% we reported last quarter. Subscription streaming revenue grew 14% or 12% on a normalized basis, supported by DSP price increases.

錄製音樂收入在正常情況下分別成長 15% 和 9%。此外，串流媒體收入在標準化基礎上增長了 11.4%，比我們上季度報告的 9% 有所改善。在 DSP 價格上漲的支持下，訂閱串流媒體收入在正常基礎上增長了 14% 或 12%。

Ad supported revenue increased by 10%, reflecting sequential improvement from traditional formats as well as the impact of the TikTok renewal, which went into effect last quarter. Physical revenue increased 13%, driven by strong releases in the U.S., Japan and U.K., including releases from Prince, (inaudible) and Cher. Artist services and expanded rights revenue decreased 4% due to lower merchandising revenue, partially offset by higher concert promotion revenue in France and Japan.

廣告支援的收入成長了 10%，反映出傳統格式的環比改善以及上季度生效的 TikTok 續訂的影響。在美國、日本和英國的強勁發行（包括 Prince（聽不清楚）和 Cher 的發行）的推動下，實體收入增加了 13%。由於商品銷售收入減少，藝人服務和擴大版權收入下降了 4%，但部分被法國和日本音樂會推廣收入增加所抵消。

Licensing revenue grew by 81%, primarily due to the aforementioned catalog licensing agreement extension as well as the timing of new licensing deals, primarily in the U.S. Recorded Music adjusted OIBDA increased 36% with a margin of 28.5%, an increase of 440 basis points. On a normalized basis, adjusted OIBDA increased by 11% with a margin of 24.8%, an increase of 50 basis points.

授權收入成長 81%，主要是由於上述目錄授權協議延期以及新授權交易的時機（主要是在美國錄製音樂）調整後的 OIBDA 成長 36%，利潤率為 28.5%，成長 440 個基點。在標準化基礎上，調整後的 OIBDA 成長了 11%，利潤率為 24.8%，成長了 50 個基點。

Music Publishing continues to deliver strong results, with revenue growth of 20%, driven by strength in streaming and performance. Digital revenue and streaming revenue increased by 30%, reflecting the continued growth in streaming and the impact of digital deal renewals. Performance revenue increased by 11% due to strong artist touring activity in Europe, while mechanical and sync revenue were flat. Music Publishing adjusted OIBDA increased 18% with a margin of 28.3%.

受串流媒體和性能優勢的推動，音樂出版繼續取得強勁業績，營收成長 20%。數位收入和串流媒體收入成長了 30%，反映出串流媒體的持續成長以及數位交易續約的影響。由於歐洲藝術家巡迴活動強勁，表演收入增長了 11%，而機械和同步收入持平。音樂出版調整後的 OIBDA 成長 18%，利潤率為 28.3%。

Turning to CapEx, we saw an $8 million increase from the prior year quarter to $29 million due to increased spend in technology. Operating cash flow increased 40% to $293 million from $209 million in the prior year quarter. Operating cash flow conversion was 65% of adjusted OIBDA. Free cash flow increased 40%, $264 million from $188 million in the prior year quarter. The increase in operating cash flow and free cash flow was primarily driven by strong operating performance and timing of a DSP renewal.

談到資本支出，由於技術支出增加，我們發現與去年同期相比增加了 800 萬美元，達到 2,900 萬美元。營運現金流從去年同期的 2.09 億美元成長 40% 至 2.93 億美元。營運現金流轉換率為調整後 OIBDA 的 65%。自由現金流增加 40%，從去年同期的 1.88 億美元增至 2.64 億美元。營運現金流和自由現金流的增加主要是由強勁的營運表現和 DSP 更新的時機所推動的。

As of December 31 quarter end, we had a cash balance of $754 million, total debt of $4 billion and net debt of $3.3 billion. At the end of the quarter, our weighted average cost of debt was 4.6%, and our nearest maturity date is 2028. We always look to take advantage of market conditions to optimize our capital structure. To that end, on January 24th, we repriced our term loan, extending its maturity date to 2031 and lowering our go-forward average cost by 25 basis points.

截至 12 月 31 日季末，我們的現金餘額為 7.54 億美元，總債務為 40 億美元，淨債務為 33 億美元。截至本季末，我們的加權平均債務成本為 4.6%，最近的到期日是 2028 年。我們始終希望利用市場條件來優化我們的資本結構。為此，我們於 1 月 24 日重新定價了定期貸款，將其到期日延長至 2031 年，並將遠期平均成本降低了 25 個基點。

As Robert mentioned, we just announced a plan that will enable us to sharpen our focus on core areas of our business and accelerate our go-forward strategy. I will provide an overview of the financial impacts and you can also refer to the 8-K we filed yesterday for further details. The plan will deliver $200 million of annualized run rate cost savings by the end of fiscal 2025, including benefits associated with our previously disclosed financial transformation initiative. We will allocate a majority of the cost savings to increase investment in our core businesses as well as new skill sets and tech capabilities.

正如羅伯特所提到的，我們剛剛宣布了一項計劃，該計劃將使我們能夠更加專注於我們業務的核心領域並加速我們的前進策略。我將概述財務影響，您還可以參閱我們昨天提交的 8-K 以了解更多詳細資訊。該計劃將在 2025 財年末實現 2 億美元的年化運行成本節省，其中包括與我們先前披露的財務轉型計劃相關的收益。我們將把大部分節省的成本用於增加核心業務以及新技能和技術能力的投資。

The plan will result in a pretax charge of approximately $140 million, which is composed of $85 million in severance costs and a $55 million noncash impairment charge related to the businesses we are exiting. The net after-tax charge is estimated to be $105 million. For the remainder of fiscal year 2024, the foregone revenue impact to Recorded Music artist services and expanded rights is estimated to be approximately $45 million with negligible impact to adjusted OIBDA.

該計劃將產生約 1.4 億美元的稅前費用，其中包括 8,500 萬美元的遣散費和與我們正在退出的業務相關的 5,500 萬美元的非現金減損費用。稅後淨費用估計為 1.05 億美元。在 2024 財年剩餘時間內，對錄製音樂藝人服務和擴大權利的收入影響預計約為 4500 萬美元，對調整後的 OIBDA 的影響可以忽略不計。

Approximately $120 million on a pretax charge will be incurred by the end of fiscal 2024 of which $55 million relates to the previously mentioned noncash impairment charge. The remaining $65 million will be related to severance costs which, based on the timing of payments, will have a cash impact of $35 million in this fiscal 2024.

到 2024 財年末，將產生約 1.2 億美元的稅前費用，其中 5,500 萬美元涉及前面提到的非現金減損費用。剩餘的 6,500 萬美元將用於支付遣散費，根據付款時間，該費用將在 2024 財年產生 3,500 萬美元的現金影響。

We believe that our plan will position us to focus on mission-critical areas, bringing up more capital to deploy at a highest return opportunities ultimately driving shareholder value. As we look ahead and as Robert said, Q2 is off to a solid start. Our Q2 release slate will feature new music from Dua Lipa, Megan Thee Stallion, SIA, Green Day, Benson Boone, Gabby Barrett, Peter Box and the Black Keys, among many others. We are excited about albums that we have planned from some of our superstar artists scheduled for later this year as well.

我們相信，我們的計劃將使我們能夠專注於關鍵任務領域，籌集更多資本來部署最高回報機會，最終推動股東價值。正如羅伯特所說，我們展望未來，第二季有一個好的開始。我們第二季的發行名單將收錄來自 Dua Lipa、Megan Thee Stallion、SIA、Green Day、Benson Boone、Gabby Barrett、Peter Box 和 Black Keys 等的新音樂。我們對一些超級明星藝術家計劃於今年晚些時候推出的專輯感到興奮。

Regarding the BMG roll-off, we expect the revenue impact to increase to approximately $25 million in fiscal Q2. This amount will increase to a quarterly run rate of approximately $35 million by Q4 fully rolling off by the end of fiscal 2024 as BMG gradually brings other digital partners in-house. As a reminder, this continuation of BMG's physical distribution will occur by the end of October 2024.

關於 BMG 的縮減，我們預計第二財季的營收影響將增加至約 2,500 萬美元。隨著 BMG 逐漸引入其他數位合作夥伴，到 2024 財年第四季全面結束時，這筆金額將增至約 3,500 萬美元。謹此提醒，BMG 的實體經銷將於 2024 年 10 月底前繼續進行。

In closing, our goal remains to deliver healthy top line growth, margin expansion and strong cash flow conversion on a consistent basis. Both the strategic actions we're taking as well as our stronger release slate will position us favorably to deliver on these objectives in 2024 as well as for the long term.

最後，我們的目標仍然是持續實現健康的營收成長、利潤擴張和強勁的現金流轉換。我們正在採取的策略行動以及更強大的發布計劃都將使我們有利於在 2024 年以及長期實現這些目標。

Thank you to everyone for joining us today. We'll now open the call for questions.

感謝大家今天加入我們。我們現在開始提問。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Kannan Venkateshwar with Barclays.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的 Kannan Venkateshwar。

So Robert, Bryan, one for both of you, if you could help us understand what you would do differently as a result of the new plan you announced and also, you mentioned an increase in music investment. Could you help us scale that? And also what that really involves in terms of things that you might change? I mean does it mean A&R steps up or you invest in over the longer term or in different assets? And along the same lines, how should we measure success of the plan? If you could outline that, that would be helpful.

羅伯特、布萊恩，你們兩個的一員，如果你們能幫助我們了解你們宣布的新計劃以及你們提到的音樂投資的增加，你們會採取哪些不同的做法。您能幫助我們擴大規模嗎？就您可能改變的事情而言，這真正涉及什麼？我的意思是，這是否意味著 A&R 會加大力度，或者您會進行長期投資或不同資產的投資？同樣，我們該如何衡量該計劃的成功？如果您能概述一下，那將會很有幫助。

All right. Thank you. So what we're doing is we're creating a flywheel that starts with efficiency and operating leverage. That's helping us grow efficiently and free up more money all along the way. The use of the money is really in 2 areas, predominantly in music and a little bit impact to support all of that. In music, today, if you look at our deal pipelines, we have quite a lot of opportunities that we can fully materialize because how we manage our balance sheet, our dividends, our -- operating responsibly. And we have a lot of opportunities that today we can effectively afford.

好的。謝謝。因此，我們正在做的是創造一個以效率和營運槓桿為起點的飛輪。這有助於我們高效成長並一路釋放更多資金。這筆錢的用途實際上有兩個領域，主要是音樂領域，以及支持所有這些領域的一點影響。在今天的音樂領域，如果你看看我們的交易管道，我們有很多可以充分實現的機會，因為我們如何管理我們的資產負債表、我們的股息、我們的——負責任的營運。今天我們有很多我們可以有效承擔的機會。

So looking at that, combined with an investment framework that we've developed, which allows us to be even more selective about those opportunities. This is a framework that we developed based on the data that we're collecting from third parties, our first party data and real-time trends, et cetera, and we're being really thoughtful and intentional about where we want to invest. So all of this work is giving us a lot more dry powder to put that in place.

因此，結合我們所發展的投資框架，我們可以更有選擇性地選擇這些機會。這是我們根據從第三方收集的數據、我們的第一方數據和即時趨勢等開發的框架，我們對我們想要投資的領域非常深思熟慮和有意。因此，所有這些工作都為我們提供了更多的乾粉以將其落實到位。

And obviously, with that, it's really important that tech is supporting efficient growth of the company and introducing as much automation as possible into our systems and processes, both only Recorded side as well as on the Publishing side. It also helps us monetize our entire catalog, I'll give you one small example, which is when you manage millions of copyrights, there's a lot of metadata. That's a lot of thumbnails on a bunch of DSPs and freshness of thumbnails or motion are things of that nature that helps streams, which helps revenue. But it's really difficult to do that manually across such large volume of content. So we developed an AI tool that helps us update it, create new ones, et cetera.

顯然，技術支援公司的高效成長並在我們的系統和流程中引入盡可能多的自動化非常重要，無論是在錄製方面還是在出版方面。它也幫助我們將整個目錄貨幣化，我給你一個小例子，就是當你管理數百萬個版權時，有很多元資料。一堆 DSP 上有很多縮圖，而縮圖或動作的新鮮度正是有助於串流媒體播放的性質，有助於收入。但在如此大量的內容中手動執行此操作確實很困難。因此，我們開發了一種人工智慧工具，可以幫助我們更新它、創建新工具等等。

So there are lots of tricks of this type that we can deploy with technology to help drive revenue as well. And then there are other new monetization opportunities that we can't name it. So in combination, both of those, tech helps us be more efficient and music, we believe, has lots of opportunities, and we're much more intentional about them based on the framework that we develop.

因此，我們可以透過技術部署許多此類技巧來幫助增加收入。還有其他我們無法命名的新的獲利機會。因此，將這兩者結合起來，技術可以幫助我們提高效率，而我們相信音樂有很多機會，並且根據我們開發的框架，我們對它們更有意識。

And Kannan, it's Bryan. I would just add, as Robert said, the charge here is that these efficiencies will add operating leverage and help us drive that flywheel. For '24, you should expect the impact to be fairly muted. It will take some time for us to implement and start to ramp the savings and it's similar on the investment side that, as Robert said, we'll continue to drive our pipeline of -- and not M&A necessarily, but also A&R and acquisition of catalogs as well as license of artists.

坎南，是布萊恩。我想補充一點，正如羅伯特所說，這裡的責任是這些效率將增加營運槓桿並幫助我們驅動飛輪。對於 24 年，您應該預期影響會相當輕微。我們需要一些時間來實施並開始增加節省，在投資方面也是如此，正如羅伯特所說，我們將繼續推動我們的管道——不一定是併購，還包括 A&R 和收購目錄以及藝術家的許可證。

And those take time as well, and those investments, I think you will start to see in our results, and we'll continue to update on that. But the overriding benefit of this is to add confidence and flexibility to our long-term goals for healthy top line and margin expansion on a consistent basis. And so I think you'll start to see this ramp in '25.

這些也需要時間，這些投資，我想你會開始在我們的結果中看到，我們會繼續更新。但這樣做的最重要的好處是為我們的長期目標增加信心和靈活性，以實現健康的收入和持續的利潤擴張。所以我認為你會在 25 年開始看到這個斜坡。

Our next question comes from Benjamin Swinburne with Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的本傑明·斯溫伯恩。

Robert, 2 questions for you, 1 about sort of the industry and 1 about your company. On the industry front, over the last year, particularly when you first started, you talked a lot about better aligning incentives between streamers and labels and artists, it feels like a lot happened positively last year in 2023 in that direction, but knowing you, I'm sure you think just getting started. So I just wanted to get sort of an update on where your focus areas are in terms of continuing to move that alignment forward to the betterment of the whole industry.

羅伯特，有 2 個問題想問你，1 個關於行業類型，1 個關於你的公司。在行業方面，去年，特別是當你剛開始的時候，你談到了很多關於更好地協調主播、唱片公司和藝術家之間的激勵措施，感覺去年2023 年在這個方向上發生了很多積極的事情，但了解你，我相信你認為這才剛開始。因此，我只是想了解您的重點領域的最新情況，以繼續推動這種協調以改善整個行業。

And then on the company, there's a lot of change happening at Warner Music, a lot of technology that seems to be getting implemented, particularly in the hands of your creative executives. How is the system handling that? Any stress that has popped up? Or do you think there's sort of alignment across the organization as you sort of bring technology and creativity together internally?

然後在公司方面，華納音樂發生了很多變化，很多技術似乎正在實施，特別是在創意主管的手中。系統是如何處理的？有沒有出現壓力？或者，當您在內部將技術和創造力結合在一起時，您認為整個組織之間存在某種一致性嗎？

Thanks, Ben. So your first question on the industry and how we're aligning. Yes, you're right. A year ago, we were just talking about things. And today, we've got full round of price increases by all important DSPs. And we have new sort of artist-focused models around the actual remuneration of the initial stages of it, as you pointed out.

謝謝，本。所以你的第一個問題是關於這個行業以及我們如何調整的。你是對的。一年前，我們只是在談論事情。今天，所有重要的 DSP 都全面漲價。正如您所指出的，我們圍繞其初始階段的實際報酬建立了一種以藝術家為中心的新型模型。

So it's incredible to actually see the progress and what I would say is a fairly short amount of time because these things are complex and people compete with each other. So it's not easy to orchestrate all of that. And so I think what you will see is continued progress on that on both sides. I am very focused on this.

因此，真正看到進展真是令人難以置信，而且我想說的是，時間相當短，因為這些事情很複雜，而且人們互相競爭。因此，協調這一切並不容易。因此，我認為您將看到雙方在這方面不斷取得進展。我非常關注這一點。

In my opening remarks, I mentioned that this is one of our 3 priorities. And for me, it's personally very, very high priority. But a lot of them thinking about it, a lot of time working on it with the team and a lot of time working on it with our DSP partners. It is important. I think this is one of our very large opportunities. Pricing overall is a very, very large opportunity for the industry. And we just need to do it responsibly so that we maintain growth together with our DSP partners, but at the same time, focus on ARPU and expand it. And the way I talk about it is we should be not only hunting, but we should also be harvesting.

在我的開場白中，我提到這是我們的三個優先事項之一。對我個人來說，這是非常非常重要的優先事項。但他們中的許多人都在思考這個問題，花了很多時間與團隊一起工作，並與我們的 DSP 合作夥伴一起工作。這很重要。我認為這是我們非常大的機會之一。整體定價對該行業來說是一個非常非常大的機會。我們只需要負責任地行事，以便與 DSP 合作夥伴一起保持成長，但同時專注於 ARPU 並擴大它。我想說的是，我們不只應該狩獵，還應該收穫。

And the industry obviously has focused on growth over the last 15 years and was only hunting, and we just need to do both of those things in different markets and be much more intentional about that. Second thing on the company, then you asked about how -- obviously, I've refreshed quite a lot of the leadership team. There's lots of other people who joined the company, lots of people left the company, and we're integrating 2 cultures, right?

過去 15 年，該行業顯然一直專注於成長，而只是在狩獵，我們只需要在不同的市場上做這兩件事，並且更有意識地做到這一點。關於公司的第二件事，然後你問到如何——顯然，我已經更新了很多領導團隊。有很多人加入了公司，也有很多人離開了公司，我們正在整合兩種文化，對吧？

Obviously, music culture rooted in media and creativity and technology culture rooted in coding and they're quite different. What I can tell you is that I thought it was going to be a lot harder than it has been for us. And I think -- but the credit for that doesn't go to me, it goes to Max Lousada, Ariel Bardin, the leadership team has really embraced this. And I think, generally, people speak about -- people from the music industry unfairly in this regard because everybody wants technology to help them.

顯然，植根於媒體和創造力的音樂文化和植根於編碼的技術文化是有很大不同的。我可以告訴你的是，我認為這對我們來說會困難得多。我認為，但這一切的功勞不在於我，而是 Max Lousada、Ariel Bardin，領導團隊確實接受了這一點。我認為，一般來說，人們談論音樂產業的人在這方面是不公平的，因為每個人都希望科技來幫助他們。

And when you have it at your disposal, it's wonderful. You make smarter decisions, you have better tools to frequency and reach in terms of marketing, you can push through more content through our systems, through our supply chain. And so if you can have it, you want it. And the team has done an incredible job over the last 10 years, having par less of it, and they still did a great job, but they want the help. So the leadership team has really kicked in, gelling, have create new processes around all of this, and I'm very, very confident that what I set out to do is already happening. And it will just accrue to each quarter in each year. So I'm very confident.

當你可以使用它時，那就太棒了。您可以做出更明智的決策，您可以在行銷方面擁有更好的工具來進行頻率和影響力，您可以透過我們的系統、透過我們的供應鏈推送更多內容。所以，如果你能擁有它，你就會想要它。團隊在過去 10 年裡做了令人難以置信的工作，但他們仍然做得很好，但他們需要幫助。因此，領導團隊確實開始介入，凝聚力，圍繞著所有這些創建了新的流程，我非常非常有信心，我打算做的事情已經發生了。它只會累積到每年的每個季度。所以我非常有信心。

Our next question comes from Michael Morris with Guggenheim Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自古根漢證券公司的麥可莫里斯。

Two questions. One about your content slate and one about your TikTok relationship. So on the first one, can you talk about how much of the revenue momentum that you saw particularly in Recorded Music streaming was fueled by that improved content performance as opposed to some of the underlying trends, like price increases in the industry.

兩個問題。一份關於您的內容列表，一份關於您的 TikTok 關係。因此，在第一個方面，您能否談談您所看到的收入成長動力，特別是在錄製音樂串流媒體中，有多少是由內容表現的改善所推動的，而不是一些潛在的趨勢，例如產業的價格上漲。

And as we look at the fiscal second quarter, should we expect further acceleration in the rate of streaming growth given that you have this robust slate and the comparisons ease a bit? So that's my first question.

當我們審視第二財季時，鑑於您擁有如此強勁的陣容並且比較有所緩和，我們是否應該預期串流媒體成長率會進一步加速？這是我的第一個問題。

And then second, on the TikTok relationship, you guys reached an agreement with TikTok. There's a very high-profile dispute in the market with one of your peers, having taken their content off of the service and not reaching a new agreement. So I understand you can't speak about somebody else's in the field, but maybe in light of what we're seeing in the market, what gives you confidence that the TikTok deal you did was right for you and your artists? And how is it contributing to your growth at this point?

第二，關於 TikTok 的關係，你們與 TikTok 達成了協議。市場上與您的一位同行發生了一場非常引人注目的糾紛，他們從服務中刪除了他們的內容，但沒有達成新的協議。所以我知道你不能談論該領域的其他人，但也許根據我們在市場上看到的情況，是什麼讓你相信你所做的 TikTok 交易適合你和你的藝術家？目前它對您的成長有何貢獻？

Michael, it's Bryan. I'll take the first part of that, just on the acceleration, particularly in Recorded Music streaming in the quarter. And as you know, there's a lot that goes into that, but certainly, price increases contributed and I think we called that out, but also the stronger slate, particularly year-over-year came out of Q4 with momentum, some launches in Q1. And as we sit here today, as Robert alluded to, the slate is strong coming into Q2 and we're excited about the back half of the year.

邁克爾，我是布萊恩。我將討論第一部分，即加速，特別是本季錄製音樂串流媒體的加速。如你所知，這涉及很多因素，但當然，價格上漲做出了貢獻，我認為我們已經指出了這一點，但也有更強勁的表現，特別是第四季度的同比增長勢頭強勁，第一季度推出了一些產品。正如羅伯特所提到的，正如我們今天坐在這裡一樣，第二季度的表現強勁，我們對今年下半年感到興奮。

So as we've said, and it has been a focus for Robert, Max and the team is consistent pipeline of releases and that has been showing up in the results and so we are expecting for that to continue.

正如我們所說，羅伯特、馬克斯和團隊一直關注的焦點是一致的發布管道，這已經出現在結果中，所以我們預計這種情況會繼續下去。

And I guess I'll take the TikTok one. So yes, as you said, obviously, I don't know the details of their dispute. What I can tell you is I have a pretty unique experience in this. Obviously, I haven't been on the other side and having gone through these types of disputes where we have -- where content has come down. And so I know exactly what both Lucian and Shou are feeling, have gone through all of those feelings, multiple times. And it is not great for either side, obviously, right, because I think everybody wants to consummate a deal.

我想我會選擇 TikTok。所以，是的，正如你所說，顯然，我不知道他們糾紛的細節。我可以告訴你的是，我在這方面有非常獨特的經驗。顯然，我沒有站在另一邊，也沒有經歷過我們所遇到的此類爭議——內容已經下降。所以我清楚地知道盧錫安和受的感受，並且多次經歷過所有這些感受。顯然，這對雙方來說都不是好事，因為我認為每個人都希望達成協議。

Whatever you read in the press, don't believe it, because you don't know the definitions of any of the words that are there, and that is where all the disputes begin. And the thing that I can tell you is that I know both really well, and I'm confident that they will, at some point, find an agreement because again, from the YouTube experience, music is incredibly helpful to virality of content, right? People, when they're creating content, they love trends, they love music. That's what helps it, significantly makes it better, the sound track it, so obviously, that's valuable to a platform.

無論您在媒體上讀到什麼，都不要相信它，因為您不知道其中任何單字的定義，而這就是所有爭議的開始。我可以告訴你的是，我對兩者都非常了解，而且我相信他們會在某個時候達成一致，因為從 YouTube 的經驗來看，音樂對於內容的病毒式傳播非常有幫助，對吧？人們在創作內容時，喜歡潮流，喜歡音樂。這就是對它有幫助的東西，顯著使它變得更好，音軌它，所以顯然，這對平台很有價值。

And conversely, TikTok, YouTube, Reels all of those platforms are obviously hopeful to making music popular, right? We all love that on the music side and user engagement is great. I spoke about it in my opening, right, that this is also what makes music great and different from all other forms of media.

相反，TikTok、YouTube、Reels 所有這些平台顯然都希望讓音樂流行起來，對嗎？我們都喜歡音樂方面的這一點，而且用戶參與度也很高。我在開場白中談到了這一點，對吧，這也是音樂之所以偉大並不同於所有其他形式媒體的原因。

So there are mutual benefits here and it's just about what is the right fair value exchange. And sometimes you have to go through the price discovery discount of that. And that's okay, too, right, because people find out exactly what it is and what it means to them. Obviously, I have an interest in them working it out, I want them to work it out. And I think they are both reasonable people that will find a compromise, but as far as our deal, I'm always very confident in the deals that we do, we don't follow other companies. We don't do carbon copies of other deals, we do our own, which is why we did the one last year.

因此，這裡存在著互惠互利，而問題在於什麼是正確的公允價值交換。有時你必須經歷價格發現折扣。這也沒關係，因為人們確切地知道它是什麼以及它對他們意味著什麼。顯然，我對他們解決這個問題很感興趣，我希望他們解決這個問題。我認為他們都是通情達理的人，會找到妥協，但就我們的交易而言，我總是對我們所做的交易非常有信心，我們不會效仿其他公司。我們不複製其他交易，我們只做自己的交易，這就是我們去年做這筆交易的原因。

Again, I've had sort of unique experience from both sides to bridge our decisions. It wasn't easy for TikTok, it's very difficult too, but we got there. And for us, for us it was fair but it was a year ago, also a different time. So I don't know what is driving Universal's positions. But if there's any way we can help them, we will, all of us, and I'm confident they'll sort it out.

同樣，我從雙方那裡獲得了一些獨特的經驗來幫助我們做出決定。對於 TikTok 來說，這並不容易，也非常困難，但我們做到了。對我們來說，這很公平，但那是一年前，也是不同的時間。所以我不知道是什麼推動了環球影業的地位。但如果我們有辦法幫助他們，我們所有人都會這麼做，我相信他們會解決這個問題。

And Michael, just to add, I mean, Robert said, we're obviously wishing for a collaborative resolution there. But TikTok, as you see our ad supported revenue growth at 10% in the quarter, TikTok and the deal we executed last quarter certainly contributed to that. And so we like our TikTok deal, and it continues to be a driver of growth.

邁克爾，補充一下，羅伯特說，我的意思是，我們顯然希望在那裡達成合作解決方案。但是 TikTok，正如你所看到的，我們的廣告支持了本季 10% 的營收成長，TikTok 和我們上季執行的交易無疑對此做出了貢獻。因此，我們喜歡我們的 TikTok 交易，它仍然是成長的驅動力。

Next question comes from Benjamin Black with Deutsche Bank.

下一個問題來自德意志銀行的班傑明·布萊克。

Robert, could you give us an update on sort of your thoughts around perhaps or maybe the discussions you're having with some of your larger DSPs in their respective move to more of an artist-centric model. It sounds like you're optimistic for some incremental positive change in the near to medium term. So it'd be great to hear your thoughts on that.

Robert，您能否向我們介紹您的最新想法，或者您正在與一些較大的 DSP 進行討論，以轉向更以藝術家為中心的模式。聽起來您對中短期內一些漸進的正向改變持樂觀態度。所以很高興聽到您對此的想法。

And then secondly, on the Publishing side of the business, it just continues to outperform. I'd be curious if you could unpack what's going on there from an operational standpoint. And how sustainable or durable are the current trends there?

其次，在出版業務方面，它繼續表現出色。我很好奇您是否可以從操作的角度來分析那裡發生的事情。當前趨勢的可持續性或持久性如何？

So on the DSPs, our discussions are in early stages because we first had to develop our frameworks and how we think about the world developing from here. This is one of the reasons also I brought Carletta Higginson into the company. She's a very strong innovator on deal structures both across Publishing and Recorded Music and doing so in a very collaborative manner. But you know it also helps drive significant change and so we've been developing the strategy and started to talk to DSPs about it.

因此，在 DSP 方面，我們的討論仍處於早期階段，因為我們首先必須發展我們的框架以及我們如何看待從此發展的世界。這也是我將 Carletta Higginson 引入公司的原因之一。她在出版和錄製音樂領域的交易結構方面都是一位非常強大的創新者，並且以非常協作的方式做到這一點。但您知道它也有助於推動重大變革，因此我們一直在製定該策略並開始與 DSP 討論它。

There are multiple different ways to look at it, once there are options that provide zero destruction to users and there are some that provide mild ones, and then there are some that provide more radical ones. And the work that we need to do is figure out how we explore all -- how we explore them across the spectrum and what is the best way to roll it out and how to do it in a way that continues to drive growth of subscribers, more and more people in the premium experience, but at the same time, optimizes it. And so none of this should be interpreted as we want to increased pricing dramatically, but then slow down the growth at the same time, which is what happened to some other companies. That is not -- again, I have an experience from the other side to drive growth, and I want to maintain that.

有多種不同的方式來看待它，一旦有為用戶提供零破壞的選項，有一些提供溫和的選項，還有一些提供更激進的選項。我們需要做的工作是弄清楚我們如何探索一切——我們如何跨領域探索它們，推出它的最佳方式是什麼，以及如何以持續推動訂戶增長的方式進行，越來越多的人享受到優質體驗，但同時也對其進行了優化。因此，這一切都不應該被解釋為我們希望大幅提高定價，但同時放慢成長速度，這正是其他一些公司發生的情況。這不是——再說一遍，我有來自另一方的經驗來推動成長，我想保持這一點。

So I think being thoughtful about what also drives the DSPs is really, really important. And that is how we get there. So that's one. So I also have joined business plans together with them to reach higher levels of growth for both of us. On the Publishing side, Publishing is an incredible business. It's like when you see it from a -- how do we saw it from the outside, when you see it from the inside, it's truly an incredible business.

因此，我認為深思熟慮驅動 DSP 的因素非常非常重要。這就是我們到達那裡的方式。這就是其中之一。因此，我也與他們一起加入了商業計劃，以實現我們雙方更高水平的成長。在出版方面，出版是一項令人難以置信的業務。就像當你從外部看到它時，我們如何從內部看到它，當你從內部看到它時，這確實是一項令人難以置信的業務。

And it's really it's -- obviously, there is the creative component of it, which we do incredibly well, but there is also the administration component of it, which is very tedious, very operational, very scaled and it's finding pennies all around the world in every culture around the world, the goals that you have to do. And that is also where we can deploy technology to do it better with higher return and more scale. And I think Guy and Carianne are dividing their duties incredibly well, an excellent team leading Warner Chappell, and they've been very, very operational for a long time. So the results are showing up based on that. So I'm confident in their continued performance.

確實是這樣——顯然，它有創意部分，我們做得非常好，但也有管理部分，這是非常乏味的，非常可操作的，非常規模化的，而且它在世界各地都賺到了錢。在在世界各地的每種文化中，您必須實現的目標。這也是我們可以部署技術以更好地實現更高回報和更大規模的地方。我認為蓋伊和卡里安的職責分工非常好，他們是一支優秀的團隊，領導華納·查普爾，而且他們長期以來一直非常非常有效率地運作。所以結果是基於此顯示的。所以我對他們的持續表現充滿信心。

Our next question comes from Rich Greenfield with LightShed Partners.

我們的下一個問題來自 LightShed Partners 的 Rich Greenfield。

Robert, part of the TikTok dispute seems like it's focused around AI and essentially not -- there's obviously the obvious problem of third-party AI content from outside of things like TikTok being put on to TikTok. But part of this dispute seems to be TikTok actually creating tools and enabling the creation of AI music that would count sort of as part of how they value or decide who gets what payments.

羅伯特，TikTok 爭議的一部分似乎集中在人工智慧上，但本質上並非如此——顯然存在明顯的問題，即來自 TikTok 之外的第三方人工智慧內容被放到了 TikTok 上。但這場爭議的部分原因似乎是 TikTok 實際上創建了工具並支持人工智慧音樂的創作，這在某種程度上被視為他們如何評估或決定誰獲得什麼付款的一部分。

And I'm just curious, as you think about your relationship with TikTok, could you just give us your view on sort of how you're dealing with them on AI music and sort of that broader of like how Warner gets paid relative to the creation of AI music within their platform, if that makes sense?

我只是很好奇，當你思考你與 TikTok 的關係時，你能否向我們介紹一下你在人工智慧音樂方面如何與他們打交道以及更廣泛的看法，例如華納相對於在他們的平台內創作人工智慧音樂，這是否有意義？

So I would actually expand your question a little bit because the issue is not just TikTok. It's TikTok, YouTube, Meta.

所以我實際上想稍微擴展一下你的問題，因為問題不僅僅是 TikTok。是 TikTok、YouTube、Meta。

Totally fair. Totally fair.

完全公平。完全公平。

Correct. It's -- if you're asking a question that is obviously -- it's very relevant across all of the platforms because the reason -- I can't recall which quarter it was, but I basically, at some point, I spoke about my prioritization of partners for AI, starting with the platforms, then the secondary focus would be the generative AI engines and the third, governments and regulation, in that order because the platforms not only if the GenAI engines, but they are really the place where the content ends up, right? Like those platforms that I mentioned is where no matter what the engine is, the people will want the views, streams, that's where it's going to end up.

正確的。如果你問的問題很明顯，那麼它在所有平台上都非常相關，因為原因是——我不記得是哪個季度了，但基本上，在某個時候，我談到了我的情況。人工智慧合作夥伴的優先順序，從平台開始，然後第二個重點是生成型人工智慧引擎，第三個是政府和監管，按這個順序，因為平台不僅是GenAI 引擎，而且實際上是生成人工智慧引擎的地方。內容結束了，對吧？就像我提到的那些平台一樣，無論引擎是什麼，人們都會想要視圖、流，這就是它最終的結果。

So our work is focused on making sure that the rules of the road on those platforms respect copyright. And we have a lot of copyright. Universal has a lot of copyright. Sony has a lot of copyright and many others, Disney, et cetera. So it's really important to have clear rules of the road, not only for the first party content that they're creating with their tools, but even more importantly, for content that's created with other tools that ends up there. And I think that's generally like the forgotten thing. That is really important.

因此，我們的工作重點是確保這些平台上的交通規則尊重版權。我們擁有很多版權。環球擁有大量版權。索尼擁有大量版權，還有許多其他版權，迪士尼等等。因此，制定明確的規則非常重要，不僅適用於他們使用工具創建的第一方內容，更重要的是，適用於使用其他工具創建的內容。我認為這通常就像是被遺忘的事情。這真的很重要。

So it has to be -- has to govern all of that. So that is why they are squarely all of them in my side. And this is something that we have been working on. I can't share any details on this, but it is a very top area of priority. This goes into my second bucket on increasing the value of music. Like this is because it has -- copyright has to be respected. The outlooks and training on our copyright has to be respected and eventually, the loss will reflect it, but the platforms will run ahead of the loss, and it's important that they do the right thing. And I think they will. We just need to make sure that it's also aligned across all of them, not just one and not the others because they would disadvantage them.

所以它必須——必須管理這一切。這就是為什麼他們都站在我這邊。這是我們一直在努力的事情。我無法分享這方面的任何細節，但這是一個非常重要的優先領域。這是我關於增加音樂價值的第二個目標。這是因為它具有——版權必須受到尊重。我們對版權的看法和培訓必須得到尊重，最終，損失將反映這一點，但平台將在損失之前運行，重要的是他們做正確的事情。我認為他們會的。我們只需要確保它在所有方面都保持一致，而不僅僅是一個或其他，因為它們會使他們處於不利地位。

So I can't -- that there's disputes between, let's say, Universal and TikTok over that because these are fast-evolving technologies and the ground is shifting.

所以我不能——比如說，Universal 和 TikTok 之間就此存在爭議，因為這些都是快速發展的技術，而且基礎正在改變。

Our next question comes from Batya Levi with UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的巴蒂亞‧萊維 (Batya Levi)。

A follow-up on the Streaming revenue growth side. Can you talk about if you have already started to see any change in trends since Spotify implemented the policy change in the beginning of the year? And on ad supported, how should we think about revenue growth going forward? Are there any changes in the royalty structure that could impact that trend?

串流媒體收入成長方面的後續行動。您能否談談自 Spotify 年初實施政策變更以來，您是否已經開始看到趨勢改變？在廣告支援方面，我們該如何考慮未來的收入成長？特許權使用費結構是否有任何變化可能會影響這一趨勢？

Batya, thanks. It's Bryan. I think you're referring to Spotify's reallocation of roughly the $200 million over 5 years. Too soon to say. I think that's also going to take some time to ramp up. So we have not seen an impact of that yet. On the ad-supported side, again, and you saw we broke it out versus Subscription streaming and it includes the emerging platforms like TikTok.

巴蒂亞，謝謝。是布萊恩。我認為您指的是 Spotify 在 5 年內重新分配約 2 億美元的資金。現在說還太早。我認為這也需要一些時間來提升。所以我們還沒有看到它的影響。在廣告支援方面，您再次看到我們將其與訂閱串流媒體進行了對比，其中包括 TikTok 等新興平台。

And we continue to see favorable stabilization there in the core ad-supported piece, excluding the emerging platforms. And so that does tied more closely to the overall marketplace where coming off, I think, easy weaker comps year-over-year. So we're seeing continued growth of stabilization there as well.

我們繼續看到核心廣告支援部分的良好穩定，不包括新興平台。因此，這確實與整個市場的連結更加緊密，我認為，整體市場的競爭很容易逐年走弱。因此，我們也看到那裡的穩定性持續成長。

Got it. One more follow-up, if I may. On the pacing of margin expansion through the year, how should we think about that this year as you approach the 100 bps expansion target?

知道了。如果可以的話，還有一個後續行動。關於全年利潤率擴張的節奏，今年當您接近 100 個基點的擴張目標時，我們該如何思考？

As we had called out earlier in the last quarter, our back half, just given the release slate, stronger release slate, we will see our margin expansion tick up through the course of the year in Q3 and Q4.

正如我們在上個季度早些時候所說的那樣，我們的後半部分，只要考慮到發布名單，更強勁的發布名單，我們將看到我們的利潤率在第三季度和第四季度不斷擴大。

Next question comes from Sebastiano Petti with JPMorgan.

下一個問題來自摩根大通的塞巴斯蒂亞諾·佩蒂。

I think, Robert, just stepping back for a second, high-level multiyear, I guess, your thoughts on a multiyear basis, thinking about some of the initiatives you're driving, I think you talked about catalog again today, seems to be a priority for you. Some of the changes or the approach to distribution for independents seems like a longer-term kind of priority for you as well. How long does that take to manifest itself perhaps in the Recorded Music streaming metrics?

我想，羅伯特，我想，您在多年的基礎上的想法，思考您正在推動的一些舉措，我想您今天再次談到了目錄，似乎是您的優先事項。對於獨立人士來說，一些變化或分配方式似乎也是您的長期優先事項。這可能需要多長時間才能在錄製音樂串流指標中體現出來？

And maybe just how you're thinking about the pacing of that, is there additional implementation or changes from an investment perspective that need to go into that. And then also again, Robert, another one, I guess, the hunt and harvest. How are you thinking about -- or your -- the time line perhaps of maybe some of the segmentation changes perhaps that may occur at the DSP level. Is that going to be bifurcated to some extent between developed markets, emerging markets and maybe just how you're thinking about that evolving over time?

也許您正在考慮其節奏，是否需要從投資角度進行額外的實施或更改。然後，羅伯特，我想，還有另一件事，狩獵和收穫。您如何考慮（或您的）時間線，也許是 DSP 等級可能發生的一些細分變化。已開發市場和新興市場之間是否會在某種程度上出現分歧，也許您是如何看待這種情況隨著時間的推移而演變的？

So on some of the initiatives, yes, there are quite a few. They're in flight already. So this is not like something that we're just planning. Like one of the reasons that we decided to step on the pedal and accelerate is because we already started to work on our growth levers months back and I have a clear vision on what we need to accomplish. And our teams have started to gel and this goes actually back to one of the earlier questions to how the team is gelling well together. We have work stream, growth streams across technology and the business and we're focused on those. And some of them, I think, will start yielding results this year already.

所以在一些舉措上，是的，有很多。他們已經在飛行了。所以這不像我們剛剛計劃的事情。就像我們決定踩下踏板並加速的原因之一是因為我們幾個月前就已經開始致力於我們的成長槓桿，而且我對我們需要實現的目標有清晰的願景。我們的團隊已經開始凝聚，這實際上又回到了先前的問題之一，即團隊如何凝聚在一起。我們有跨技術和業務的工作流程、成長流，我們專注於這些。我認為其中一些已經在今年開始取得成果。

But think of all of this as continued incremental improvements. That is my goal, that every year from all of these initiatives, we should drive incremental improvement and just steady and forever. But you'll start seeing that this year. And I would say, on the distribution front, as you discussed, obviously, first, we're focused on efficiencies with our own supply chain. But then really distribution is how we externalize that to third parties. So it's the right sequencing of that. And I would say you'll start seeing the results of that over the course of, I don't know, next 1 to 2 years. Obviously, on the supply chain internally that we'll start seeing much faster. And then on the distribution side, it will be on the time frame that I just mentioned.

但將所有這一切視為持續的漸進式改進。這是我的目標，每年我們都應該從所有這些舉措中推動漸進式改進，並且穩定且永遠。但今年你就會開始看到這一點。我想說，在分銷方面，正如您所討論的，顯然，首先，我們專注於我們自己的供應鏈的效率。但真正的分發是我們如何將其外部化給第三方。所以這是正確的順序。我想說，在接下來的一到兩年內，我不知道，你會開始看到結果。顯然，在內部供應鏈上，我們將開始看到更快的速度。然後在分配方面，將按照我剛才提到的時間範圍進行。

On the DSP hunt and harvest process, so changes like this, if you do them responsibly, usually take 9 months, a year to figure out together with partners, right? So this is not something where you go and strong arm, somebody, you have to work together collaboratively, do lots of analysis, figure out what the business plan is and that is the right approach.

在DSP的狩獵和收穫過程中，所以像這樣的改變，如果你負責任地去做的話，通常需要9個月、一年的時間與伴侶一起弄清楚，對吧？因此，這不是你需要強力支持的事情，你必須協同工作，進行大量分析，找出業務計劃是什麼，這才是正確的方法。

And we've done that several times when I was on the other side. So that is how I think about it. And you have to do it with multiple partners, you have to coordinate. So that is the responsible way to approach it. And I think the -- when you think about the different markets, it is very obvious that dual approach makes sense or the starting approach based on the properties of the market. And I'm glad that some of our partners are already seeing it that way as well because it is in our mutual interest. So we're just going to do it right and we got to do it together and be very methodical and analytical about it together.

當我在另一邊時，我們已經這樣做過好幾次了。這就是我的想法。而且你必須與多個合作夥伴一起做，你必須協調。所以這是負責任的處理方式。我認為，當你考慮不同的市場時，很明顯雙重方法或基於市場特性的起始方法是有意義的。我很高興我們的一些合作夥伴也已經這樣看待它，因為這符合我們的共同利益。所以我們要做正確的事情，我們必須一起做，並且一起非常有條理和分析。

Our next question comes from Kutgun Maral with Evercore ISI.

我們的下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Kutgun Maral。

I just wanted to follow up on the outlook for Recorded Music ad-supported trends. I think growth accelerated from low single digits 2 quarters ago to 7% last quarter to now 10%. So clearly encouraging trends. Bryan, you just talked about some continued stabilization in your answer to Batya's question regarding core ad trends, can we see that improving further given some of your key partners like YouTube are seeing fairly notable improving trends? And on the emerging side, can we still expect to see some benefits from renewals with those partners later this year?

我只是想跟進錄製音樂廣告支援趨勢的前景。我認為成長速度從兩個季度前的低個位數加速到上個季度的 7%，再到現在的 10%。如此明顯令人鼓舞的趨勢。 Bryan，您剛才談到了在回答Batya 關於核心廣告趨勢的問題時出現了一些持續穩定的情況，考慮到您的一些主要合作夥伴（例如YouTube）看到了相當顯著的改善趨勢，我們是否可以看到進一步的改善？在新興市場方面，我們是否還能期望在今年稍後看到與這些合作夥伴續約帶來的一些好處？

Thanks, Kutgun, for the question. On the renewals, we don't necessarily comment on our negotiations with partners. And it's a promising growing platform with the emerging partners, and we'll continue to work with them collaboratively to grow the space. On the ad-supported, again, there YouTube, Spotify continuing to see favorable trends there in core ad-supported. And we would expect that the flow through over time. It does take time. And I think we're all seeing a stabilization there, although choppy in places across the ad marketplace. But that stabilization we've continued to see and based on their results, we would look to see that coming in future quarters as well. Thanks for the question.

謝謝庫特岡提出的問題。關於續約，我們不一定會對與合作夥伴的談判發表評論。這是一個與新興合作夥伴一起發展的有前途的平台，我們將繼續與他們合作，共同發展這個空間。在廣告支援方面，YouTube、Spotify 繼續在核心廣告支援方面看到有利的趨勢。我們預計這種流量會隨著時間的推移而流逝。這確實需要時間。我認為我們都看到了那裡的穩定，儘管整個廣告市場的某些地方都出現了波動。但我們繼續看到這種穩定，並且根據他們的結果，我們希望在未來幾季也能看到這種穩定。謝謝你的提問。

I would now like to turn the call back over to Robert Kyncl for any closing remarks.

我現在想將電話轉回給羅伯特金克爾 (Robert Kyncl)，讓其發表結束語。

All right. Thank you. Well, what I'd like to say is that being a year on the job, I feel we're in a very strong position. It's incredible to see the amount of work that we've done, preparing ourselves for it. We have a refresh team. We know what we need to do. We're confident to put it out there publicly and we're going after it. And all of this is truly underpinned by having the right leadership team that gels together really well and amazing teams that we've been investing into all around we're delivering results, seeing us having success on the charts with great talent that we signed just a few years ago, it's incredible.

好的。謝謝。嗯，我想說的是，工作一年後，我覺得我們處於非常有利的地位。看到我們為此做好準備所做的大量工作真是令人難以置信。我們有一個更新團隊。我們知道我們需要做什麼。我們有信心將其公開，並且我們正在努力追求它。所有這一切的真正基礎是擁有一支能夠很好地團結在一起的正確的領導團隊，以及我們一直在各地投資的令人驚嘆的團隊，我們正在交付成果，看到我們憑藉我們剛剛簽下的優秀人才在排行榜上取得了成功幾年前，這是令人難以置信的。

So I'm very confident about our continued performance and have great belief in the team that's here with me. So thank you very much, and we'll talk to you in the quarter.

因此，我對我們的持續表現非常有信心，並對與我在一起的團隊充滿信心。非常感謝您，我們將在本季與您交談。

Thank you. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

謝謝。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。