Q1 2026 Earnings Roundup: Why Beats Didn’t Stop Spotify and UMG Stocks From Sliding

Big music companies delivered mostly healthy first-quarter numbers for the quarter ending March 31, 2026, but the market’s reaction was uneven. Spotify and Universal Music Group posted results that beat expectations on multiple metrics, yet their shares fell sharply in the days after results—Spotify by roughly 13% and UMG by about 9%—as investors zeroed in on forward guidance and a lighter release slate, respectively.

That mix of healthy toplines and prickly investor sentiment captures where the industry is right now: streaming growth and touring demand remain real, but margins, release schedules and big-ticket investments in AI and platform tech are the new flashpoints for shareholders. Below is a company-by-company look at the results reported through May 7; Warner Music Group and Sony Music Group were still due to report later the same day.

HYBE

South Korea’s HYBE announced on Wednesday (April 29) a record first-quarter haul of 698.3 billion KRW ($470.2 million), its best Q1 ever, a surge driven largely by BTS. Artist-driven activities—recorded music, concerts and advertising—rose 25% to 403.7 billion KRW ($271.9 million), while recorded revenue nearly doubled year over year to 271.5 billion KRW ($182.3 million). HYBE also pointed to a 66% jump in indirect artist activities such as official merchandise and fan-club sales, with BTS tour merch particularly strong.

BTS’s ARIRANG, released March 20, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and stayed there for three weeks. Its lead single “SWIM” entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 1, and the album opened with 641,000 equivalent album units—532,000 of those in pure sales—marking the biggest sales week for a group in more than a decade.

Live Nation

Live Nation reported $3.79 billion in revenue for the quarter ending March 31, almost matching its best-ever quarter from two years prior. The promoter posted a 12% year-over-year revenue increase despite legal expenses tied to its antitrust trial. Adjusted operating income climbed 9% to $371 million, with concert AOI up 7% and ticketing AOI rising 4% to $256 million on 81 million fee-bearing tickets. Sponsorship AOI jumped 21% to $165 million, and deferred revenue for concerts and Ticketmaster reached record levels.

“We are seeing a fundamental shift as fans prioritize the ‘live’ experience — the chance to be physically present with their favorite artists and share that energy with friends and fellow fans in a way a screen simply cannot replicate,” said Live Nation president and CEO Michael Rapino.

Madison Square Garden Entertainment

Madison Square Garden Entertainment’s third fiscal-quarter revenue rose 2% to $246.3 million as The Garden hosted more concerts, including a run from Cardi B, but profit fell 36% to $5.1 million amid higher event and healthcare costs. Operating income dropped to $16.1 million (down 41%), and adjusted operating income fell 20% to $46.0 million. MSGE’s CFO David Collins pointed to a longer Harry Styles residency this August—twice the length of last year’s—as a tailwind for record concert revenue later in the year.

SiriusXM

On Thursday (April 30), SiriusXM reported double-digit profit growth in Q1. Net income climbed 20% to $245 million, while overall revenue inched up 1% to $2.1 billion. Adjusted EBITDA rose nearly 6% to $666 million for a margin of 31.9%. The company significantly reduced the churn of self-pay subscribers: it lost about 111,000 self-paying subscribers in the quarter versus 303,000 the prior year, crediting companion or family plans and recent price increases.

SiriusXM’s stock enjoyed a headline-driven lift—up more than 15% in April to nearly $27 a share—as investors speculated about potential talks to buy iHeartRadio and regulatory shifts around spectrum. Company executives declined to address those topics directly on the earnings call.

SM Entertainment

SM reported a 20.6% jump in first-quarter revenue to KRW 279.1 billion ($189.4 million) and an 18.5% rise in operating profit to KRW 38.6 billion ($26 million), lifted by global tours from Super Junior, NCT DREAM, aespa, RIIZE and NCT WISH. Concert revenue surged 56.0%, and merchandising and licensing climbed 20.3%, which the company attributed to strong sales of light sticks, merchandise and pop-up events connected to EXO, NCT WISH and aespa projects.

SM expects recorded music, digital distribution and live performance revenues to continue growing into the summer and autumn, citing a string of planned releases and tour activity from artists such as TAEYONG, aespa, SHINee, RIIZE, Hearts2Hearts and RYEOWOOK.

Sphere

The Sphere Entertainment Company posted first-quarter revenue of $386 million—up nearly 40% year over year—thanks to The Wizard of Oz at Sphere and residencies by The Eagles and Illenium. Executives said the venue remains an incremental driver of Las Vegas tourism, with nearly 3 million Oz tickets generating $370 million in revenue since the show’s August debut.

“We’re seeing solid demand for The Wizard of Oz from all segments of that market, and that includes our cost-conscious consumers,” said Jennifer Koester, Sphere’s head of business operations and strategy.

Sphere also noted a rebound in Las Vegas tourism in February and March, pointing to a busy year of shows—Phish’s nine sold-out performances, a 21-show Backstreet Boys residency this summer, and Metallica’s sold-out 24-concert run in the fall.

Spotify

Spotify’s Q1 results beat company guidance on most metrics, but the stock plunged after management warned Q2 operating income would be lower as the company pushes into technology, AI and marketing. MAUs rose by 10 million to 761 million, with ad-supported MAUs up 14% and premium subscribers up 9%. Revenue topped 4.5 billion euros ($5.3 billion), supported by 10% growth in subscriber revenue, and operating income was 715 million euros ($821 million), beating guidance by 55 million euros and producing a 15.8% operating margin.

Investors focused on the forward view: Spotify guided to 630 million euros ($723.4 million) of operating income in Q2, including roughly 10 million euros in social charges and elevated operating expenses for the next two quarters tied to tech and AI investments. Management did, however, forecast Q2 revenue of about 4.8 billion euros from an additional 17 million MAUs, bringing total MAUs to 778 million.

Universal Music Group

UMG on Tuesday (April 29) reported first-quarter revenue essentially flat at 2.9 billion euros ($3.33 billion), a result that reflected the differing release calendars: BTS’s ARIRANG helped this quarter, but it could not match Q1 2025 when UMG released albums by Kendrick Lamar, Sabrina Carpenter, Lady Gaga, The Weeknd and others. On a constant currency basis, revenue rose 8.1%.

UMG chairman and CEO Lucian Grainge said the company’s board approved doubling its share buyback program to 1 billion euros and the sale of half of UMG’s equity stake in Spotify, with part of the proceeds earmarked as non-recoupable checks to artists. Grainge declined to comment on Pershing Square’s April 7 merger offer for UMG; analysts noted the Pershing proposal suggested selling the Spotify stake. The company also signaled that artist payouts and capital allocation remain central to its strategy going forward.

These results sketch a familiar industry pattern: growth in streaming and live demand, selective wins in recorded music, and an investor focus on margins, buybacks and how labels and platforms deploy capital for AI and product development. As the next wave of companies report—including Warner and Sony—expect the same tensions between headline revenues and the narrower questions that move markets.