As demand for concerts appears strong heading into the busy summer months, Live Nation led nearly all music stocks this week by jumping 7.7% to $148.87. On Friday (June 20), the concert gian surpassed $150 per share for the first time since Feb. 25, and its intraday high of $150.81 was roughly $7 below its all-time high of $157.49 set on Feb. 24. Earlier in the week, Goldman Sachs increased its price target on the stock to $162 from $157, implying Live Nation shares have an 8.8% upside from Friday’s closing price.
The 20-company Billboard Global Music Index (BGMI), which tracks the value of public music companies, finished the week ended June 20 down 2.4% to 2,853.13, its second consecutive weekly decline after nine straight gains. Despite large single-digit gains by Live Nation, MSG Entertainment and SM Entertainment, the index was pulled down due to losses by its two largest components: Spotify and Universal Music Group (UMG). The week’s decline lowered the BGMI’s year-to-date gain to 34.3%, though it’s still well ahead of the Nasdaq (down 0.9%) and the S&P 500 (up 0.4%) on that metric.
Markets sagged in the latter half of the week as investors expressed concerns about tensions in the Middle East and the potential impacts on global oil supplies and gas prices. The tech-heavy Nasdaq finished the week up 0.2% to 19,447.41 while the S&P 500 fell 0.2% to 5,976.97. In the U.K., the FTSE 100 dropped 0.9% to 8,774.65. South Korea’s KOSPI composite index jumped 4.4% and China’s SSE Composite Index dipped 0.5%.
New York-based live entertainment company MSG Entertainment rose 5.6% to $38.44, bringing its year-to-date gain to 7.1%. Elsewhere, SM Entertainment stock saw a 4.5% improvement, taking its 2025 gain to 90.4% — the best amongst music stocks save for Netease Cloud Music, which has seen a 111.2% year-to-date gain.
With streaming stocks posting the biggest gains of the year, Spotify shares reached a record high of $728.80 on Wednesday (June 18) but stumbled over the next two days and finished the week down 0.5% to $707.42. That decline took Spotify’s year-to-date gain down to 51.6%.
UMG shares fell 4.2% to 26.73 euros, marking its largest one-week decline since falling 9.2% in the week ended April 4. At the same time, Bernstein restarted coverage of UMG shares this week. Analysts believe it’s a “best in class” music company, which “implies predictability, a capital allocation framework consistent with industry trends, and steady operating leverage,” analysts wrote. Bernstein set a 33 euro ($38.03) price target, implying 23% upside over Friday’s closing price.
Shares of music streaming company LiveOne fell 6.5% on Friday and finished the week down 10.0% after the company released earnings results for its fiscal fourth quarter and year ended March 31. Fiscal fourth-quarter revenue fell 37.6% to $19.3 million due primarily to a decrease in Slacker revenue. For the full year, revenue slipped 3.4% to $114.4 million and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell 18.7% to $8.9 million.
Billboard
Billboard
Billboard
