Universal Music Group NV, the largest of the ‘big three’ label groups, plans to downsize hundreds of employees in the first quarter of 2024.
According to a report by Bloomberg, UMG’s recorded music division will bear the brunt of the staff reductions, though no official announcements have been made.
The reported staff reductions would account for a small fraction of the roughly 10,000 staffers that UMG employed at the end of 2022.
The rumored staff layoffs come amid a slowdown in revenue in 2022 following years of explosive growth in the new era of streaming. As Bloomberg noted, UMG posted revenue gains of just 3% in the third quarter of 2023, down sharply from the 9.9% revenue growth the company reported in the same period the previous year.
“We are creating efficiencies in other areas of the business so we can remain nimble and responsive to the dynamic market, while realizing the benefits of our scale,” UMG told Bloomberg in response to a query about the purported layoffs.
