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Hulu is offering an amazing deal to celebrate National Streaming Day. Beginning Friday (May 20), new and eligible returning subscribers can join Hulu for just $1 a month for three months.
The deal applies to Hulu’s most popular streaming plan, which is normally $6.99 a month. Subscribers who join under this limited deal will save a whopping 85% off the monthly subscription cost, but the promo won’t last long, so if you’ve been meaning to sign up for the streaming platform, you’ll have to act fast to get the discount. The promo ends May 27 at 11:59 p.m. PT.
Hulu’s mega streaming deal arrives just in time for exciting new programming, which includes The Kardashians, Candy, season 2 of Only Murders in the Building, The Valet and Girl Scout Murders, the latter of which debuts on Tuesday (May 24) on Hulu.
Also premiering on Hulu this month: Look at Me: XXXTentacion, a documentary exploring the life and career of the slain Florida rapper, and Pistol, a limited series about the Sex Pistols that will air on FX and stream on Hulu the following day after each episode premieres on cable.
Hulu Subscription
Want more music offerings? Hulu is the go-to streaming destination for exclusive livestream access to Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo and Austin City Limits.
Hulu’s most popular membership plan is the standard, ad-supported package. The subscription lets you stream thousands of episodes of TV and movies in the Hulu library like Pam & Tommy, How I Met Your Father, Dollface, Nine Perfect Strangers, The Handmaid’s Tale, Dopesick, Fresh, No Exit, Nightmare Alley and other Hulu exclusives along with new episodes from network TV and cable shows the day after they air.
Hulu subscribers can create up to six different profiles under one account, which is great for families and anyone with multiple people under one roof. And if you like to stream on the go, Hulu lets you watch from anywhere. Subscribers can stream on up to two different screens at once and from any device, including a smart TV, laptop, notebook or gaming console.
For the TV lovers who want to stream without ads, join Hulu’s commercial-free tier for $9.99 a month, but you won’t get the 85% discount, as it only applies to the ad-supported plan.
Hulu also offers live TV for $69.99 a month. The subscription includes 75+ live and on-demand cable and local channels, plus you get access to Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+.
The Ledger is a weekly newsletter about the economics of the music business sent to Billboard Pro subscribers. An abbreviated version of the newsletter is published online.
From streaming services to concert promoters and ticket sellers, music companies have reported encouraging first-quarter earnings results that show consumers continue to adopt subscription services and eagerly return to live events after COVID restrictions were lifted in late 2021. The same companies’ stock prices tell another story, however. While music companies posted double-digit gains in subscription growth, revenue, ticket sales and many other metrics, their share prices are down by double-digits in 2022. That’s not a surprise given the state of the economy: Inflation is at a 40-year high ; rising interest rates sent investors looking for value stocks and safety in bonds; and consumers are starting to miss credit card and auto loan payments. Right now, investors are looking beyond mere growth to margins and profitability.
In the wake of these earnings reports, Billboard is highlighting three factors that are influencing the music business in 2022. First, growth in subscription services is reshaping labels and publishers’ revenues; growth may be slowing, and it could disappoint some investors, but it’s there. Second, publishing revenues saw especially strong growth in the first quarter and contributed more to parent companies’ growth than record labels (given their relatively smaller size). Third, live music is going to have a strong 2022, which will impact not just touring artists but record labels that sell merchandise on the road.
Subscription growth was strong (but it’s slowing).
Spotify’s subscriptions grew 15% to 182 million, an annual increase of 24 million and 2 million more than the fourth quarter of 2021. While second-quarter growth was below Spotify’s guidance, the company said it was above expectations if “involuntary churn” of 1.5 million subscriptions from the company’s exit from Russia weren’t counted. (Spotify expects another 600,000 lost subscribers in Russia in the second quarter.)
The second-quarter guidance is 6 million net new subscribers, which would take Spotify to roughly 188 million, up 14% from the second quarter of 2021. That would represent a smaller annual gain in subscribers (23 million versus 27 million in the second quarter of 2021) and a lower annual growth rate (14% versus 20%).
Smaller streaming services posted higher growth rates in the first quarter. Even though Tencent Music Entertainment revenue fell 15% due to losses in social entertainment, its music subscriptions grew 31.7% to 80.2 million, an annual increase of 19.3 million and up 4 million from the fourth quarter of 2021. Anghami’s subscription revenue grew 26% year over year. Chinese music streaming service Cloud Village reports first-quarter earnings on May 24.
Publishing and merchandising were higher in the revenue mix.
At Universal Music Group, recorded music accounted for 78.3% of revenue but delivered only 61% of first-quarter revenue growth despite strong gains in subscription royalties. UMG’s publishing division accounted for 17.1% of total revenue but 26.7% of total revenue growth. Merchandising was 4.9% of UMG’s total revenue and 12.3% of its revenue growth. At Warner Music Group, publishing’s share of revenue grew to 16.7%, up from 15.4% a year earlier, and accounted for 30.2% of the revenue growth. At Sony Music, publishing increased its share of quarterly revenue from 16.4% to 18.3%. Recorded music grew from 58% to 60% as the “visual media and platform” division fell from 25.6% to 19.2%.
Live events companies are seeing double-digit growth.
At Live Nation, which claimed to have its best first quarter ever, revenue jumped more than six-fold in the first quarter after the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions. More importantly, the company expects double-digit growth this year compared to 2019, the best year for comparison because COVID affected every quarter in 2020. Live Nation has sold 70 million tickets for shows in 2022, a 36% increase from the same point in 2019, and committed show count is up 44% through late April. At the same time, no-show rates appear to be a non-issue, falling “generally in the mid-single digits,” the company said in its earnings release.
MSG Entertainment’s entertainment (live event) revenue grew more than six-fold to $194.6 million thanks to the lifting of COVID restrictions. Minus MSG Networks, which merged with MSG Entertainment in July 2021, the company had $292.5 million in revenue, up 17% from the same period in 2019.
Vivid Seats’ first-quarter revenue was up 442% from the prior-year period. The company increased second-quarter guidance for both revenue (its cut of total revenue) and gross order value (total ticket sales value). Music accounted for 53.1% of revenue, up from 31.9% in the prior-year period. Marketplace order volume increased 589%. At Eventbrite, first-quarter paid tickets rose 78% year over year, and net revenue per ticket increased 13.6%.
STOCKS
Through May 20, the % change over the last week, and the year-to-date change.
Spotify (NYSE: SPOT): $107.19, +1.0%, -54.2% YTD
Universal Music Group (AS: UMG): 20.41 euros, 0%, -17.6% YTD
Warner Music Group (Nasdaq: WMG): $29.76, +2.3%, -31.1% YTD
HYBE (KS 352820): 221,000 KRW, +2.8%, -36.7% YTD
Live Nation (NYSE: LYV): $89.16, -2.3%, -25.5% YTD
iHeartMedia (Nasdaq: IHRT): $12.13, -5.2%, -42.3% YTD
Cumulus Media (Nasdaq: CMLS): $12.50, -2.5%, +11.1% YTD
Tencent Music Entertainment (NYSE: TME): $4.07, -0.7%, -40.6% YTD
NYSE Composite: 15,072.58, -1.2%, -12.2% YTD
Nasdaq: 11,354.62, -3.8%, -27.4% YTD
S&P 500: 3,901.36, -3.0%, -18.1% YTD
John Driskell Hopkins, multi-instrumentalist/vocalist/writer for Zac Brown Band, has revealed he has been diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, a progressive neurodegenerative disease that impacts nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. Hopkins appeared alongside his ZBB bandmates in a video message to discuss his diagnosis and his future with the band.
“Over the past several years, I’ve noticed some balance issues and some stiffness in my hands,” Hopkins said. “After careful analysis by some of the country’s top neurologists, I’ve been diagnosed with ALS. Because my symptoms have been slow-progressing from the start, we believe they will continue to be slow-progressing going forward. God willing, I plan to be rocking with these amazing people for many years to come.”
ZBB lead singer Zac Brown added, “The technology and research around ALS treatments has been advancing, but we still don’t have a cure.”
Hopkins has also launched the Hop on a Cure foundation, and the video encouraged viewers to text “Hop” to 345-345 to make a donation toward ALS research. According to als.org, nearly 5,000 people are diagnosed with ALS per year, with an average life expectancy of between two and five years.
Zac Brown Band is currently on the road for the Out in the Middle Tour, which plays in Oklahoma City on May 20. The tour’s namesake track, “Out in the Middle,” currently sits at No. 35 on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart, and follows their most recent No. 1 on the chart, “Same Boat,” which reached the pinnacle last year.
The 2022 edition of EDC Las Vegas thumps to life starting Friday (May 20) at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Featuring more than 300 acts playing across nine stages and four art cars, the desert festival expects to draw roughly 475,000 attendees over three days.
Can’t make it? Don’t sweat it. EDC producer Insomniac Events is hosting a festival livestream featuring sets from the event’s largest stages — kineticFIELD, cosmicMEADOW and circuitGROUNDS — via the company’s InsomniacTV channel. Find the stream below. The event is also happening via Roblox, TikTok and content creation app Lomotif. The stream begins at 5 p.m. PT.
Artists streaming live from EDC Las Vegas include Fisher, Zedd, Porter Robinson, Alesso, ARMNHMR, Charlotte de Witte, Whipped Cream, Dillon Francis, DJ Snake, Illenium, Joel Corry, John Summit, LP Giobbi, Moore Kismet, San Holo, Vintage Culture and many others.
Additionally, backstage interviews and additional live performances will happen via Insomniac Radio, available online and via the Insomniac app.
This is the first time EDC Las Vegas — the world’s biggest electronic music festival — has happened during its regularly scheduled May dates since 2019, with the 2020 event canceled due to the pandemic and the 2021 event pushed to last October. “There’s people that need this in their lives in a big way,” Insomniac Event’s Founder and CEO told Billboard of EDC last fall. “It helps them manage their anxiety or whatever they’re struggling with. The personal messages, the thoughts of suicide, people that were not happy…. The amount of stories that I would get and we get on other channels, I mean, it was a lot.”
Join in on the return celebration by streaming the festival all weekend long.
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