Universal Music Chairman/CEO Sir Lucian Grainge leads the pack of highest earning music executives as ranked by Billboard Magazine. The music man hailed as the most powerful person in music racked up a total compensation package of $320 million dollars over the past year.
Universal Music Group continues to score huge profits in the music industry. Grange called 2021 a historic year for UMG after a series of rights and catalogue acquisitions and top music releases last year. The company released its 2021 financial findings in March and he said, “2021 was yet another historic year for UMG. We helped our artists achieve extraordinary success – including 8 of the IFPI’s top 10 global artists of the year.”
IFPI global music report states that the global music industry made USD$25.9 billion last year(2021) with the three major labels clocking $4 billion more than they made the previous year.
Grange credited UMG’s expansion in other entertainment activities for the remarkable year.
His total salary and perks adds up to ten times that of the no. 2 person on the list who is Kang Hyo-won, Senior producer at Korean company HYBE.
Won who is the producer behind super K-pop group BTS earned 35 million in profits due in part from the South Korean’s music company’s listing on the country’s Stock Exchange.
Co-CEO of HYBE Yoon Seok-jun and Kim Shin-gyu, the company’s chief artist management officer also earned big bucks from the company’s public offering. Yoon saw net-profits of $34 million while Kim earned $24 million.
Founded in 2005, HYBE—formerly known as Big Hit Entertainment—was named Time’s 2021 most influential company. The K-pop driven company is being compared to Disney for its development of “fan-friendly experiences and products.” HYBE purchased U.S.-based media group Ithaca Holdings in a $1 billion deal, adding pop stars like Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande to its roster.
Rounding off the 5 most paid executives list is Live Nation President/CEO Michael Rapino. He earned just above half of Kim’s net-profits of $13 million. Rapino lead Live Nation into its December 2005 public offering which happened just after became president. The company has acquired Ticketmaster and several top music related companies.
The Los Angeles based company has a presence in over 200 venues, including every NFL stadium. They released a report saying among other things that their Full Year Operating Income Improved $1.2 billion and AOI Up $1.3 billion (vs 2020). The official report states that over 35 million fans attended concerts which is a double digit improvement from pre-pandemic numbers in 2019.
Event ticketing was the main money maker for their “Best Quarter Ever”.
Live Nation Inc. is an event partner of Travis Scott’s Astro World concert where several person died including a 14 year old, as a result of a mosh pit stampede in Houston last year.
As the effects of the pandemic cease and live events make a comeback the multi-national company is projecting event-related referred revenue of $2.3 billion.
With tickets and top tour prices increasing by 20% concerts are already seeing huge numbers for Bad Bunny, Dua Lipa and Billie Eilish.
The company is Comprised of three market leading divisions – Ticketmaster, Live Nation Concerts, Live Nation Sponsorship – Live Nation annually issues over 500 million tickets, promotes more than 35,000 events, partners with over 1,000 sponsors and manages the careers of 500+ artists. Its e-commerce sites average 80 million unique monthly users.
Michael Rapino, gave up his salary in 2020 as the company tightened its belt during the pandemic. In a statement he said,
“Building our venue portfolio enables us to more rapidly grow our show count and fan base in 2022, and over the next few years, and positions us to drive on-site spending more widely and provide additional assets to brand partners.”
He continued, “The two year wait for artists and fans is over. Never have the tailwinds to our business been so strong, and I believe this is just the start of what will be the strongest multi-year period ever for the concert industry.”
Read Billboard’s full list of music’s top money makers: The Highest-Paid Executives and Stockholders at Publicly Traded Companies here.
