Stephen Cooper
Analyst · Deutsche Bank
Good morning, everyone. Happy holidays, and thanks for joining us today. I'm pleased to report another very good quarter, topping off a great year for the Warner Music Group. For the year, we grew total revenue by 6%, with the U.S. up 3% and international up 9%. We grew digital revenue by 10%. We grew OIBDA by 28%, with margin expansion of 3.5 percentage points to 14.7%, and we generated cash from operations of $222 million, up from $130 million in the prior year. Our fourth quarter was also very strong. We grew total revenue by 7%, digital revenue by 20%, OIBDA by 6% and OIBDA margin by 1.2 percentage points to 15.1%.
It's worth highlighting that this marked the fourth consecutive year that we grew combined digital and physical revenue in our Recorded Music business, and this year, both segments grew. It is all the more impressive that our sustained growth story is taking place against a backdrop of a music industry that is still going through an uneven digital transformation. For example, we had a 2% increase this year in physical revenue, a segment that has been in steady decline for 15 years. While we're optimistic about the long-term health of the music industry, we're also focused on creating our own opportunities and charting our own course.
As we shared last quarter, our strategic priorities include producing a steady and balanced stream of great music, strengthening our reach around the world and pioneering new commercial possibilities. I'd like to provide you with an update on each of these priorities and explain how they are driving our results.
First, we remain focused on delivering a consistent flow of great releases. We're achieving this goal by drawing on the collective strength of our entire global organization, with hits coming from many different repertoire centers around the world. In fiscal '15, our top 25 global sellers had a wide territorial reach, featuring established superstars from the U.S., such as Josh Groban and Jason Derulo, and big international names, such as Muse from the U.K., David Guetta from France and Superfly from Japan. In addition, the list contains artists at all stages of their careers from new talents, such as Clean Bandit to legends such as Pink Floyd. Ed Sheeran's sophomore album, Multiply, was our biggest seller this year, hitting #1 on the charts in 15 countries. In addition, Ed's tracks have been streamed nearly 3 billion times on Spotify, with his single, Thinking Out Loud, becoming the first in history to surpass 500 million Spotify streams.
Digital technology is enhancing the viral spread of music, and great music is traveling around the globe faster than ever before. This year was a perfect example of what we can accomplish when the flow in music from every corner of our company is combined with great local execution. As a result, in fiscal '15, we punched nicely above our weight. We saw local stars, such as Sweden's Måns Zelmerlöw and Spain's Pablo Alboran, break out of their home territories and build international fan bases for the first time. In addition, many of our newly signed artists have had first hits of their careers in places other than their home territories. This includes Sweden's GALANTIS in the Netherlands and the U.K.'s Jamie Lawson in Australia. Importantly, fiscal '15 is shaping up to be another well-balanced year in terms of our release schedule, beginning with Coldplay's seventh studio album, A Headful of Dreams, which was released last Friday and is off to a great start worldwide.
Second, we're focused on sustained growth on a global basis, not just in the U.S. and U.K. Around the world, the opportunities for revenue growth vary greatly. From territory to territory, there is huge diversity in revenue mix. For example, according to IFPI data for calendar '14, 82% of Japan's revenue was physical, while 83% of Sweden's is digital. There's also huge diversity in the appetites for international repertoire. In Indonesia, 87% of revenue is domestic, while in Chile, 91% is international. As a result, as we look to grow revenue across all of our territories, we are very thoughtful about tailoring our strategies to the unique conditions that exist in each market. This year, through a combination of initiatives, we have made particularly strong progress in countries that were previously ripe with piracy. For example, in Brazil, we continued our investment in domestic music, breaking 2 new superstars, Ludmilla and Anitta. We were also the first major to license our physical releases to a third party, redeploying the resulting cost savings to A&R and marketing. In Eastern Europe, we published the Polskie Nagrania catalog, continuing our strategic acquisition of local Recorded Music assets, which began with the Parlophone label group and was followed by investments in Russia, China and South Africa. In China, we've aligned our interest with the Internet giant, Tencent. This deal represents a significant step in creating a legitimate music market in China, and it turbocharged our presence in the region just a few months after our acquisition of the Gold Typhoon catalog.
As a result, our performance in key emerging markets has been outstanding, with 2015 revenue up nearly 60% in China, 35% in Russia and 25% in Latin America. At the same time, we've continued to grow in our core territories. For example, in Germany, the world's third-largest music market, our revenue increased 12% this year, thanks to outstanding execution by our local team.
In particular, we enjoyed huge success with Robin Schulz. Robin has had 5 Top 10 hits in Germany and has also become one of the most successful German artists outside his native country. His latest track, Sugar, went top 10 in France, Italy and Sweden, and hit #1 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. As we have capitalized on opportunities in territories outside the U.S. and the U.K., we've seen our revenue in those markets experience more significant growth. Specifically, our total global revenue grew 6% this year, while our x U.S. and U.K. revenue was up 8%.
Thirdly, we've established ourselves as a leader in the industry's digital transformation. In May, we were the first major to report that our quarterly Recorded Music revenue from streaming had exceeded our revenue from downloads. Today, we are the first major to reach another milestone. 2015 was our first fiscal year in which our Recorded Music streaming revenue exceeded download revenue, and it did so by a significant amount. For fiscal 2015, our streaming revenue grew 34%, with the fourth quarter up an impressive 47%, the highest growth rate of any quarter this year. Streaming continues on a trajectory to become our largest revenue source, and recent industry data underscores this point. In June, Spotify announced it had 20 million paying subscribers, roughly double where it was in the prior year. In September, the RIAA announced that during the first half of calendar '15, industry streaming revenue in the U.S. had grown 23% to a bit over $1 billion, accounting for a third of U.S. revenue. I should note that those last 2 steps cover the period
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So where was I? We were talking about us taking leads in commercialization, and I wanted to note that the 2 stats that I gave about digital growth and announcements from the RIAA cover the period before the launch of the Apple music subscription service. While the long-term impact of this launch remains unclear, early signs are encouraging. With services such as Spotify and Deezer joined by the services of giants, such as Apple, Google and Amazon, we now have meaningful competition in the subscription streaming business. This is especially positive when you remember that the download space has been dominated by Apple for well over a decade. While there are plenty of reasons to be upbeat about the future of the music industry, we remain vigilant when it comes to receiving fair value for our music. We are continuing to work with our partners to improve monetization and are carefully monitoring ongoing developments in the streaming space. As the contest for consumer time and money heats up, we would expect to see industry consolidation in the subscription streaming business. This consolidation will likely intensify competition among key players, hopefully leading to better marketing, faster innovation and a greater demand for music.
Turning to our detailed results, starting with Recorded Music. For the year, Recorded Music revenue rose 7% with every segment contributing. Digital led the way as our largest source of revenue, growing 10%; physical was up 2%; and licensing revenue grew 16%, owing in part to strong sync activity. For the quarter, our Recorded Music revenue rose an impressive 8%, with 21% growth in digital, driven by a 47% increase in streaming. During the quarter, we celebrated #1 albums all over the world. Artists who marked their first #1 albums in the quarter included Jess Glynne in the U.K. with her debut album, Meek Mill in the U.S. and Canada and Lianne La Havas in the Netherlands. Artists who scored their second #1 albums included Rudimental in the U.K. and Jill Scott in the U.S. We also saw artists with long fruitful careers continue to break new creative and commercial ground. For example, Disturbed's sixth album was their fifth consecutive U.S. #1; and Iron Maiden's 16th album topped the charts in 24 countries, including their fifth #1 in the U.K. I'm pleased to say that there's a lot more great music on the way from the Warner Music Group. In Q1 of fiscal '16 alone, we have new releases from Coldplay, Enya, Missy Elliott and Seal as well as the Grateful Dead's Fare Thee Well recordings from their final concerts this summer.
Turning to Music Publishing. For the year, Music Publishing revenue rose 1%, with 8% growth in digital revenue and 6% growth in sync, compensating for a slight decline in performance revenue in softness and mechanical. For the quarter, Music Publishing revenue rose 5%, with softness in mechanical and performance offset by 17% growth in digital and 22% growth in sync. Our Music Publishing results continue to be driven by our ability to attract and nurture the world's best songwriters and composers. In the past few months, we've signed a new agreement with hit-maker Taio Cruz and extended our partnerships with Grammy award-winning rock band, Muse, and 2-time ASCAP country songwriter of the year, Ben Hayslip, among others.
In the quarter, Warner/Chappell songs had an approximate 20% share of the U.S. radio market. That's the highest share Warner/Chappell has recorded since Billboard of began tracking spins in 2006. Also in the quarter, Warner/Chappell songs had a 21.5% share of U.S. country radio, again, the highest in our history.
Our team also celebrated some landmark achievements. In the U.S., we were named ASCAP country publisher of the year for the third year running. At the Latin Grammy Awards, our songwriters picked up top honors, including producer of the year and best rock song. And in the U.K., Benjamin Clementine won the U.K.'s prestigious Mercury Prize.
Finally, I'd like to highlight the fact that last month, Jon Platt was promoted to the role of Warner/Chappell's Global CEO, following an incredible run as the company's president for North America. This past Monday, many of our recording artists and songwriters were recognized by the Recording Academy with nominations for the 58th annual Grammy Awards. In fact, we earned nods in 23 out of the 29 fields. Notably, Atlantic's Ed Sheeran earned nominations in 3 coveted categories for Thinking Out Loud: record of the year; song of the year; and best pop solo performance. Also earning 3 nominations was the Wiz Khalifa-Charlie Puth collaboration, See You Again, their hit from the Furious 7 Soundtrack. Other of our recording artists who received more than one nomination include Andra Day, Skrillex and Diplo, Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell and Ashley Monroe.
Warner/Chappell also had a strong showing, and in total, our songwriters received 17 nominations across the 8 songwriting categories, including 3 in the coveted song of the year category and all 5 of best R&B songs. And songwriter, Kendrick Lamar, was the most nominated artist this year with 11 nods, including album of the year, song of the year and best rap song. We wish all of our nominees the best of luck at the awards in February.
In conclusion, I'm extremely encouraged by our momentum. Our results are a testament to our great music, our great artists and songwriters and our great global team. There's a lot to remain excited about and I look forward to our continued success in fiscal '16.
With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Eric.