BMG’s H1 2026 financials at a glance. Photo Credit: BMG

Ahead of the anticipated close of its Concord merger, BMG has identified over $515 million (€444 million) in H1 2026 revenue and confirmed dropping almost $1.9 billion on music IP to date.

That Q1 and Q2 2026 revenue figure represents a 4.9% year-over-year (YoY) improvement, with an 8.1% YoY spike on the organic-revenue side, per BMG. Elsewhere in its brass-tacks earnings release, the Bertelsmann subsidiary disclosed a 4% YoY operating EBITDA bump to $147 million/€127 million as well as a nearly 29% EBITDA margin (flat YoY).

Meanwhile, “underlying recorded music streaming subscription revenue” achieved “high single-digit growth” during the six-month stretch, BMG communicated.

Though the remainder of the document is light on hard financial details – more on the aforementioned catalog purchases in a moment – Bertelsmann’s own H1 2026 report provides a bit of additional color.

Therein, the conglomerate placed the lion’s share of BMG revenue, $486 million/€419 million, in the evidently all-encompassing “rights and licenses” category. “Own products and merchandise” kicked in $27 million/€23 million, and the music company’s performance essentially held steady on a geographic basis, the resource shows.

As in H1 2025, the States accounted for nearly half of BMG’s revenue in H1 2026, and the UK’s contribution grew 9% YoY to $58 million/€50 million. Most notably on this front, “other European countries” – meaning those besides the UK, France, and Germany – turned in a 13% YoY revenue boost to $101 million/€87 million.

Back to the IP side, deals for the song rights of Jelly Roll, ARC Music, Jet, and others resulted in H1 2026’s delivering the “highest first-half investment in music rights in the company’s history.” And all told, BMG has since 2021 deployed $1.85 billion/€1.6 billion on catalogs, according to the announcement.

Regarding what’s not in said announcement, Berlin-based BMG mentioned its high-profile Suno licensing deal a grand total of zero times; in fact, the Berlin-based business seemingly opted against so much as referencing generative artificial intelligence, even in a section dedicated to AI.

This curious omission aside – the majors certainly haven’t hesitated to underscore their own AI partnerships – BMG drove home that it’s leveraging AI to boost fan engagement, improve productivity, and “activate catalog more effectively.”

Echoing these points, CEO Thomas Coesfeld emphasized that “AI is now being applied at scale across BMG to better serve our clients and rightsholders.”

“Our first-half results reflect the strength of the business we have built over the past several years,” Coesfeld said in part. “Through BMG Next, we have become a more focused, more profitable, digital-first business – one that is better able to invest in artists, songwriters, and music rights for the long term.

“Sustained organic growth, record profitability, and our highest-ever first half investment in music rights give us a strong foundation for the opportunities ahead,” continued the exec, who’s set to begin leading Bertelsmann itself at 2027’s start.