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Warner Music Group are attempting to become a public company once again, after spending eight years as a private one.
The company made the announcement on Thursday (February 6) after filing an Initial Public Offering request through the Securities and Exchange Commission in the U.S. The move follows a similar one form Universal Music Group last December.
They news comes after the long-running company announced record profits in the first economic quarter. As reported in Billboard, they earned $1.25 billion in revenue and $122 million in income – a 42% increase on the same quarter a year ago.
Warner have been a private company since Access Industries bought the label in 2011 for $3.3 billion.
In other music industry news, a group of music insiders have voiced their concerns to NME about the cost of Brexit to artists.
Whilst the value of the UK’s live music scene surged to £1.1billion last year, they say the implications of Brexit could be “devastating” to artists wishing to tour Europe. Blaming the extra expenses incurred and added paperwork relating to Visas, taxation and transporting equipment and merchandise, industry insiders have said Brexit will make crossing the Channel “completely unviable” for new and mid-level artists.
Tens of thousands have already signed a petition by the Musicians’ Union calling for a new passport that will allow acts and crew to travel freely between EU member states, ridding them of new required permits.
“It’s OK when you’re a big-time act and you can afford to swallow costs, but if you’re the average or emerging artist then you’re hand-to-mouth,” Isle Of Wight Festival boss and music agent John Giddings told NME. “If it’s going to cost more money to tour there or you’re going to have to take extra days off, then it’s not going to be financially possible.”
Mark Davyd, the CEO of the UK Music Venue Trust added: “It is quite plain that so far the government has not really acted at all on the basis of the advice that we and plenty of others have given them.
“That advice is that the Brexit deal creates barriers to being able to perform in Europe and for European performers to perform in the UK – barriers that will only be able to be managed by artists with a certain level of success.”
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