Spotify continued its decline from an all-time high, K-pop stocks fell and one of the smallest companies in the Billboard Global Music Index posted double-digit gains in a dismal week for global stocks.
LiveOne was the music streaming company’s biggest gainer this week. The company’s stock price rose 19.6% to $1.22 after the company announced on Wednesday (December 18) that its cooperation with Tesla has exceeded 350,000 subscribers. On Friday (December 20), the company also said it had regained compliance with the Nasdaq exchange’s minimum purchase price requirements.
Only two other music stocks rose this week. Sphere Entertainment Co. rose 2.5% to $38.74, bringing its year-to-date gain to 14.0%. Sphere Entertainment shares have fallen 12.1% since the company announced its fiscal first-quarter results on November 12.
The Billboard Global Music Index (BGMI) fell 3.3% to 2,168.69, reducing year-to-date gains to 41.4%. Only three of the index’s 20 stocks ended the week in positive territory. The BGMI rose every week from late October to early December before falling 4.9% for two consecutive weeks. The most recent weekly decline was 3.3%, which was only the fourth time in 2024 that the index has fallen more than 3% in a calendar week.
A bad week for the stock market wasn’t limited to music companies. In the United States, the Nasdaq fell 1.8% to 19,572.60 points; the S&P 500 fell 2.0% to 5,930.85 points. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 2.6% to 8,084.61 points. South Korea’s KOSPI composite index fell 3.6% to 2,404.15. China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.7% to 3,368.07 points.
Among other music companies, shares of Live Nation were down slightly, just 2%, to $133.17, although more analysts raised their price targets on the stock this week. Morgan Stanley raised its target price from $140 to $150, and Benchmark raised its target price from $144 to $160 and maintained a “buy” rating.
Spotify, the index’s most valuable company, fell for a second straight week. After closing above $500 on December 4, Spotify shares fell 8.3% on Friday to close at $460.88, down 4.8% for the week. Overall, there were more losers than winners in streaming this week. Cloud Music fell 7.9% to HK$116.60 (US$14.99), its second-largest decline this week. SPDB International started reporting on Cloud Music this week, with a target price of HK$145 (US$18.64) and a “buy” rating. Elsewhere, Anghami fell 3.7% to $0.79.
Four K-pop stocks fell an average of 5.1% this week, reflecting continued political uncertainty in the South Korean market. SM Entertainment fell 6.3%, JYP Entertainment fell 5.8%, HYBE fell 4.3%, and YG Entertainment fell 3.9%. The average share price of the four South Korean companies is down 18.3% so far this year, a much larger loss than Universal Music Group (down 5.6% year to date) or Warner Music Group (down 12.9% year to date).
iHeartMedia, the biggest loser this week, fell 17.5% to $1.89. The broadcaster’s stock traded at $1.00 on July 21 and rose to $2.61 on December 6.