Universal Music is a hit

AROCKSTAR’S WELCOME greeted Universal Music Group when it launched on Amsterdam’s Euronext exchange on September 21st in Europe’s largest listing of the year. Giddy investors all but threw their knickers at the newly public company, whose share price finished the day up by 36%, valuing the world’s biggest record label at €45bn ($53bn).Not long ago Universal looked like a flop. In 2013, as digital piracy ravaged the music industry, SoftBank, a Japanese group, bid €7bn for the label. Vivendi, Universal’s French owner, was thought mad for turning down the offer. In fact the decision was inspired. A streaming boom has since lifted worldwide recorded-music revenues by half. Two-thirds of last year’s sales of $22bn went to the three “major” labels: Universal, Sony Music and Warner Music Group.