Warner Music Group Loses $18 Million

Kid Rock performs on February 4, 2011 in Fort Worth, Texas.

Kevin Mazur/WireImage

Despite major new releases by artists such as Kid Rock, Josh Groban and Michael Bublé, Warner Music Group announced yesterday that it lost $18 million in the last three months of 2010. This loss comes from the company's declining stock value, which fell by 12 cents in the period. The company's revenue decreased by 14 percent from the same period the previous year.

Photos: Kid Rock's Birthday Concert

Though much of Warner's misfortune is due to an overall slump in music sales, its immediate difficulty comes from the fact that it is the only major music label that is publicly traded and held directly accountable to shareholders.

Photos: Random Notes

That may not be the case for much longer, though. Warner Music Group hired Goldman Sachs last month to seek out potential buyers, either for the entire company or for particular divisions such as its publishing arm Warner Chappell.

Warner Music’s Revenue Fell 14% in First Quarter [NY Times]

• 
  MUSIC Exclusive Live Chat With Linkin Park and Incubus
• 
  MOVIES & TV Peter Travers: 'The Avengers' Has it All
• 
  POLITICS Matt Taibbi: Jon Corzine Is the Original Zimmerman
• 
  VIDEOS Exclusive Premiere: Tenacious D's 'Tinnitus'

Song Stories

“Baby Got Back”

Sir Mix-a-Lot | 1992

While watching a Budweiser commercial during the Super Bowl, Sir Mix-a-Lot thought the skinny female models in the ad didn’t represent reality. So he wrote this ode to ample bottoms, featuring its famous to-the-point lyric: “I like big butts and I cannot lie.” MTV banished the video, featuring shaking booties and sexually suggestive fruit, to 9 p.m. or later. “I thought my career was over,” he told Rolling Stone. “Then I called Rick Rubin, and I told him the video was banned, and he was like, 'Great!' We sold another 2 million records.”

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter