The music industry's stock performance for the week ended December 5 showed mixed results, with Spotify shares falling 6% while Live Nation rose 6%. The Billboard Global Music Index dropped 2.1%, continuing a downward trend. This comes amid broader market resilience but ongoing challenges in the sector.
Weekly Stock Performance
Spotify's stock declined 5.7% to $564.93 during the week, marking it as one of the sector's weaker performers. The company, based in Stockholm, has seen its shares drop 22.4% since the September 30 announcement that CEO Daniel Ek would step down at year's end to become executive chairman. Despite a 21.1% year-to-date gain, Spotify's price remains 28% below its 52-week high of $785.
In contrast, Live Nation shares increased 6% to $139.33, standing out positively despite facing multiple legal challenges. These include an antitrust lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Justice, a case from the Federal Trade Commission, and a suit from Taylor Swift fans over Ticketmaster issues. Ticketmaster has maintained strength in the secondary market compared to competitors like StubHub, whose shares are down 47.1% since its September 16 IPO, and Vivid Seats, down 91.8% this year.
Broader Index Trends
The 19-company Billboard Global Music Index fell 2.1% to 2,542.64, its ninth drop in 11 weeks, now 18.4% below its June 30 peak of 3,117.20. Over the past 11 weeks since September 12, the index has declined 18%, underperforming the Nasdaq's 4.2% rise and the S&P 500's 3.1% gain. Major components like Universal Music Group fell 7.3%, Warner Music Group 14.7%, Live Nation 14.9%, and Spotify 23.1% in that period.
Other notable changes included MSG Entertainment up 4.7% to $51.79 and Sphere Entertainment down 0.3% to $84.31. Sphere announced on December 2 that its Oz motion picture surpassed $200 million in sales from over 1.5 million tickets since August 28, though this did not boost its stock. Additional movers were SiriusXM up 3.6%, Warner Music Group up 1.3%, Universal Music Group down 1.3%, CTS Eventim down 3.6%, and iHeartMedia down 5.6%.
Global Context
Music stocks lagged behind international indexes, with the U.K.'s FTSE 100 down 0.6% to 9,667.01 but up 17.5% year-to-date. South Korea's KOSPI rose 4.4% to 4,100.05, up 67.9% in 2025, and China's Shanghai Composite gained 0.4% to 3,902.81, improving 21.5% for the year. The sector's struggles persist amid tariff uncertainties and job losses.