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In this Internet age, the consumer is using Music content more than ever before— whether that’s playlisting, podcasting, personalizing, sharing, downloading or just simply enjoying it. The digital revolution has caused a complete change to the culture, operations, and attitude of music companies everywhere. It hasn’t been easy, and we must certainly continue to fight piracy in all its forms. But there can be no doubt that with even greater commitment to innovation and a true focus on the consumer, digital distribution is becoming the best thing that ever happened to the music business and the music fan.

早在2007年春天，马丁·斯图尔特在伦敦西部的肯辛顿开车穿过黑暗的街道，作为首席财务总监（CFO）的全球音乐巨头EMI，斯图尔特已经知道了4月18日在该公司的财报公布的消息。
In early spring 2007, Martin Stewart drove through the darkened streets of Kensington in West London. As chief financial officer (CFO) for global music giant EMI, Stewart already knew most of the news that would break at the company’s April 18 earnings announcement. Annual underlying revenue for the company was down 16% to GBP1.8 billion (British pounds). Earnings per share (EPS) had also dropped from 10.9 pence (p) in 2006 to –36.3p in FY2007. Those disappointing numbers were roughly in line with the guidance Stewart had given investors in February. The performance reflected the global decline in music industry revenues, as well as the extraordinary cost of the restructuring program EMI was pursuing to realign its investment priorities and focus its resources to achieve the best returns in the future.
The earnings announcement would be accompanied by announcing the amount of the dividend, which had not yet been determined. The board would meet soon to review EMI’s annual results, and Stewart was to recommend an appropriate final dividend for the fiscal year. https://www.51lunwen.org/strategy/
On an annual basis, EMI had consistently paid an 8p-per-share dividend to ordinary shareholders since 2002 (Exhibit 1). Now in light of EMI’s recent performance, Stewart questioned whether EMI should continue to maintain what would represent a combined GBP63 million annual dividend payment. Although omitting the dividend would preserve cash, Stewart appreciated the negative effect the decision might have on EMI’s share price, which was currently at 227p. Stewart recognized that EMI faced considerable threat of takeover. Although its board had recently been able to successfully reject an unsolicited 260p-per-share merger offer from its U.S. rival Warner Music, there continued to be considerable outside interest in taking over EMI. It seemed that boosting EMI’s share price was imperative, if EMI wanted to maintain its independence.
EMI
With a storied history that included names such as the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Pink Floyd, and Duran Duran, it was not difficult to understand why EMI considered its current and historical catalog of songs and recordings among the best in the world. EMI, Warner Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, and Universal Music Group, collectively known as “the majors,” dominated the music industry in the early 21st century and accounted for more than two-thirds of the world’s recorded music and publishing sales.3 Exhibit 2 contains a list of the global top-10 albums with their respective record labels for 2003–06.
Recorded music and music publishing were the