Reservoir Media, Inc. (NASDAQ:RSVR) Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Page 2 of 2

Operator: [Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from the line of Alex Fuhrman with Craig-Hallum Capital Group.

Alex Fuhrman: Congratulations on another really strong quarter here. Golnar, can you talk about some of the investments that you’ve made recently in emerging markets? And just more broadly, as you look at acquiring content and partnerships and companies overseas, are you seeing multiples that are maybe more attractive in emerging markets than in the U.S.? And just any color there would be helpful?

Golnar Khosrowshahi: Sure, Alex. The investments that we make and the deals that we do in the Middle East, via Pop/Arabia certainly cover different kinds of transactions where we are acquiring record labels, where we are adding artists to the roster. So a lot of diversity happening there and so far as how the deals are structured and what we’re doing and how we’re expanding the business. We certainly — I mean, you’re absolutely right to ask this question. It is a market where we are able to execute on these transactions today at a lower multiple. And so that’s one of the reasons it’s attractive, coupled with the growth trajectory, makes the future at least the next 5 to 10 years in that region, including the [indiscernible] highly attractive for us to invest in content that is relevant to that demographic.

So the business plan there is to continue to execute. And if we’re looking at a market here that is somewhat saturated with a lot of capital in the marketplace and we’re able to execute at these lower multiples, it makes it just that much more attractive to us.

Alex Fuhrman: That’s terrific. And then just quickly, looking at your revenue by channel here. It looks like [indiscernible] revenue for both Recorded Music and Music Publishing, growth was less than the overall business lines. Does that say something about demand for streaming relative to demand for advertising? Or is there maybe something about the way the CRB drew up fell into your numbers last year. We would love to just get a little bit more color on that.

Jim Heindlmeyer: Yes. Alex, the takeaway on sync should really be that the overall industry, I would say, has been affected by the writer and actor strike. When film and television production shuts down, those opportunities are paused until production resumes. So we’re certainly affected by the strike, and we likely will continue to be affected by the strike for the next couple of quarters. The writer strike has been resolved. And hopefully, the actor strike is close to being resolved, but it hasn’t been yet. So once that’s resolved and everyone gets back to work, we’ll then start to see those opportunities come back, could be a few months after production resumes. So we certainly think that there’s another quarter or 2 to be impacted by the strike and that’s why you’re seeing what you’re seeing in the historic numbers for this quarter and the first half of the year, and that’s certainly what we’re looking at for the second half of the year.

Operator: And I’m currently showing no further questions at this time. I’d like to turn the call back over to Golnar Khosrowshahi for closing remarks.

Golnar Khosrowshahi: Thank you, operator, and to everyone who joined us today. We believe we have a bright future with considerable opportunities to both expand our roster of talented creators while also generating significant returns with our pursuit of value-enhancing initiatives, and we look forward to updating you next quarter. Thank you.

Operator: This concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

Follow Reservoir Media Inc.

Page 2 of 2