Assignment 7: Music Business Finances, Research, and Analysis

In this week’s assignment, we’re going to get more familiar with the finances of some of the largest publicly traded music companies in the world and make some recommendations for improvements to their product line.

All domestic publicly traded companies must submit a Q-10 form to the Securities and Exchange Commission or SEC (certain foreign companies, like Sony, submit a 6-K form), which is a comprehensive report detailing the company’s quarterly financial performance. All these forms are accessible and searchable on the SEC website.

First, please choose one of the companies below (I have linked to a 2018 SEC report for each as an example, but please use the most recent Q-10 form from the SEC website). You can also work on another of your choosing.

Additionally, if you are working on an idea for a company, you can adjust this assignment to forecast and project the components and questions below.

Second, based on this publicly available financial information, and any other details you can find through additional research (such as annual reports like this PDF), please address the following points in a narrative analysis (five pages or less).

How is this company doing from a financial standpoint? If this company has multiple product lines, can you tell if certain products are performing better than others?
What ideas do you have for improving the financial performance of this particular company?
What competitors does this company presently have? What are the competitive advantages that this company has over others?
Are there any opportunities to adjust pricing? If so, what options would you suggest, and how might you test these options?
Are there any other strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, or threats (SWOT) that should be addressed?
Include in your analysis details on all of the components we discussed in this lesson for unit economics: Gross Profit, COGS, ARPU, LTV, CAC, etc.
Include any additional visuals, links, and resources that you used to create your narrative and make sure you provide references and cite all your sources according to APA guidelines.

Solution Preview

Introduction

Live Nation Entertainment is an American entertainment organization which works under the platforms of entertainment. It is a joint company formed after the merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation in the year 2010. This company operates, leases, owns and has booking privileges for equity interest for many entertainment venues in the United States of America. Considering the content gathered from the Q – 10 form registered on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) platform and other sources, it is clear that Live Nation Entertainment is a thriving company currently and hopefully on its rise among others in the industry.

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