From WMG Earnings Call: EMI, Spotify & The Cloud

On this mornings earnings call, Warner Music Group CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr and his team did their best to explain financials that showed declining revenue, slow digital growth and a business plan centered on extracting more rights and revenue from artists, as well as, continued cost cutting. (More on the financial statement here.) But Bronfman also shared some carefully worded insights into the broader music industry:

• Bromfman touted a new "difficult to reach" agreement with Spotify in the EU, but hinted that any U.S. launch was up to other labels. That's a softening of his previous position which was far more anti music streaming.
• He refused to speculate about what might happened next at EMI and if WMG would make a bid.
• While not offering specifics on Google or any other service, Bronfman stated that music in the cloud offered a "significant opportunity" to turn the business around and suggested major action in the space should happen early next year.
• Declining ringtone sales continued to be the music group's justification for slow overall digital revenue growth.