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\n\tThe Billboard Global Music Index \u2014\u00a0a diverse collection of 20 publicly traded music companies \u2014 finished 2023 up 31.3% as Spotify\u2019s share price alone climbed 138% thanks to cost-cutting and focus on margins. Spotify is the single-largest component of the float-adjusted index and has one of the largest market capitalizations of any music company.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe music index was outperformed by the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite, which gained 43.4% with the help of triple-digit gains from chipmaker Nvidia Corp (+239%) and Meta Platforms (+194%). But the Billboard Global Music Index exceeded some other major indexes: the S&P 500 gained 24.2%, South Korea\u2019s KOSPI composite index grew 18.7% and the FTSE 100 improved 3.8%.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tOther than Spotify, a handful of major companies had double-digit gains in 2023 that drove the index\u2019s improvement. Universal Music Group finished the year up 14.7%. Concert promoter Live Nation rode a string of record-setting quarters to a 34.2% gain. HYBE, the increasingly diversified K-pop company, rose 34.6%. SM Entertainment, in which HYBE acquired<\/a> a minority stake in March, gained 20.1%.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tA handful of smaller companies also finished the year with big gains. LiveOne gained 117.4%. Reservoir Media improved 19.4%. Chinese music streamer Cloud Music improved 15.8%.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe biggest loser on the Billboard Global Music Index in 2023 was radio broadcaster iHeartMedia, which fell 56.4%. Abu Dhabi-based music streamer Anghami finished 2023 down 34.8%. After a series of large fluctuations in recent months, Anghami ended the year 69% below its high mark for 2023. Hipgnosis Songs Fund, currently undergoing a strategic review after shareholders voted against<\/a> continuation in October, finished the year down 16.6%.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tSphere Entertainment Co., which split from MSG Entertainment\u2019s live entertainment business back in April, ended 2023 down 24.4%. Most of that decline came before the company opened its flagship venue, Sphere, in Las Vegas on September 29, however. Since U2<\/a> opened the venue to widespread acclaim and earned Sphere global media coverage, the stock dropped only 8.5%.<\/p>\n \n\tFor the week, the index rose 1.1% to 1,534.07. Fourteen of the index\u2019s 20 stocks posted gains this week, four dropped in price and one was unchanged.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tLiveOne shares rose 15.7% to $1.40 after the company announced<\/a> on Friday (Dec. 29) it added 63,000 new paid memberships in December and surpassed 3.5 million total memberships, an increase of 29% year over year. iHeartMedia shares climbed 14.6% to $2.67. Anghami continued its ping-pong trajectory by finishing the week up 16.9%.\u00a0<\/p>\n