City news everybody. Warner Music Group posted a fourth quarter profit on Friday, but the financials were only so healthy because of gains resulting from that previously reported legal settlement with file sharing service Kazaa, with $13 million in compensation payments appearing on the last quarter's income sheet.
Sales were down on the same quarter the previous year because despite high selling releases from Red Hot Chili Peppers, Gnarls Barkley and Panic At The Disco, the quarter's release schedule was weak compared to the same quarter a year earlier, which included releases from Green Day, Faith Hill and James Blunt.
That said, without the Kazaa payment the company would have posted a $1 million loss, which is considerably smaller than the $30 million loss posted a year earlier.