Sony Music posted a $101m operating profit in the three months to September 30, a 24% year-on-year rise.

Sales decreased 4.3% year-on-year (a 6% decrease on a constant currency basis) to $1.272bn in the quarter.

The company blamed the revenue dip on ‘a recognition of digital license revenue in the same quarter of the previous fiscal year and the continued worldwide contraction of the physical music market’.

It said the jump in operating income was ‘primarily due to significantly lower restructuring charges and improvement in the performance of the recorded music business in the US and Europe, partially offset by a benefit from the recognition of digital license revenue in the same quarter of the previous fiscal year’.

Best selling titles during Q2 included P!nk’s The Truth about Love, Kana Nishino’s Love Place, and Michael Jackson’s Bad – 25th Anniversary.

The results aggregate financial performance across Sony Music’s Japan, US and global record companies plus its 50% stake in publishing businesses Sony/ATV.

Parent company Sony Corp posted its seventh straight quarterly net loss, losing $194m in Q2 – narrowed from a $350m loss in the same period of 2011.

However, Q2 operating profit was up year-on-year to $378m. [AlLindstrom]