Major record labels

Major record labels are large companies within the music industry that own many smaller businesses in order to hold successful artist's who creates music that sells and receives a profit. There are three major record labels that dominate the music industry and these are Universal Music Group, Sony Music entertainment and Warner Music Group.


A major record label in the world are the Universal music group. They have a number of well known and successful artist signed to them which include  Taylor Swift, Rihanna and Robin Thicke. The universal music group own smaller companies who have associated labels within them. An example of label that is owned by the universal music group would be Decca, they own smaller labels such as Ace of Clubs and Ace of Diamonds. The Decca music label have Alfie Boe, Bela Fleck and Brooklyn Rider signed to them. The universal music group are linked with Vevo as they co-developed them. This allows for free, ad-supported streaming of music video and other music content. They also have a website which allows them to promote their artists by telling the public when their evens or singles are being released.publishing, and merchandising.
The recorded music business discovers and develops recording artists and then markets and promotes their music across a wide array of formats and platforms. UMG's music publishing company, Universal Music Publishing Group, discovers and develops songwriters, and owns and administers copyrights to musical compositions for use in recordings, public performances, and related uses, such as films and advertisements. Bravado, UMG’s merchandising company, sells artist and music branded products via multiple sales points including online, fashion retail, and live performances.
UMG’s strength and legacy of music flows from a diverse family of record labels which include: A&M/Octone, Angel, Astralwerks, Blue Note Records, Capitol Christian Music Group, Capitol Records, Capitol Records Nashville, Caroline, Decca, Def Jam Recordings, Deutsche Grammophon, Disa, Emarcy, EMI Records, EMI Records Nashville, Fonovisa, Geffen Records, Harvest, Interscope Records, Island Records, Machete Music, Manhattan, MCA Nashville, Mercury Nashville, Mercury Records, Motown Records, Polydor Records, Republic Records, Show Dog–Universal Music, Universal Music Latino, Verve Music Group, and Virgin Records. 


Another major record label is Warner Music which is an American major global record company headquarted in New York City. It is the largest American-owened music conglomerate worldwide and operates some of the largest recording labels in the world.

With its broad roster of new stars and legendary artists, Warner Music Group is home to a collection of the best-known record labels in the music industry including Asylum, Atlantic, Big Beat, East West, Elektra, Fueled By Ramen, Nonesuch,  Parlophone, Reprise, Rhino, Roadrunner, Rykodisc, Sire, Warner Bros., Warner Classics, Warner Music Nashville and Word, as well as Warner/Chappell Music, one of the world's leading music publishers, with a catalogue of more than one million copyrights worldwide.
WMG comprises many businesses aimed at helping artists achieve long-term creative and successful careers while providing consumers with the highest-quality music content available. WMG is engaged in the recorded music business  and the music publishing business, and is a leading company in national and international repertoire that operates through many international affiliates and licensees in more than 50 countries.
Our recorded music business includes our growing artist services business, which offers artist management, merchandising, touring, fan clubs, VIP ticketing, sponsorships and brand endorsements, and numerous third-party solutions that facilitate the sale of music-based content directly to consumers.
Warner/Chappell Music, the global music publishing company of Warner Music Group, is home to a a wide selection of legendary songwriters and a catalogue of contemporary hits and influential standards. With offices in more than 40 countries, Warner/Chappell provides deep expertise across a range of creative services and the most innovative opportunities for songwriters and copyright holders. The company also includes Warner/Chappell Production Music, a full service production music company.

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Sony Music Entertainment is an American music corporation owned and operated by Sony Corporation of America, the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation. Sony Music was founded as American Record Corporation in 1929, renamed Columbia Recording Corporation in 1938 following on ARC's acquisition by CBS which later reorganized the record company in 1966 as CBS Records. Sony Music Entertainment was founded in 1991 when Sony Corporation of America, which bought CBS Records in 1987, changed the record company's name. In 2004, SME merged with the German Bertelsmann Music Group to create Sony BMG Music Entertainment but it was renamed back to SME when Sony acquired Bertelsmann's 50% of Sony BMG causing the dissolution of BMG. It is currently the world's second largest record company behind Universal Music Group.


Independent Record Labels
An independent record label is a music label that may own one record label or very few. This record label will receive no funding and will operate purely on money which is raised by the label itself. Budgets for music videos from independent record labels may be smaller than that of major labels due to the funding from other organisations that major labels receive.
However independent labels can be just as successful as major labels as up and coming artist generally start out in smaller companies and branch out when they become more well known.
Independent record labels can be very successful and generally include artists from the indie and punk genre for example Rough Trade who have artists such as The Libertines and Arcade Fire.


By researching into different record labels, I have gained an insight into how record labels progress within the music industry and how their artists and music benefit realty from being signed to a major label. We feel that our chosen artist and song would be signed to a independent label due to its Indie genre and niche target audience.