Research into the music industry

ALEX WENMAN

Major Music LabelsUniversal Music Group: American worldwide music corporation that is a

subsidiary company of media giant Vivendi. Huge yearly revenue of billions ($6.552 billion in 2013) The music group contains labels such as Interscope

Records (Blink -182, Imagine Dragons), Def Jam Records (Kanye West, Frank Ocean) and Capitol Records (50 cent & Bastille).

Major Music LabelsSony Music Entertainment: American music corporation that is a subsidiary of Japanese Sony

Corporation. Last year SME had a revenue of over $4.5 billion (2014).

The Major label is the parent company of many smaller labels including Columbia Records (Bring Me The Horizon, Daft Punk & Mark Ronson), Epic Records (Outkast, Mariah Carey) and RCA Records (A$AP Mob, Foo Fighters & Kings of Leon).

Major Music LabelsWarner Music Group: American global records company which is the largest American-

Owned music conglomerate worldwide. In 2013 the company has a revenue of over $2.8 Billion.

WMA contains labels such as Warner Bros. Records (Royal Blood & Biffy Clyro), Parlophone (Blur, Coldplay & RAT BOY) and Atlantic Records (Bruno Mars & Ed Sheeran).

Independent record labels Independent record labels operate without funding of

major labels and are often the first step in a musician or band’s career.

Some independent labels are picked up by a music group such as Universal Music Group if they become successful enough, allowing them to become a subsidiary.

Some well-known indie labels are: Domino Records (Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand), Matador Records (Queens of the stone age), XL Records (Vampire Weekend, Adele), Rough Trade (The Libertines) and Fools Gold (Run The Jewels).