Major Record Labels / Parent Companies- Miss Georgiou

Major Record Labels/Parent Companies

Some of the current major record labels are the Warner Music Group, EMI Group, Universal Music Group and Sony BMG.EMI Group manage artists such as Katy Perry, Tinie Tempah, and Mariah Carey. Universal Music Group manage artists such as Psy, Rod Stewart, Lorde and The Black Eyed Peas. Sony BMG manage artists such as Adele, Britney Spears, Justin Bieber, One Direction and Beyonce Knowles. 
The major record labels also have some smaller subsidiary companies within their major companies. The purpose of record labels is they are also often a publishing company that manages brands and trademarks and coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing, promotion, and enforcement of copyright for sound recordings and music videos; conducts talent scouting and development of new artists.

Warner Music Group

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Warner music group is one of the current major record labels in not only the UK but also the world. It is the largest conglomerate company in the world and the company operates some of the largest and most successful recording labels. Warner Music Group manage artists such as Bruno Mars, Michael Buble, Clean Bandit, Cee Lo Green and Jason Durulo. Which are mostly up current and popular pop artists who are producing successful music and material for the current era. Some of the Warner Music Group's subsidiary companies include of :

• Atlantic Records
• Warner Bros Records
• Warner/Chappell Music
• Elektra Records

These subsidiary companies are mainly different record labels that specialise in different genres of music to target a larger mainstream audience. Atlantic records is a hit record label which features in music and material from the rhythm and blues, rock and roll, jazz, hip hop and soul genre. Atlantic records has managed artists such as Aretha Franklin, Ruth Brown and Otis Redding. In 1967 Atlantic records became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Warner Bros - Seven Arts now the Warner Music Group and expanded into a pop and rock music genre.
Warner Bros records are the foundation label of the Warner Music Group and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of the corporation. They currently manage artists such as Lily Allen, Kylie Minogue and Nelly Furtado.
Elektra records is a major American record label which was founded in 1950. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the 1950's and the 1970's. The record label is yet another subsidiary company of the Warner Music Group. It manages artists such as Aphex Twin, Cee-Lo-Green and Bruno Mars.


EMI Group


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EMI group limited is a British multinational music recording and publishing company. Its parent company is the Warner Bros Records to which it is a subsidiary company. EMI Group have managed artists currently and formally such as Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Mariah Carey and Snoop Dog. The record labels that the EMI Group manage are Virgin EMI Records and EMI records. Virgin EMI is a well known subsidiary company of EMI which features mainly in pop and hip hop genres. Some of the most famous artists that are managed by EMI are Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Elton John, Taylor Swift, The Vamps, Emeli Sande and many more. EMI records which is also a subsidiary company of the EMI Group is known for its global success when it signed artists such as Olivia Newton John and Robbie Williams. In 1997 the EMI Records America folded into Virgin Records. The subsidiary company opened a country music division in 2010 which introduced artists such as Troy Olsen, Alan Jackson and Kelleigh Bannen.


Universal Music Group

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United Music Group is an American worldwide music corporation that currently operates as a subsidiary of Paris-based French media conglomerate Vivendi. Alongside many other subsidiary companies some of the main ones that Universal Music Group own are:

• Interscope Records
• Island Records
• Def Jam Records
• Republic Records
• Mercury Records
• Universal Records

These labels also own and manage many famous artists in the music industry which have become some global successes. Interscope Records was founded in 1990 as a $20 million joint venture with Time Warner's Atlantic Records. Interscope Records currently manage many famous artists such as The Black Eyed Peas, Lana Del Ray, Disclosure, Eminem, Selena Gomez, Gwen Stefani and Ellie Goulding along with many more. Def Jam Records is another famous record label owned by the Universal Music Group which was founded in 1983. Def Jam Records focuses mainly on the hip hop and urban music genre. It currently owns and manages current music artists such as Kanye West, Frank Ocean, Leona Lewis and Alesso.


Independent Companies

RAM Records

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RAM Records is an independent record label established in 1992 by Andy C. It is one of the labels that specialises in drum and bass. The location of the headquarters is in Hornchurch in Essex. RAM Records is a multi-award winning organisation known for its label activities, the music it releases and the artists it signs. As well as RAM's musical outputs it is also known for its club nights, the most famous of which started in the London nightclub "The End" and lasted 11 years until the clubs closure. This gave RAM records extreme publicity and RAM's new home is in the famous London nightclub "Fabric" in Farringdon.
In 2002 RAM launched a sister label called "Frequency" and to celebrate a double decade of RAM in 2012 by producing yet another label called PROGRAM which specialised in different flavours of drum and bass. Some of the famous artists that RAM Records has singed and produced material from are artists from the likes of Chase & Status, Sub Focus and Wilkinson. The majority of these artists have produced material that have entered the UK Singles Chart.

Boy Better Know Records

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Boy Better Know is an English grime group and record label which is also known as BBK. The group was founded in North London by JME and his brother Skepta in 2005 as an independent record label as a means to publish their own music. The label produces music from genres such as grime, hip hop and eski. The Boy Better Know company has a clothing line and also had a mobile network from 2011 to 2013 to further promote their business.
There are many members of the Boy Better Know including of:

• Skepta
• JME
• Wiley
• Jammer
• Shorty
• Frisco
• DJ Maximum
• Timmy Tit Ed

Boy Better Know produced two hit songs called "Too many man" and "Goin' in". "Too many man" reached into the UK singles chart at number #79 and was a well known song associated to the BBK. Boy Better Know also created specific dance moves that went alongside the songs for example the song "Rolex Sweep". This independent label has a specific audience to which they target their material at which is usually teenage boys and young men from an age bracket of 17-25.


I believe that having four different music companies dominating the music industry comes as an advantage and a disadvantage for the industry. I believe that this will come as a disadvantage for the music industry as many other smaller independent labels will find it hard to promote their work when they are in competition with much bigger and more popular music labels such as the Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group. I think this has many effects on the industry. I believe that it will have a negative effect on the smaller independent music companies as it will dampen their chances of promoting their material and this will have a negative effect on their sales and their overall company. Also if you are an independent artist who was founded by Youtube then it will be very difficult to compete and promote yourself against a bigger artist who was founded by a record label and has the funds to promote themselves due to their record label finances.  However I believe it will have a positive effect on the four major dominating record labels as they have an extremely big fan base due to their successful promotion of work. This creates a higher archery of record labels which gives the artists more opportunities to promote themselves and work currently in the music industry. For example Jason Durulo. He is signed to Warner Music Group which has gained him great success in the music industry and has given him opportunities to create and produce new material which has helped him gain a fan base and a lot more attention. However, on the other hand most artists and smaller companies want to be involved in their company due to their success in hope to bring their own companies into the lime light and promote their material. I don't believe that the independent labels are as successful as the major labels as they have a smaller group of artists to manage which makes it harder to produce global successes and good material that is current in the era. The independent labels offer the industry specific genres and material from artists that only appeal to a certain audience for example grime music like the Boy Better Know independent company that I analysed. The independent labels also have the opportunity to nurture and mould their artist into a certain image to make sure it appeals to a certain audience. It also gives them the opportunity to be diverse and give their artist a certain image. This is a disadvantage for the major labels as they promote mainstream material that appeals to a wider audience which may mean that the material may only appeal to a certain group of audience. The major labels are more successful as they create artists into a global success. An example would be Justin Bieber who has made over 57 songs and 11 albums. He has his own fan base called the "Beliebers" and he has over 69 million followers. He is a global success and would find it mush easier to produce new material and make it a success compared to a artist from an independent record label such as  JME from Boy Better Know who only has 432 thousand followers.