Major Record labels/ Parent Companies - Miss Georgiou

Records Labels 

Major record labels- Large companies within the music industry that may also own smaller record labels 

Record companies serve different purposes which benefit the audience, artist and themselves. The main reasons for record labels are for distribution, marketing, promotion and enforcement of copyright. These different elements of the record labels work help with the succession of the artist/artists, the purpose of them is to make a profit and sell the products.

Sony music entertainment UK is currently part of one of the biggest music and entertainment companies in the world. A few artists which this record label manage is groups such as The Clash and solo artist including Ke$ha.

This record company owns other smaller record companies such as Columbia records and Sony music Japan. This parent company owns many more smaller record labels showing the picture adjacent. Sony music UK is has many popular artist signed to them for example Britney Spears, Shakira and Calvin Harris. 

Sony music entertainment UK is owned by Song Corporation of America which is linked to many other types of media for example electronics, audio, film and television work. 

Another major record company for the UK is Universal Music Group (UMG), this is the largest business and family of record labels in the record industry. A few artist who are signed to this label are Lady GaGa, Gwen Stephani and Mariah Carey. 

This company also own smaller companies such as Capital Music Group,

Island Records, Universal Music Classical and Republic Records. These smaller companies have also signed some popular artists for example Republic records had a past with Amy Winehouse. And Island records are signed with Afro-Jack, Dizzee Rascal, Jessie J, McBusted and John Newman. 

UMG's parent company is Vivendi which owns a number of other companies in the film and television industry and music industry. For example the Canal+ Group which is a leading television group in France. This shows that although the company is successful in the uk it is also successful in other countries. 

Warner Music Group (WMG) is also successful in the UK. It is the third largest company in industry with artists such as Ed Sheeran, Madonna, Wiz Khalifa and Coldplay. 

WMG also owns other, smaller companies including Warner Classics, Warner Bros. Records and Rhino Entertainment. Warner Bros. Records currently has artists such as Lily Allen, Cher Lloyd and Jason Derulo signed to them.
The parent company for Warner Music Industry is Access Industries which is a privately owned American conglomerate. This companies owns other media companies in music and telecommunications such as AMEDIA, which is one of Russia's leading television production companies. 

Independent- Music label that operate one or a few music labels.

An example of an independent UK label is Factory Records. This was Manchester based record label which was started by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus in 1978. This company focused in giving the artist a particular sound and image. They signed Joy Division, New Order and Northside. 

Another UK independant record label is Native Records, which was based England, and foundered in Sheffield by Kevin Donoghue in 1985. In 2006 they formed their own distribution company Indie Distribution. Some current artists signed to Native Records are OneUnder and The Barristers. Past artist signed to this company are The FireFlies, Fatal Charm and Darling Buds. 

I think it is right that 4 companies dominate the music industry because it means that their isn't confusion about which artist should be signed to where, it is down to they own choices. The four main companies contain many smaller record labels which meet the requirements of different artist meaning they have a wide variety of who they would like to sing to but they can also stick to one company which they believe will be most beneficial to their individual demands. But i can also see the other view that it is restricting because technically there are only four companies to work with although there are smaller companies within, some artists may feel that they are being kept within a small circle of conflicting companies and find it hard to chosen one for themselves.  

I think that these four companies keeps the music record label industry from going out of control, it keeps the smaller companies within the boundaries of the major record labels and therefore the competition does not get to out of control when battling for artist to be signed. 

Sometime independent record labels are as successful as major record labels because they have less artist to focus on and can therefore provide for attentions and money for the few artists they have. Therefore they can become more successful as there individual needs are more likely to be met and they can make the artist extremely appealing for the audience because of the effort which is abel to be out in. 

The only think that independent record labels can provide which major labels can is deeper focus on their artist, they can crete a unique artist and put in the effort to make the successful and appealing. Major labels can not do this as well as independent because the have a wider range of artist to offices on they have to share the time and money between them all.