Record labels

The music industry is dominated by four multimedia companies.

These are:

Universal music group is the is the largest music corporation in the world. Although it originates all the way back to 1934 it first first appeared in 1996 when MCA Music Entertainment Group  was renamed Universal Music Group. Its headquarters is located in Hollywood but they have offices across America and one in London.Universal own over 13 labels such as interscope records and island records. 

 Sony music is an American music corporation that was founded in 1929 and is owned  by Sony Corporation of America which is a subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Sony Corporation. Like universal records it also owns many labels such as Columbia records and RCA records.

Warner Bros records was established in 1958. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. Warner Bros is the parent company to many smaller record labels such as Machine Shop Recordings which was founded by founded by Linkin Park band members Brad Delson and Mike Shinoda.

EMI was was founded in 1957 as the record manufacturing and distribution arm of EMI in the UK. EMI Records owns many different divisions such as their country music division titled  "EMI Records Nashville" which was opened in 2010.

The majority of majors are backed by conglomerates with stakes in other industries such as film, TV and electronics.

Major independents

Most "majors" own or licence a series of smaller subsiding companies in order to reach different kinds of audiences in different genres.

Examples are:

Columbia records was founded in 1888 as a subsidiary of the North American Phonograph Company until 1884. Columbia is the oldest brand name in sound. It was the first record company to produce recorded records as opposed to blank cylinders. Columbia Records went on to release records by an array of notable singers, instrumentalists, and bands. From 1961 to 1990, its recordings were released outside the U.S. and Canada on the CBS Records label (for Columbia Broadcasting System, its parent from 1938 to 1988) before adopting the Columbia name in most of the world.

Island Records is a record label that operates as a division of Universal Music Group. It was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was formerly based in the United Kingdom for many years until 1998.[2] Blackwell sold the label to PolyGram in 1989. Both Island, and another recent PolyGram acquisition, A&M, were at the time the largest independent record labels in history, with Island in particular having exerted a major influence on the progressive UK music scene in the early 1970s. The label operates as one of Universal Music's standalone labels since 2014, also handling Mercury Records.  three Island label brands exist in the world: Island UK, Island US, and Island Australia. Partially due to the label's significant legacy, Island remains one of UMG's pre-eminent record labels, alongside Interscope Records and Republic Records.

 SYCO Records is a British record label founded by Simon Cowell in 2002. It is a subsidiary of SYCO Entertainment. Syco Music has offices in London and Los Angeles and is home to several artists. Syco has the exclusive right to sign winners and finalists of The X Factor and Got Talent. Susan Boyle's debut album, I Dreamed a Dream, has sold over 9 million copies, making it one of the best selling releases of the last decade and Syco's most successful release to date. Between 2004 and 2009, Il Divo achieved four multi-million selling albums and in 2007, Leona Lewis became one of the most successful talent show winners when her second single, "Bleeding Love", propelled the album Spirit to 9 million global sales.  SYCO is also home to One Direction who are the biggest boy band in the world.

RCA Records is an American flagship recording label (alongside Columbia Records and Epic Records) of Sony Music Entertainment (SME). RCA Records is the second-oldest recording company in US history. RCA's Canadian unit (formerly Berliner Gramophone Canada) is Sony's oldest label in Canada, as it was only one of two Canadian record companies  no survive the Great Depression. RCA is the name of three different co-owned record labels. RCA Records is the pop, rock, hip-hop, R&B and country music label. RCA Victor is the label for blues music, world music, jazz, musicals, religious music and other musical genres which do not fit the pop music mold. RCA Red Seal (formerly known as RCA Victor Red Seal) is the renowned classical music label with a reissue sub-label called RCA Gold Seal.

Virgin Records was the start of Richard Branson's business empire. He created Virgin Records in 1972 and the company grew to become a worldwide music phenomenon with  many platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo and Genesis signed to them. The company currently owns 6 subsidiary labels such as Charisma Records which Virgin purchased in 1983. 

Independents

Independent record labels are small companies with little or no connection to the majors. They often concentrate on a small number of acts within specialist niches in the industry. Also many record labels start of small independents but  often end up being purchased by majors.

Examples are:

Domino is a London based independent record label that was founded in 1993.
 Domino records did not experience immediate success as it specifically released more established American rock and eccentric British music. This prevented the record label from growth at the time as the niche genres they produced were marginalised by the Brit pop era.However in more recent years the company has excelled and Domino is now one of the longest running and most successful independent record labels in the UK. The label currently have 55 artists signed with them including some high profile acts such as Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand and the Kills.




Hopeless Records is a California based independent record label that was also founded in 1993. Hopeless generally signs artists who are considered punk rock, pop punk, post-hardcore, and alternative rock. When formed these genres of music were about to become more mainstream with bands such as Blink 182 and Green Day just stepping on to the scene. Hopeless is now home to 29 artists many of which are successful worldwide such as All Time Low, Neck Deep and We Are The In Crowd.