These companies make up 75% of the music market. They own different record labels, and within these umbrella labels there are smaller subsidiary labels for different genres and types of artist.
For example, Universal Music Group owns Capitol Music Group. Capitol Music Group owns:
- Capitol Records (various genres)
- Motown Records (various genres)
- Virgin Records (various genres)
- Blue Note Records (jazz)
… as well as some others.
Current artists signed to Capitol Records include 50 Cent, 5 Seconds of Summer, Alice in Chains, Emeli Sandé, Jennifer Lopez, Katy Perry, Sam Smith and Troye Sivan. This is also the label The Beatles were signed to.
Universal Music Group also owns Republic Records, Def Jam Recordings, which is specific to hip hop and R&B, and Island Records. All these record labels have their own subsidiary labels within them.
The other two major record companies have this same sort of structure.
A record label's role is to discover talent and find artists to sign, to make a record with the artist, to market and distribute the artist's music and to deliver content to the fans.
SOME SPECIFIC RECORD LABELS
ASYLUM RECORDS
Genres: rock, alternative metal, heavy metal, hip hop
Owned by Warner Bros Records Group (Warner Music Group)
Signed The Eagles, Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan
Today geared mostly towards hip hop
Artists currently signed include:
- Ed Sheeran
- Metallica
- Jason Derulo
- Rudimental
COLUMBIA RECORDS
Genres: various
Owned by Sony Music
Oldest brand name in record labels, founded in 1888
Artists currently signed include:
- Beyoncé
- Daft Punk
- One Direction
- Little Mix
- Celine Dion
- Calvin Harris
…as well as many other successful artists from a range of genres
ISLAND RECORDS
Genres: various
Owned by Universal Music Group
Artists currently signed include:
- Disclosure
- Nina Nesbitt
- Mumford & Sons
- Jake Bugg
- Nicki Minaj
- Rizzle Kicks
- Jessie J
- Iggy Azalea
- Bombay Bicycle Club
- Catfish and the Bottlemen
- The Killers
- Ben Howard
- Fall Out Boy
…….
INDEPENDENT LABELS
There are some record labels that are not affiliated with any major record company. These labels generally would appeal more to indie artists, but some extremely successful artists like Adele have signed to labels like these.
DOMINO
Genres: indie rock, indie pop
Based in London
The most widely known artist signed to Domino is Arctic Monkeys. The other artists signed to them are mostly largely unknown.
XL RECORDINGS
Genres: various
British label based in London and New York
They currently have only 20 artists signed, including:
- Adele
- Radiohead
- The xx
- Vampire Weekend
VAGRANT
Genres: indie rock, punk rock, emo pop, emo
Based in Los Angeles
Artists signed include:
- The 1975
- Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes
- Eels
- Bombay Bicycle Club
Some music is even not associated with a label at all and self-released by the artist, for example, Radiohead's 2011 album, "The King of Limbs", and Ed Sheeran's early EPs like "Loose Change" and "Songs I Wrote With Amy".
Ed Sheeran managed to independently release this early music by raising his profile in any way possible, gigging anywhere and everywhere he could, using the Internet and selling CDs himself after shows and even just on the streets. Eventually this gave him considerable success, proving to record labels that he was worth signing and could be marketed to more mainstream audiences.
Ed Sheeran managed to independently release this early music by raising his profile in any way possible, gigging anywhere and everywhere he could, using the Internet and selling CDs himself after shows and even just on the streets. Eventually this gave him considerable success, proving to record labels that he was worth signing and could be marketed to more mainstream audiences.
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