Universal Music is a global music company founded in 1934 that owns numerous record labels and music publishers. It has annual revenue of over $4 billion and is led by CEO Lucian Grainge. Universal Music owns labels like Capitol Records, Virgin Records, Motown Records, and Mercury Records. It also has the second largest music publishing division called Universal Music Publishing Group. In 2012, Universal Music Group acquired EMI, further expanding its portfolio of artists and music catalog. However, Universal has faced some controversies, including accusations of bribery to promote its artists and aggressively issuing takedown notices of user-uploaded content on platforms like YouTube.

1. UNIVERSAL MUSIC

2. SOME BACKGROUND INFORMATION
• 1934 when British Decca launched an American Decca Records
• 1989 – Music Entertainment Group was formed
• Lucian Grainge who is the chairman and CEO
• Max Hole who is the chairman and CEO of the International Universal
• Has a revenue of $4,449 million
• Income of $140 million as recorded in 2010

3. WHAT LABELS ARE UNDER UNIVERSAL?
• They have 38 sub labels outside of the United States and 10 inside
the US
• Some of them include: Universal Republic Records, Universal
Music Group Nashville, Decca Label Group, The Verve Music
Group, Capital Records, Virgin Records, Universal Music UK,
Motown Records, Mercury Records.

4. DIVISIONS
• Universal music groups has many different divisions – its most
famous is the Universal Music Publishing Group which is the
second largest music publishing company in the world.
• On the 21st September 2012 the sale of EMI to Universal Music Group was
approved in Europe and the US by the European commission and Federal
Trade Commission

5. CONTROVERSY WITH UNIVERSAL
• In 2006 an investigation was taken place in New York which claimed that
Universal bribed radio stations to play songs from performers under Universal
labels.
• The settlement of this was that the company would have to pay $12 million to the state.
• In 2007, Universal was accused of abusing the Digital Millennium Copyright
act as they forced YouTube to take down videos which had involved the
collaboration of Universal’s music.
• In 2011, ‘megaupload’ published a music video called the mega song with
artists including Kanye West, Alicia Keys and Snoop Dogg, but when it was
uploaded to YouTube, Universal requested it to be taken down.
• ’Megaupload argued that the video didn’t breach any agreements on all the artists
signed agreements so requested an apology.