2. Universal Music Universal Music is the UK’s biggest music company and home to artists from Take That and Florence + The Machine to Mumford & Sons and The Rolling Stones. Universal Music has a further seven labels, such as, Polydor, Decca Records, Fiction, Geffen, A&M Records, Island Records Group and Mercury Records.
3. Polydor Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group and is currently headquartered in the UK. Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used, as an export label, in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone Company having severed their ties during World War I. Deutsche Grammophon claimed the rights to the His Master's Voice trademark for Germany, where HMV recordings were released under the Electrola trademark. Over the next few years, Polydor tried to keep itself afloat with new artist signings, new releases, and reissues, while still becoming more and more dormant. In 1998, PolyGram was purchased by Seagram and absorbed into its Universal Music Group.
4. Ellie Goulding Signed to Polydor Records in September 2009, she made her debut single. "Under the Sheets", which was released digitally in the United Kingdom on 15 November 2009, peaking outside the top 40. The album Lights was released in March 2010, reaching number one on the UK Albums Chart and number twelve on the Irish Albums Chart. Its singles, "Starry Eyed," "Guns and Horses," and "The Writer" peaked at numbers 4, 26, and 19 respectively. The album was supported by Nike and was released through Polydor as a running soundtrack in an effort to get Goulding's music taken up by the national running subculture.
