Institution research for music record labels

1. Instituions

2. The Big Four
• These are the four main institutions that are dominating the music
industry today. These institutions are:
• Universal Music Group
• Sony Music
• Warner Music Group
• EMI
• All of these are owned by Live Nation, the largest music venue and
promotor. It controls the whole live music indusrty.

3. Universal Music Group
• Founded in 1934 as DECCA Records USA, Universal Music
Group(UMG) is the world’s largest music content company. In 1990,
the company later developed into MCA Music Entertainment Group,
and after another 6 years, further development lead to what we
know as UMG today.
• Universal Music Group is an American global music corporation that is
a subsidiary of the French media conglomerate Vivendi. UMG's global
corporate headquarters are located in Santa Monica, California.
• They have signed artists such as ColdPlay, Maroon 5, Imagine
Dragons, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift.

4. Sony Music
• Founded in 1938 in New York City, New York, United States.
• Sony Music Entertainment is an American music company owned by
Sony that is incorporated as a general partnership of Sony Music
Holdings Inc. through Sony Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Sony
Corporation of America.
• Sony Music Entertainment is a global record company that is a wholly
owned subsidiary of the Sony Corporation of America based on
Kensington Road, London, England. This is the British record label
base belonging to Sony.
• They have signed artists such as Beyoncé, Will Smith, The
Chainsmokers, Martin Garrix, Calvin Harris.

5. Warner Music Group
• Founded in 1958, Warner Music Group was more commonly known
as Warner Bros Records, later sold to Seven Arts Productions in 1967.
With the company’s growing success, in 1972, the institution
renamed itself WEA Corp, which stood for its three main labels -
Warner Bros, Elektra and Atlantic. After further success building up a
strong status within the industry during the 1970’s, Warner gained its
first overseas bureaus in both Canada and Australia in same year. In
2004, as a result of becoming an independent holder, the company
was, once again, renamed to what it is known as today. Its
headquarters are in New York City, USA.
• They have signed artists such as Ed Sheeran, Camilla Cabello, Jason
Derulo, Rita Ora, Clean Bandit.

6. EMI
• Electronic and Music Industries.
• Founded in 1931 as the Electric and Music Industries, EMI is the
smallest of The Big Four and unlike the three previously mentioned
institutions, EMI is a British company predominantly based in London.
• EMI has since closed down.
• They had signed artists such as The Beatles, Robbie Williams, Gorillaz,
Spice Girls.

7. My Music Video
• I think that my music video would best be suited to the Universal
Music Group because it has similar artists to that Freedom to Glide
who sang ‘LU2’, the song that I have used for my music video.
• They have also produced similar music video to the one that I have
produced so feel that they would have the right vision and advice for
any further music videos.
• I feel that my music video would fit well in this institution.
• This institution will help to attract the attention of both my primary
and secondary target audience and make my products more well
known and recognised.