Polydor Records is a subsidiary label of Universal Music UK, which is owned by Universal Music Group. Polydor was founded in 1946 as a division of Deutsche Grammophon and established its UK division 10 years later. It is currently owned by Universal Music Group. The document discusses Polydor's affiliation with other labels and its subsidiaries Fascination Records and Fiction Records. It also provides examples of promotion campaigns for Lady Gaga's Artpop album and Lana Del Rey's Ultraviolence album released through Polydor.

1. INSTITUTION AND
OWNERSHIP OF
POLYDOR RECORDS
ABIGAIL FIRTH

2. OWNERSHIP
Polydor was founded in
1946 as an independent
branch of the Deutsche
Grammophon label. The
UK division of Polydor
was not established until
10 years later. It is
currently the second
longest running label,
owned by UMG, after
Deutsche Grammophon.
Polydor Records is a
subsidiary of Universal
Music UK, along with
Virgin EMI Records,
Island Records Group,
Decca Records, Geffen
UK, Capitol UK and
others.
Universal Music UK is
owned by Universal
Music Group, who also
own Interscope Geffen
A&M label, amongst
several others. Universal
Music Group is owned
by French company
Vivendi.

3. CONGLOMORATES
Polydor is affiliated with Interscope Geffen A&M, who
distribute Polydor releases in the US and Polydor distributes
IGA releases in the UK.

4. SUBSIDIARIES
Polydor owns two smaller labels:
• Fascination Records: launched in 2006, concentrates on a
small number of pop artists and handles similar artists signed
to Hollywood Records in the US
• Fiction Records: formerly independent, founded in 1978, is
the rock/indie imprint of Polydor

5. ARTISTS AND PROMOTION
LADY GAGA’S ARTPOP (released Nov 2013)
- Promotion began a few months before the release of the album,
with photographs of Gaga being posted on social media as a sort of
“teaser”
- She opened the MTV Movie Awards and iTunes Festival, performing
singles from the album; she also performed at on UK X Factor
- She played 7 shows at the New York
Roseland Ballroom a few months after the
album’s release, before playing a 79-date
world tour named “ArtRave: The Artpop Ball”
- ARTPOP sold 258,000 copies in it’s first week
(reaching #1); by July 2014 it has sold 2.5
million copies

6. ARTISTS AND PROMOTION
LANA DEL REY’S ULTRAVIOLENCE (released May 2014)
- Premiered new track at Coachella Festival, followed by a string of
singles, releasing one around two weeks after another
- A north American tour was announced, along with a series of
performances at European festivals
- She took a “less is more” approach to the promotion of the album,
featuring no TV performances or interviews,
and instead relied on social media and
music videos.
- After the album’s release, she announced a
tour, co-headlining with Courtney Love
- Ultraviolence sold 182,000 in its first week
(reaching #1); as of July 2014, it had sold 1
million copies

7. ARTISTS AND PROMOTION
EVALUATION
Despite being promoted very differently, both albums still
reached number 1. However, it is clear that the promotion of
Artpop was more successful, as it sold almost 100,000 more
copies; that said, Lady Gaga is a much more famous artist than
Lana Del Rey, and the promotion of Ultraviolence was still
effective, as it gave Lana her first number 1 album.
In terms of our own production, it is likely that a Lily Allen album
would be promoted with a combination of both of these
methods. The single we are creating a video for was Lily’s
“comeback” so it would be important to promote it as much as
possible, using both TV appearances and social media to do so.