Universal Music Group is the largest music corporation in the world. It is a subsidiary of Vivendi and owns Universal Music Publishing Group, the second largest music publishing company. UMG has global headquarters in California and leads the music industry with over 30% of the current album market share. In contrast, XL Recordings is a smaller independent British label owned by Richard Russell that was founded in 1989 as a spin-off of Beggars Banquet Records. Though XL only releases around 6 albums per year, it has worked with popular artists like Adele, Beck, Radiohead, and The White Stripes.

1. Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group (UMG) is the largest American
music corporation. It currently operates as a subsidiary of
Paris-based media conglomerate Vivendi. UMG also
owns Universal Music Publishing Group, which is the
second largest music publishing company in the world.
Universal Music Group's global corporate headquarters
are located in Santa Monica, California. The world’s
largest music company continues to lead the industry,
closing in on the end of the year with unprecedented chart success and market share
dominance. UMG has an impressive year-to-date current album market share this week of
30.88%, according to SoundScan and has also achieved a single-week current album market
share of 39.79%, further indication of its leadership position.
Universal Music group have hundreds of artists signed to them, where as an independent
company like XL Recordings only have only 33.They sign artists that produce various music
genres.
Revenue
$6 billion (2010)
Employees 6,967 (2010)
Parent
Matsushita (1990–
2006)
Universal
Studios (1996–2006)
Vivendi (2000–
present)
XL Recordings
XL Recordings is a British independent record label owned
by Richard Russell. It originated as a 1989 offshoot
of Beggars Banquet Records.
Though only releasing an average of six albums a year, XL
Recordings has worked with The
Prodigy, Beck, Radiohead, The White Stripes, Dizzee
Rascal, M.I.A.,Vampire Weekend, The Horrors, Electric
Six, The xx, Gil Scott-Heron, Jai Paul, Tyler, the
Creator, SigurRós, and Adele. (In total they have 26 artists
signed). The label releases albums worldwide and operates across a range of genres.
Last year the label saw its greatest heights yet, though to be fair, no other label climbed
anywhere near as high. That's because 2011 was the year of Adele, and XL is the singer's
home. (In the United States, Adele's albums are promoted and distributed by Columbia
Records, but she is signed to XL worldwide.) The label released her first album, 19, by itself

2. in England, but for the U.S. market, which is much larger, they signed a distribution deal with
Columbia Records. Chen says not to do so would have held Adele back.
fter spending 79 weeks in the Top 10, and 24 of those at Number One, Adele's 21 brought in
nearly $67 million in profits to its record label XL, the New York Times reports. XL still profit
large sums of money. Although as an independent company they make high profits, they still
don’t come close to major companies like Universal Music group.
XL Recordings have released 75 albums in their time.
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What genre do they specialise in?
Who is on their books (bands, solo artists)?
Who founded them and when?
What are their aims/ethos?
What successful campaigns have they been involved in.
(include visuals of any advertising, artists promotional shots, etc)
Then compare with another label