Universal Music Group is a major music label consisting of several subsidiary labels that represent artists such as Coldplay, David Gray, and Taylor Swift. As the world's largest music company, Universal is vertically integrated with a presence in 77 countries and represents 98% of the global music market. To stay relevant in the digital age, Universal makes its music available through various media and platforms online as well as through physical formats, helping artists maximize exposure and profits. However, the company saw a 6.2% decrease in revenues in 2009 as CD sales declined with the rise of online music consumption and distribution.

1. Universal Music Group Dani Bennett

2. Subsidiary Labels: Inters cope-Geffen-A&M Island Def Jam Music Group Verve Music Group Decca Label Group Universal Music Enterprises Island Music Group

3. Artists Assigned to this label: Coldplay David Gray Dido Jessie J James Blunt James Morrison Taylor Swift

4. How are they vertically integrated? Universal is distributed in 77 countries and represents 98% of the music market.

5. Media Convergence Universal have made their music available on the internet, mobiles, films, games, and TV. Without these other types of media, the artists wouldn’t benefit as much as they do today. People like to be interactive, they don’t go out and buy albums anymore and are more likely to have seen it featured in a film, game or advert. Universal also create other ways of listening to these artists, such as USB drives and I-Phone apps which increases the sales.

6. How much profit do they make, or lose? Last year, the company revenues were $4,363 million, a 6.2% decrease compared to 2008.

7. The Online Age Over the past few years, new innovations have been introduced for the distribution of music, particularly through the internet. As a result of this, the demand for CD’s was decreasing, and so Universal lowered the prices of their CD’s. Online downloads prove beneficial as no cost is spent making a physical copy.