Record labels

The Music Industry can be defined by the four major record companies:

- Universal
- Sony Music
- Warner Brothers
- EMI

These four record labels are known as the "majors" based on their huge scale and financial position in comparison to other record labels in the industry. These record companies often have the most artists under their name and these artists are often the most well known and successful on a global scale. Furthermore, these record labels also have links with other industries such as film, television and electronics. Based on this, these record companies have the minerals to generate huge amounts of money through their business.

Universal

Universal is arguably the largest record label in the world, founded in 1934 by Jimmy Lovine, it has expanded to become globally known as an entertainment giant running both a film studio and a record label. This is an example of the conglomerates between the industries film and music under one big name that is Universal. Well known artists from this record label are; 

- Bastille

- David Guetta

- Nicole Scherzinger

- Lady Gaga

Sony Music 

Sony Music was founded in 1929 in New York City USA. With the current CEO being Doug Morris and battling Universal for the top spot, Sony has a line of films produced from their film company as well as their record label, this displaying their conglomerates with various industries. Furthermore, Sony designs various different digital products that are well known and used worldwide which increases the popularity and frequency of their name. Well known artists signed to Sony Music are;

- Alicia Keys
- Chris Brown
- Fatboy Slim
- Taylor Swift

Warner Brothers

Warner Brother records was founded on March 19th 1958 by Jack Warner, originally a Hollywood film studio who have produced various different films until present ever since it was founded. Warner Brothers have had a troublesome time over the years battling with both Universal and Sony in finding, signing, and producing world class artists, especially where they were established around 30 years after. Despite this, Warner Brother records have some world class artists signed to their name. Some of these artists consist of;

- Linkin Park

- Muse

- Red Hot Chilli Peppers

- Seal

EMI

Virgin EMI records was founded in 1972 by Richard Branson, Nik Powell, Simon Draper and Tom Newman in 1972. The company was later sold to Thorn EMI in 1992. The American operations of the company were merged with Capitol Records to create the Capitol Music group in 2007. In addition to this, the rights of the company became Universals to own with the purchase of EMI in 2012. At present, universal still own the record company and over this roller coaster ride of the development of the company, they have produced some class artists. These artists include; 

- The Spice Girls

- Janet Jackson

- The Human League

- Roy Orbison 



Industry Functions

These Major record labels mentioned above commonly own or license a series of smaller more subsidiary companies who may have artists of different or more unorthodox styles of  music in order to reach out to different kinds of audiences and become more known as well as receive a greater financial gain. Through this, the top major record labels are always competing with each other to gain most profit and have the most well known name through ownership and licensing such as this. 

Major Independents 

Columbia

 

Columbia Records is an American flagship recording label, under the ownership of Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company—successor to the Volta Graphophone Company. Columbia is the oldest brand name in recorded sound, being the first record company to produce recorded records as opposed to blank cylinders. Columbia Records went on to release records by an array of notable singers, instrumentalists, and bands. From 1961 to 1990, its recordings were released outside the U.S. and Canada on the CBS Records label (for Columbia Broadcasting System, its parent from 1938 to 1988) before adopting the Columbia name in most of the world.

It is one of Sony Music's three flagship record labels with the others being Epic Records and RCA

records.

 

Island

Island Records is an American record label that operates as a division of Universal Music Group. It was founded by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica and has been based in the United Kingdom since 1962. Blackwell sold the label to PolyGram in 1989. Both Island, and another recent PolyGram acquisition, A&M, were at the time the largest independent record labels in history, with Island in particular having exerted a major influence on the progressive UK music scene in the early 1970s. The label operates as one of Universal Music's standalone labels since 2014, also handling Mercury Records.

Syco Music

Syco Music, also known as Syco Records, is a British record label founded by Simon Cowell in 2002. It is a subsidiary of Syco Entertainment.

Syco Music and its artists have been the targets of illegal hacking on several separate occasions. In 2009 ahead of the release of Leona Lewis's second album Echo, a number of unfinished demos and leftover songs from the project leaked online. An investigation was launched by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), working with the record label and police to identify those responsible. Alexandra Burke was also targeted, having two demo-versions of songs from her debut album Overcome leak before the album's release. At the end of March 2010 it was reported that Syco had suffered once again from computer hackers who managed to obtain 14 of Burke's previously unheard studio recordings as well as 26 from Lewis.^[

RCA records

RCA Records is an American flagship recording label of Sony Music Entertainment
RCA Records is the second-oldest recording company in US history. RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label in Canada, as it was only one of two Canadian record companies to survive the Great Depression. RCA currently houses Britney Spears, G.R.L., Whitney Houston, Jennifer Hudson, Hilary Duff, Foo Fighters, Pitbull, MAGIC!, Miguel, Chris Brown, Three Days Grace, Becky G, Alicia Keys, Tinashe, Kelly Clarkson, Kesha, Los, Justin Timberlake, A$AP Rocky, D'Angelo, Usher, Christina Aguilera, P!nk, Miley Cyrus, R.Kelly, Sia, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Pentatonix, and Shakira.

Independents

There is a vast amount of independent music institutions that have little or no financial connections to the majors. These companies often have a small amount of acts that focus on specific angles within the music industry. Based on this, many artists under an independent record labels produce similar music to the other artists. This focuses on specific audiences and will help the record label reach their target audience and thus generate further interest in the company and gain a greater revenue for the business.