Music Industry - Record companies

The music industry is dominated by four multi national corporations;

• Universal
• Sony Music
• Warner Brothers
• EMI

•These are referred to as ‘The Majors’. The majority of these are backed by conglomerates with stakes in other industries such as; Film, TV and Electronics. 

Sony

Sony music label is an American label company owned by Sony entertainment, it is one of the big three record label companies. They have big names signed to them musicians signed to Sony are; ASAP Rocky, Alisha Keys, R Kelly, foo fighters, Geko, Travis Scott, Tink, there are loads more but i think these are some of the biggest names. 

Tink 

Geko 

R Kelly

Asap Rocky

Universal 

Musicians signed to Universal consist of; Adele, Justin Bieber, J.Cole, Demi lovato, Ariana Grande. 

Adele

Justin Bieber

J. Cole

Demi Lovato 

Warner Brothers

Blonde, Cher, Prince, Jake Miller, Party Next door,

Cher

Prince

Party Next Door

EMI

EMI is one of the most famous names in music record labels Queen, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Pink Floyd and Robbie Williams . 

The Beatles

The Beach Boys

Queen

Robbie Williams

Pink Floyd

Majors

•Most of these ‘Majors’ own, or license, a series of smaller subsidiary companies in order to reach different kinds of audiences in different kinds of genre.•Columbia•Island•Syco•RCA•Virgin,These companies are known as ‘major-independents

Independents 

•There are a huge number of small companies with little or no financial connection to the majors.

• These companies often concentrate on a small number of acts, within specialised niches in the industry.

•These are called ‘Independents’. An example of a highly successful independent  is ‘Domino Records’. (Find out all you can about this Record label).

It is often that record labels begin as independents, but then are bought by a major and then become major-independents

Types of  music ;

Artists can be divided into two separate categories.

organic - The term ‘Organic’ is used to describe bands where the music comes first, they make the kind of music they want to make and then the record labels (if signed) try and sell this music to the correct market segment. ‘Organic’ music often appeals to a niche, but can appeal to a mass audience too.

RadioHead

The Beatles 

The Beatles / Radiohead are a good example of an organic band. The Band members knew each other and had a shared love of music. The music came first – then the fame! The Beatles played in Hamburg for hours and hours for a year at the beginning of their career and did not have a record contract. 

The Beatles in Hamburg

synthetic -  The ‘Synthetic’ refers to ‘manufactured groups ( ‘X Factor’ methodology), and it is the record labels that sit in the driving seat. A gap in the market is identified, and then it is exploited by the development of music, and often the artist, to suit this gap.

A synthetic copy of the Beatles was produced which was The Monkees a US boy band who become very popular. They also had a TV show in which they stared in which gave them a lot of popularity. 

The Monkees

Money is the ultimate goal in this operation. Acts such as “One Direction” / “The Spice Girls” are a good examples of “manufactured” artists.

For example One direction are synthetic they auditioned for a talent show called the X Factor as individuals and Simon Cowell put them together as a band they came second however Simon still signed them and they became a big hit, they was told what music to make and most of it was written for them for example the song Little Things posted bellow was written by Ed Sheran, they was also told how to dress and other things so in reality they could have been made to be something they are not.