Miss Geogiou - research into record labels

Major record labels are large companies within the music industry that may also own smaller record labels. There are a number of purposes behind why we have record labels within the music industry. To define what a record label actually is, it is a brand or trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. For this reason they are needed to market and promote musical content within the industry, alongside signing up artists towards a label and owning all the legal rights in regards to the artists sales and other aspects within agreed upon contracts. 

There are a number of major record labels in the UK currently. Arguably the three biggest ones are Sony BMG, EMI and Warner Music UK.

In regards to Sony BMG, they were a record music company, which was a 50–50 joint venture between the Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann AG. The venture's successor, the again-active Sony Music Entertainment, is 100% owned by the Sony Corporation of America.

There are a large number of artists which belong under Sony BMG record label, bigger named examples being the likes of Madonna, Bob Dylan, Future and many others. The artists which did and still remain to be with the label can range from former artists such as Elvis Presley, to more recent names such as Travis Scott. The majority of artists belonging to the label being very well known, big house hold names.

Sony BMG Music Entertainment began as the result of a 50–50 joint venture between Sony Music Entertainment and Bertelsmann Music Group completed on March 4, 2004. It is one of the Big Four music companies, and includes ownership and distribution of recording labels such as Arista Records, Columbia Records, Epic Records, J Records, Mchenry Records, Jive Records, RCA Victor Records, RCA Records, Legacy Recordings, Sonic Wave America, and others. Through doing this, those that partook in the legal actions of the ownership felt as if through doing this it would reduce competition in the country music industry significantly, giving them fewer competitors.

The record label does in fact have links to other industry's within the media. One of example of this is evident through the 50/50 ownership of the record label, as one half is owned by Sony which branches out into a number of other sides of the industry. On August 5, 2008 Sony Corporation agreed to buy Bertelsmann AG's 50 percent stake in the music company for $1.2 billion to get full control. The music company will be renamed Sony Music Entertainment Inc. and will become a unit of Sony Corporation of America. This allowed Sony the rights to artists on the current and historic BMG roster and allowed Sony Corporation to better integrate its functions with its PlayStation 3 and upcoming new media initiatives.


In regards to EMI, they were a British record label which was founded by the EMI company in 1972 as its flagship label and launched in January 1973 as the successor to its Columbia and Parlophone labels. The EMI label was launched worldwide.

Similar to that of Sony BMG, they have a large number of very well known artists which belong to the label, ranging from all different genres within the music industry, to older artists to more up coming new talents. A few examples which can be seen on the EMI records website is Kanye west, Jake Bugg, Katy Perry, Elton John and many others

They do own two small subsidiary companies, being Virgin EMII records and EMII records. The parent company for the record label being the media conglomerate Warner Bros records

The record label did have connections between over forms of media, more specifically television broadcasting. Post-war, the company resumed its involvement in making broadcasting equipment, notably providing the BBC's second television transmitter at Sutton Coldfield. It also manufactured broadcast television cameras for British television production companies as well as for the BBC. The commercial television ITV companies also used them alongside cameras made by Pye and Marconi. Their best-remembered piece of broadcast television equipment was the EMI 2001 colour television camera, which became the mainstay of much of the British television industry from the end of the 1960s until the early 1980s. Exports of this piece of equipment were low, however, and EMI left this area of product manufacture.

Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. Rob Cavalloserves as Chairman of the company.

Warner Bros. Records was established in 1958 as the recorded music division of the American movie studio Warner Bros. Pictures. For most of its existence it was one of a group of labels owned and operated by larger parent corporations. The sequence of companies that controlled Warner Bros. and its allied labels evolved through a convoluted series of corporate mergers and acquisitions from the early 1960s to the early 2000s. Over this period, Warner Bros. Records grew from a struggling minor player in the industry to become one of the top recording labels in the world.














They manage a large variety of artists. A few examples being Cee Lo Green, Royal Blood, The Wombats etc. Unlike the previous mainstream labels, they don't own particularly bigger named artists, still being known but not to the same extent.

As Warner bros is a media conglomerate, it owns various other chains which are connected between other media corners. One example is the television industry once again.


Boy better know records is an independent music record label in the UK. There an  English grime group and focus upon that genre of music within the industry. The group was founded in North London by JME alongside his brother Skepta in 2005 as an independent record label and a means to publish their music. In later years the resulting crew as well as the label welcomed more members, including the MCs Frisco and Jammer.

As mentioned above, examples of artists within the label which are well known names within the grime industry is JME and skepta. As they are a grime group, another example of an artists whos rights they own who do not actually own the label would be Stormzy.

3 Beat Music is a British independent record label which was founded by Jon Barlow in 1989.

3 Beat Music was founded as a dance music record shop in 1989 by Jon Barlow, Dave Nicholl, Phil Southall and later joined by Phil Beddard and Hywell Williams who were students at the time. It began as a second hand record stall in Quiggins, Liverpool and later moved into a permanent location on Wood Street where the shop was managed by Rob Jay and Pezz 3 Beat where it won numerous awards including Music Week's independent record shop of the year. In 2002, the shop expanded and moved to Slater Street. As of 2009, the record shop has changed ownership and is now no longer part of the 3 Beat group. The new owners wanted to keep a connection to the history of the shop whilst also showing things had moved on so changed the name to 3B Records.

In 1991 Barlow, Nichol and Southall started the independent record label 3 Beat Music which released records by artists such as D:Fuse, New Atlantic, Pianoman and Powerhouse. In 2000 Jon Barlow, Pezz 3 Beat and Andy Jarrod set up the 3 Beat Label Management company which offered distribution services to numerous independent record labels. The most notable of these was James Holden's 'Border Community' imprint that bucked the trend of declining vinyl sales by consistently selling in excess of 20,000 units of its 12" single releases. 3 Beat Label Management closed in 2007 after Amato Distribution's collapse left them with an unmanageable debt

Many acts choose to go from an independent label to a major label if given the opportunity as major labels have considerably more power and financial means to promote and distribute product; thus increasing the chances of greater success. Some acts, however, may choose not to go to a major label if given the opportunity as independence generally offers more freedom.

Similarly, others may become independent label acts after having already experienced recording on a major label.Bradley Joseph requested to be let go from his major label deal with Narada/Virgin Records and subsequently became an independent artist. He states "As an independent, business is a prime concern and can take over if not controlled. A lot of musicians don't learn the business. You just have to be well-rounded in both areas. You have to understand publishing. You have to understand how you make money, what's in demand, and what helps you make the most out of your talent. But some artists just want to be involved in the music and don't like the added problems or have the personality to work with both". Joseph suggests newer artists read and study both courses and pick one that best suits their own needs and wants.

A successful independent label with a strong musical reputation can be very appealing to a major label. Major labels look at independent labels to stay current with the ever-changing music scene.

If an act moves to a major label from an independent, they are awarded greater opportunity for success, but it does not guarantee success. About one in ten albums released by major labels make a profit for the label. Some artists have recorded for independent record companies for their entire careers and have had solid careers. Independent labels tend to be more open creatively, however, an independent label that is creatively productive is not necessarily financially lucrative. Independent labels are often operations of one, two, or only half a dozen people, with almost no outside assistance and run out of tiny offices.

As major record labels such as Sony BMG have so much power and control within the music industry, it restricts solo artists ability to have a break through. It isn't right for there to be only 4 main music companies dominating the industry. This is as artists only have a chance of breaking into the industry if they join a big label, making the industry to remain being dominated by 4 main record labels. It essentially makes individual artists struggle due to the lack of possibilities given to them, as independent labels will find it hard to compete with them.

The affect that this has upon the industry is that due to the major record labels controlling is that genres of music such as pop will continue to grow and get bigger in popularity, and smaller genres such as indie will be restricted from growing. This is as artists will favour to join major record labels, and smaller artists joining independent labels won't get any exposure due to the popularity of the major labels.

Independent labels can be just as successful to that of major record labels. A good measure of this can be looking at the sales of records, festival ticket sales, concert sales and a number of other things.
Independent record labels do offer aspects which major record labels wouldn't be able to do. An example of this is that with a major record label, if an artist which has been signed on hasn't been showing any signs of making large amounts of profit, they will be released without being given many chances or time to develop. With an independent label on the other hand, more time is often allocated to artists and they are given more time and chances to progress and create content, which some artists might value over going with a major record label