Research: Music Industry

In the music industry, there are Big Four major record labels that represent the majority of the music sold, making up as much as 75% of the music market or more depending on the year. They are:

• Universal Music Group
• Sony Music Entertainment
• Warner Music Group
• EMI Group

Each of the major labels (also conglomerates) above consist of off-shoots (smaller record labels) in order to bring together a variety of genres and for the record boss to earn more money.
Main labels of Universal Music Group include:

• Interscope Records
• Geffen Records
• A&M Records
• Island Records
• Mercury Records
• Def Jam Recordings
• Motown Records

Main labels of Sony Music Entertainment include:

• Columbia Records
• Epic Label Group
• RCA Music Group
• Sony Music Nashville
• Sony Masterworks
• Sony Music Latin
• Legacy Recordings
• Provident Label Group
• Syco Music
• RED Distribution

Main labels of Warner Music Group include:

• Atlantic Records Group
• Warner Bros. Records Group
• Rhino Entertainment
• Warner Music Nashville

Main labels of EMI Group include:

• Blue Note Label Group
• Capital Music Group
• Caroline Distrubution
• EMI Christian Music Group
• Virgin Music Group

The current state of the music industry:

Since the conversion of analogue to digital, the record sales have decreased dramatically due to illegal downloading. Music sales in the UK have fallen for the sixth consecutive year, according to the British record industry's trade association. Since the shutdown of Napster, music customers have turned to millions of other illegal downloading websites in search of free songs. The only successful legal music downloading site is iTunes which is in association with the UK music charts. However, the majority of the money from the sales go to iTunes. The lack of sales in records mean that the only way for artists to earn money is through live concert ticket sales. The British Recorded Music Industry (BPI) said combined digital and physical album sales fell 7% last year, from 128.9 million to 119.9 million. This problem decreases the chances of new acts emerging. Even music and books retailer HMV announced plans to close 60 UK stores in the next 12 months and all the stores in Germany were closed in 2003. This is an increasing problem artists can only find another route to earn money for their work: selling merchandise at a high price or creating an entertaining music video to increase the views. Music lovers who download music illegally tend to buy merchandise and tickets to concerts more than those who pay for their music. Therefore the music artists are aiming for that kind of audience as an alternative to earn money e.g. JLS sell their T-Shirts for around £15 each.