Record Labels

Major Record Label

These can be best decried as music industries that sell compositions, recordings and performances of music. They have many individuals and organizations that operate within the industry which are the musicians who compose and perform the music; the companies and professionals who create and sell recorded music.

The 4 major record labels

In a recent study by Nielsen SoundScan in 2005 reported that the big four accounted for 81.87% of total market share in the music industry. On the other hand independent labels accounted for only 18.13%.

Universal Music Group (France based) — 31.71%

This is the biggest of all four labels and is the subsidiary of the French media conglomerate Vivendi. A media conglomerate are companies that own large numbers of other companies in various mass media such as television, radio, publishing, movies to name a few.
Vivendi's headquarters are in Paris, France. The UMG global headquarters are located New York City, Santa Monica within the U.S. The UK the group has a number of offices in London and Romford, and in Japan the group has a office in Minato, Tokyo.

List of few labels owned within Universal Music Group:

• Interscope Records
• Geffen Records

Sony Music Entertainment (Japan based) — 25.61%

Part of Sony, which is the world's fifth largest media conglomerate and is a Japanese based conglomerate whose headquarters is situated in Minato, Tokyo, Japan .
List of few labels owned by Sony Music Entertainment are:

• Columbia Records
• Aware Records
• Epic Records

Warner Music Group (USA based) — 15%

This is the 3rd largest record company and also has a music publishing subsidiary called Warner/Chappell Music, which is currently one of the world's largest music-publishing company.

A Publisher would be in this case a company who works with the songwriters to promote their songs. Publishers usually get either partial or total ownership of the song copyright, known as "assignment" or "transfer" of the copyright. They pitch the songs to record labels, television or movie producers, or anyone else who may be interested in it. They then license the rights to use the song and charge fees which are typically split 50% with the songwriter.

EMI Group (UK based) — 9.55%

The EMI Group (Electric & Musical Industries Ltd.) is a British music company. It is the fourth-largest record label, and subsequently makes it part of the ‘big four’ Furthermore it is a member of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The RIAA is a trust that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors. The RIAA claim to distribute approximately 85% of the U.S.A.’s sound recording sold. EMI Group also has a major publishing sub company formally known as, EMI Music Publishing which is based in New York City.

List of few labels owned within Electrical & Musical Industries:


Major label release model

The label here is really only a brand. It is used by the record company to give a distinct identity to the release.
Once part of the record company, it is the company’s responsibility to create the release; this will include recording, marketing and packaging. They will then work regionally to distribute the product. These regional offices are likely to be in different countries or continents around the world. The original copy of the audio and any artwork will be used to replicate. One of the main benefits of having many regional places is that costs are kept down by manufacturing close to where the item will be sold, rather than shipping container loads of releases around the world.

If the record company doesn't have a branch in a particular territory, it may license the release to another company in that place and they will arrange the manufacturing and distribu

• Virgin Records
• Get Money Gang Entertainment
• Angel Recordstion of the release. This company could be a record label, or it could be a distributor, manufacturer, or any other company that has the ability to organize the manufacturing and distribution of the release.

Usually, each separate branch of the chain will include their name on the release, as well as the label name. Also, manufacturers and distributors may be mentioned on the release artwork.


This Picture represents where the money goes when signed to a major record label.









Independent Record Label

An independent record label (or indie record label) is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. Indie record labels are where a great number of bands and musical acts get a start, and where many find their success.


Independent release model



This chart shows an idealized path for the artist’s release, from the recording studio through to the public.

The label here is one and the same as the record company; they both have the same name and are the same unit.

This is a standard path for releases on Indies, and most likely are to operate in one country or continent. Non-major label releases in the folk, and jazz genres are likely to follow a path close to this. If you substitute the recording studio for the artists own studio, the model also fits a lot of electronic releases.
The ‘importer’ in most cases is likely to be another business in another country or continent that buys a certain number of copies of the release from the distributor. From that they distribute in their own distribution area. The import will be exactly the same release.