Music Industry Case

Study

4 Major Producers

Sony Corporation• Sony Corporation is a multinational

conglomeration based in Tokyo, Japan. • Sony corporation is the electronics unit and

parent company of Sony Group. • Sony Group consists of Sony (electronics),

Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Mobile Communications and Sony Financial.

• They produce consumer elctronics, telecommunications, communications and information equipment, semiconductor, electronic devices, battery chemicals, Play Station, films, television and music.

Sony Music Entertainment • Sony is the second largest of the ‘big four’

producers. • Founded in 1929 as the American Record

Corporation. • Renamed the company Sony Music

Entertainment in 1991. • In 2004 entered joint venture with

Bertelsmann by merging to create Sony BMG Music Entertainment.

• In 2008 Sony bought Bertelsmann's 50% stake in Sony BMG and became Sony Music Entertainment again.

• Their headquarters are in New York but they have a total of 42 offices across the globe from Chile to Thailand to the UK so produce music worldwide.

• The executives of the company are Doug Morris, Chief Executive Officer, and Kevin Kelleher, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

• Morris was previously the head of Universal Music but became Chairman and CEO on July 1st 2011 and reconstructed Sony upon arrival.

• It has a revenue of $5,672 million and an operating income of $469 million in 2010.

LabelsThey have a number of labels across the world such as these

major ones:• Columbia Records • Epic Records • RCA Records • Sony Music Nashville • Provident Label Group • Verity Gospel Music Group • Sony Music Latin • Sony Masterworks • Legacy Recordings • Columbia Records UK • RCA Label Group• Syco Music• RED Distribution • JG3 Records

What do they produce?• Sony Music produces hundreds of artists

from around the globe through their numerous labels and studios that they own.

• Their artists include: •ACDC•Michael Jackson•Foo Fighters•Franz Ferdinand•One Direction•Shakira•Jimi Hendrix•Oasis•Mariah Carey

Distribution• Sony aim to use ‘vertical integration’ within their

company. They do this by having complete control of where their products are distributed and producing their own physical copies of music such as CD’s and by producing music software and devices such as the walkman in the late 90’s. This means that they have control over the distribution of their products and have to pay no expenses to outside companies.

• However as the music industry has changed drastically with the increase of downloading music through online stores such as Itunes Sony now has to distribute through other corporations such as Apple.

• To combat this issue Sony uses new media technology and creates it’s own software and online programs.

• For example Sony has recently made Music Unlimited. It offers instant access to millions of songs on Sony devices such as Play Station 3, Android, Xperia phones, Bravios TV’s, Blu-Ray disc players, PSP’s and any PC’s. This is used to combat software such as Spotify which shows that Sony is adapting to the rapidly changing industry.

Universal Music Group• Universal Music group is the largest of the ‘big four’

music corporations after acquiring BMG Music Publishing in 2007.

• Owned by the French media conglomeration Vivendi and completely separate from Universal Studios.

• It’s headquarters are located in California USA. • It has a revenue of $4449 million and an operating

income of $140 million in 2010.

• Founded in 1934 as Deca Records and became Universal Music Group in 1996.

DivisionsUniversal Music Group is a multinational

conglomeration and has a number of divisions such as:

•Universal Music Publishing Group•Universal Music Group Distribution•Interscope-Geffen-A&M•The Island Def Jam Music Group•Universal Republic Records•Universal Music Group Nashville•Verve Music Group•Decca Label Group•Universal Music Latin Entertainment•Universal Music Enterprises•Universal Strategic Marketing•Show Dog-Universal Music

•V2/Co-operative Music•Polydor Records•Mercury Music Group•Island Records Group•Universal Music TV•London Records•Bravado•Twenty-First Artists•eLabs•Silver Scope

LabelsUniversal Music Group has a number of labels across

the globe with 38 labels outside of the US and 10 in the US.

Labels include:• Interscope Geffen A&M• The Island Def Jam Music Group• Universal Republic Records• Universal Music Group Nashville• Decca Label Group• The Verve Music Group• Universal Music UK

Universal Music Publishing

• Universal Music Publishing is a music publishing group which is part of UMG.

• UMP owns or administrates over 1 million copyrights and are the largest music publishing business in the world.

• They have more than 47 offices in 41 countries.

ArtistsThey produce a wide range of international and local artists of

all genres across the globe. Their current top artists are:Other artists include:

1. Lady Gaga2. Lil Wayne3. Eminem4. Justin Bieber5. Keri Hilson6. Kid Cudi7. Enrique Iglesias8. Rihanna9. Taylor Swift10. Nicki Minaj

•Florence + the Machine

•Bombay Bicycle Club

•Lana Del Ray

•LMFAO

•U2

•The Chemical Brothers

•Prince

•Stereophonics

Universal & New Media Technology

• Universal Music Group co-developed Vevo, a site designed for music videos.

• It allows free ad-supported streaming of music videos at a higher quality than found on youtube.

EMI• EMI is the fourth largest of the ‘big four’ and is a

British owned multinational music company with it’s headquarters in London.

• It was set up in 1931 by the merging of Columbia Graphophone Company and the Gramophone Company with its record label.

• It’s owned by Citigroup and has a revenue of $1.65 billion in 2009. It was taken over by Citigroup in 2011 when it was in more than $4 billion in debt.

• In 2011 Citigroup announced a deal to sell off the music part to Sony and the publishing business selling to UMG for a total $4.1 billion.

LabelsEMI again has a number of labels across the

globe such as:

•Angel•Astralwerks •Blue Note•Capitol•Capitol Latin•Capitol Records Nashville

•EMI Classics •EMI CMG•EMI Records •EMI Records Nashville •Manhattan•Parlophone•Virgin Classics •Virgin Records

ArtistsEMI also has a wide variety of artists such as:• Lily Allen

•Bat For Lashes

• The Beatles

• Beastie Boys

•Luke Bryan

•Coldplay

•Gorillaz

•David Guetta

•Iron Maiden

•Norah Jones

• Lady Antebellum

• Massive Attack

•Kylie Minogue

•Katy Perry

• Pink Floyd

•Snoop Dogg

•Tinie Tempah

•Thirty Seconds To Mars

Production

• EMI also owns EMI Music Publishing.

• Billboard’s Publisher of the Year for the last 12 years in the United States.

• 1.3 million songs in it’s publishing catalogue.

EMI and New Media Technology

• History of EMI linked to the very beginnings of recorded sound.

• When digital music began to take off in the 90’s EMI’s first music websites went live in 1993/4.

• In 1998 EMI streamed first complete album.• In 1999 it was the first company to release a digital

album download. • Launched the first internet single in 2001. • In 2007 EMI was the first major music company to make

its music available without digital rights management software.

• Has agreements with hundreds of digital partners to distribute music across the globe.

Warner Music Group

• Warner Music Group is the third largest of the ‘big four’.

• It’s headquarters are based in New York, USA and it has a net income of $56 million in 2009.

• It was founded in 1958 as Warner Bros. Records then later became Warner Bros.-Elektra-Atlantic Records in 1978. It became Warner Music Group in 2004 when it was made completely separate from Time Warner despite the name.

• In 2011 the company was sold to Access Industries Inc.

LabelsWMG has a number of labels across the

globe such as these main ones:

•Atlantic Records Group

•Warner Bros. Recording Group

•Rhino Entertainment

•Warner Music Nashville

•Independent Label Group

Production• Warner Music Group's music publishing

business includes Warner/Chappell Music (which includes Non-Stop Music, a music production library) and Word Music Publishing.

• “Music publishing is an integral component of WMG's broader digital strategy and a key element in our effort to redefine the role of the modern music company.” - WMG

Artists WMG produces work from a vast array of

artists such as:•Aerosmith•Gnarls Barkley •Michele Buble•Johnny Cash•Dragon Force•Led Zepplin•Morrissey •Muse•Panic At The Disco•Ramones •Red Hot Chilli Peppers