Record Labels

There are 4 major record labels:

• Universal

Artists include: Ariana Grande, Bombay Bicycle Club, Fountains of Wayne.

• Sony Music

Artists include: Alicia Keys, Leona Lewis, Kelly Clarkson

• Warner Brothers

Artists include: Biffy Clyro, Clean Bandit, Coldplay, Linkin Park

• Emi

Artists include: Robbie Williams, Snoop Dogg, Kate Bush

• Capitol Records

Artists Include: 5 Seconds of Summer, The Beatles, Iron Maiden

These are referred to as 'Majors'.  The majority are backed by conglomerates with stakes in other industries, such as Film, Tv, and electronics.

These major record labels own smaller record labels such as:

• Columbia

Artists include: AC/DC, Beyonce, David Bowie, Foster the people

• Island

Artists include: Busted, Frankie goes to Hollywood, Elton John, Sum 41

• Syco

Artists include: Matt Cardle, Olly Murs, One Direction

• RCA

Artists include: Bullet for my valentine, The Hoosiers, Jimmy Eat World

• Virgin

Artists include: 30 Seconds to Mars, Daft Punk, The Kooks

• Dirty Hit

Artists include: The 1975, Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Fossil Collective

These are known as 'Major-independents' and are used to reach out to different audience from different genres.

After The major-independents come the Independents.  These are small record labels with little or no financial connection to the Majors.

They often concentrate on a small number of acts, within specialized niches in the industry. 

An example of an independent record label is 'Domino Records'.  Artists that are with this label are Arctic Monkeys and Franz Ferdinand.




Record labels usually start as independents and are then bought by Majors and then become major-independents.