The big 4

The 4

Music in the UK• Throughout its history, the United Kingdom has been

a major exporter and source of musical innovation in the modern and contemporary eras, drawing its cultural basis from the history of the United Kingdom, from church music, from Western culture and from the ancient and traditional folk music and instrumentation of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. In the 20th century, influences from the music of the United States became most dominant in popular music. This led to the explosion of the British Invasion, while subsequent notable movements in British music include the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and Britpop. The United Kingdom has one of the world's largest music industries today, with many British musicians having had an impact on modern music.

Emi • The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a British

multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It was the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and was one of the "big four" record companies.

• EMI Group also has a major publishing arm, EMI Music Publishing — also based in London with offices globally. The company was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but since February 2011 it has been wholly owned by Citigroup (which took the then financially troubled company over because of more than $4 billion in debt it held).

• EMI is a member of the RIAA & IFPI.• In November 2011 Citigroup announced a tentative deal to sell off pieces of the

company with the music arm going to Vivendi's Universal Music Group for $1.9 billion and the publishing business going to a Sony/ATV consortium for around $2.2 billion. Other members of the Sony consortium include Blackstone and Abu Dhabi-owned investment fund Mubadala. Both before and after the sale announcement, Universal Music Group pledged to sell off EMI assets to the value of half a billion Euros.

• Early in its life, the Gramophone Company established subsidiary operations in a number of other countries in the British Commonwealth, including India, Australia and New Zealand. Gramophone's (later EMI's) Australian and New Zealand subsidiaries dominated the popular music industries in those countries from the 1920s until the 1960s, when other locally owned labels (such as Festival Records) began to challenge the near monopoly of EMI. Over 150,000 78-rpm recordings from around the world are held in EMI's temperature-controlled archive in Hayes, some of which have been released on CD since 2008 by Honest Jon's Records.

This is a small print screen of EMI’s website, it includes lots of information about the company and

many different bands and artists.

Innovation

UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP• Universal Music Group (UMG) is the world’s

largest music content company with market leading positions in recorded music, music publishing, and merchandising.

• The recorded music business discovers and develops recording artists and then markets and promotes their music across a wide array of formats and platforms. UMG's music publishing company, Universal Music Publishing Group, discovers and develops songwriters, and owns and administers copyrights to musical compositions for use in recordings, public performances, and related uses, such as films and advertisements. Bravado, UMG’s merchandising company, sells artist- and music-branded products via multiple sales point such as fashion retail, live performances, and the internet. UMG also includes Twenty-First Artists, its full service management division.

Record Labels • UMG’s strength and legacy of music flows from a

diverse family of record labels which include: A&M/Octone, Barclay, Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Disa, ECM, Emarcy, Fonovisa, Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Island Def Jam Music Group, Machete Music, Mercury Records, Polydor Records, Show Dog–Universal Music, Universal Motown Republic Group, Universal Music Latino, Universal Music Group Nashville (which includes Lost Highway, MCA Nashville and Mercury Nashville), and Verve Music Group.

What do they do?• Merchandising• Artist Services • Involved in VEVO which is the

leading innovative online premium music and entertainment service for consumers, advertisers and content owners that blends the very best in musical content with cutting-edge video technology and a thriving user community powered by YouTube. VEVO was created in partnership with Sony Music Entertainment (SME) and the Abu Dhabi Media Company.

• Distribution • Music Publishing • Music Catalog Management • Music Catalog

This is a small print screen of universal’s website, it includes lots of information about the company and

many different bands and artists.

Warner Music Group• Warner Music Group is home to a collection of the best-known record

labels in the music industry including Asylum, Atlantic, Cordless, East West, Elektra, Nonesuch, Reprise, Rhino, Roadrunner, Rykodisc, Sire, Warner Bros. and Word, as well as Warner/Chappell Music, one of the world's leading music publishers, with a catalog of more than one million copyrights worldwide.

• WMG comprises an array of businesses aimed at helping artists achieve long-term creative and financial success while providing consumers with the highest-quality music content available. WMG is engaged in the recorded music business (including artist services) and the music publishing business, and is a leading company in national and international repertoire that operates through numerous international affiliates and licensees in more than 50 countries. 

• Their recorded music business includes our growing artist services business, which offers artist management, merchandising, touring, fan clubs, VIP ticketing, sponsorships and brand endorsements, and numerous third-party solutions that facilitate the sale of music-based content directly to consumers. Our artist services business works with WMG artists as well as artists not otherwise signed to WMG labels.  Our primary music publishing business, Warner/Chappell Music, is one of the world's leading music publishers, with a catalog of more than one million songs from more than 65,000 songwriters, and includes Non-Stop Music, a full service music production library company. 

• In recent years, they have grown to become the world's third-largest recorded music business and third-largest music publishing business and, during a time of dramatic industry transition, have established ourselves as one of the music industry's most successful companies. 

Recent achievements?• Delivering the greatest U.S. Total Album market share

increase of all major music companies between 2004 and 2010, according to Nielsen/SoundScan data

• Having the No. 1 label in the U.S. in 2005 and 2007 (Warner Bros.), and 2008 and 2009 (Atlantic), according to Nielsen/SoundScan data

• Delivering a greater than 20% U.S. Total Album share every year since 2006

• Aggressively growing new revenue streams, including expanding our interests in non-traditional businesses, as well as growing our digital revenue in Q2 2011 to nearly 40% of our worldwide Recorded Music business

This is a small print screen of Warner’s website, it includes lots of information about the company and

many different bands and artists.

Sony Music Entertainment• Sony Music Entertainment (SME or Sony Music) is

the second-largest global recorded music company of the "big four“ record companies and is controlled by Sony Corporation of America, the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation.

History • 1929-1938: American Record Corporation• 1938-1991: Columbia/CBS Records• 1991-2004: Birth of Sony Music Entertainment• 2008-2011: Return to Sony Music Entertainment• 2011-present: Leadership changes &

restructuring

This is a small print screen of Sony’s website, it includes lots of information about the company and

many different bands and artists.