Record Labels

The music industry is dominated by four multi national corporation referred to as 'The Majors';

1. Universal
2. Sony Music
3. Warner Brothers
4. EMI

The majority of these are backed by conglomerates with stakes in other industries for example film, TV and Electronics. 

Most of the 'Majors' own, or license, a series of smaller subsidiary companies in order to reach different kinds of audiences in different kinds of genre, these are;

• Columbia 
• Island
• Syco
• RCA
• Virgin

These companies are known as 'Major-Independents'.

Independents have little or no financial connection to the majors. There is a huge number of small companies with this an example of a highly successful independent is 'Domino Records'. These companies usually concentrate on a group of small acts, within specialised niches in the industry. There is often a record label that begin as independents but then are bought by a major and then become major independents.