Universal Music Group Case Study

835 Words2 Pages

Universal Music Group (UMG), an American-French global music corporation is one of the world 's’ top three major record labels. It has about 28 percent of the total US album market share and earns yearly revenues of $1.5 billion dollars. The label has one of the most impressive catalogs globally which include superstars such as Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Avicii, Kanye West and Bon Jovi. Universal, like all the other major labels, has sub-labels. Def Jam Recordings and Island Records are a couple examples of the many labels that exist under UMG. The company 's main headquarters are located in Santa Monica, California, but they also have a multitude of offices spread across the world. Due to its large size and extensive amount of capital and …show more content…

Record labels are responsible for the production, manufacture, distribution, promotion and enforcement of copyright for sound recordings. They are also in charge of discovering new artists (A&R) and maintaining contracts with artists and their managers. Record labels are divided into two main categories: majors and indies. Majors have a parent company, a distribution arm and a publishing arm. Independent labels are independently owned, have a 3rd party distributor and usually have no publishing arm. The three major record labels are Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group; these majors have sub-labels such Atlantic Records (Warner) and Columbia Records (Sony). There are thousands of indie labels (300 Entertainment, Mad Decent, etc.) yet they only represented about a third of the total US album market share in 2015. Majors have substantial amounts of capital at their disposal and key divisions in-house (distribution, publishing), often putting them at an advantage over their smaller competitors. The below graph shows just how large a share of the US recorded music market the major labels controlled in 2015 compared to their many independent

More about Universal Music Group Case Study

Open Document