In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion, and enforcement of copyright protection of sound recordings and music videos; conducts A&R; and maintains contracts with recording artists and their managers.

The music industry

Within the music industry, recording artists have been increasingly reliant upon record labels to broaden their audience, market their albums, and be both promoted and heard on radio, television, with publicists that assist performers in positive media reports to market their merchandise, and make it available via stores and other media outlets. The internet has increasingly been a way that some artists avoid costs and gain new audiences, as well as the use of videos in some cases, to sell their products.spazmadic

Major vs. Independent record labels

Record labels may be small, localized, and "independent" ("indie"), or they may be part of a large international media group, or somewhere in between. The largest 4 record labels are called major labels. Pop Music 1011 A sublabel is a label that is part of, but trades under a different name from, a larger record company.

The term "record label" originally referred to the circular label in the center of a vinyl record that prominently displayed the manufacturer's name, along with other information.

Imprint

When a label is strictly a trademark or brand, not a company, then it is usually called an imprint, a term used for the same concept in the publishing industry. An imprint is sometimes marketed as being a project, unit, or division of a record label company, even though there is no legal business structure associated with the imprint.

Major labels

Major labels 1996-1998 (Big Six)

1. Warner Music Group
2. EMI
3. Sony Music
4. BMG Music
5. Universal Music Group
6. Polygram

Major labels 1998-2004 (Big Five)

1. Warner Music Group
2. EMI
3. Sony Music
4. BMG Music
5. Universal Music Group (Polygram absorbed into UMG)

Major labels 2004-2008 (Big Four)

1. Warner Music Group
2. EMI
3. Sony/BMG (Sony and BMG merger)
4. Universal Music Group

Major labels since 2008

1. Warner Music Group
2. EMI
3. Sony Music Entertainment (BMG absorbed into SME)
4. Universal Music Group

Record labels are often under the control of a corporate umbrella organization called a music group. A music group is typically owned by an international conglomerate holding company, which often has non-music divisions as well. A music group controls and consists of music publishing companies, record (sound recording) manufacturers, record distributors, and record labels. As of 2005, the "big four" music groups control about 70%