The Music Industry.

The record companies roles are to manufacture, distribute and promote new products in order to make a profit which can then be used to invest in other artists and produce new music from existing artists.


The Majors

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

 These are the four major record companies who all own a collection of smaller record labels. Universal music, for example, is made up of record  labels such as Island Def Jam music group, Polydor records, Geffen records and Mercury records amongst others. Within these labels the Universal Music Group have signed Bon Jovi, Blink 182, Eminem, Dr.Dre, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, U2, The Hives, Scissor Sisters and Snow Patrol, again, amongst others. On top of this, they own the back catalogues for artists ranging from Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, The Supremes, Buddy Holly and The Who.

AOL Time Warner (the parent company of Warner Music) own a substantial slice of Hollywood film production in addition to CNN, Cartoon Network, TNT, HBO amongst others. This synergy assists in the promotion of music within other media formats. A Warner film soundtrack will naturally serve as a promotional tool for existing and new music owned by the music 'arm' of the corporation.

The music industry's product (the artist and their music) is costly to initially secure (artists like Madonna and Robbie Williams sign multi-million pound 'deals' with their companies) but the reproduction of the product on CD/DVD due to new technologies, is cheap to manufacture. However, a record company cannot always guarantee that new artists and their music will appeal to a wide-enough market to make a profit.


Cultural theorist Theodor Adorno and The Frankfurt School wrote about popular culture in 1941 and criticised the production and consumption of popular music. Songs follow a formulaic template that he called 'standardisation', with a few novelty flourishes referred to as 'pseudo-individualisation' - disguising the standard structure and duping listeners into thinking they were hearing something new.

If an artist's style of music becomes popular then companies will often sign a range of similar sounding artists who can then be sold on their connection to other bands. This explains certain musical 'trends' for particular genres like Metal, Britpop, Grunge, EMO.

Genres are marketed to existing audiences via 'niche' advertising strategies. A company wishing to promote a new Goth/Metal band would advertise in Kerrang! magazine and showcase the track and video on the Kerrang! music station.

The notion of prioritising the commercial over the creative creates tension between arists and their labels. The major labels have the image as the villains who have trapped artists. There are many tales of artists unable to release new material because their labels are critical of a change in musical direction. The prioritising of sales targets results in artists being pressurised into producing music that is a guaranteed seller.