SONY MUSIC

Major Record Label Research

Sony Music Entertainment is the second-largest global recorded music company of the "big four" record companies.

Doug MorrisSony Music Entertainment, CEO

Net Worth: $17.9 Billion

Year it was Founded: 1928

Sony is also known as major distributor of Electronics such as Computers, MP3’s, Laptops etc.

http://www.sony.co.uk/

Sony Music owns many subsidiary labels but the most four successful are Columbia records, RCA records, Epic records and ARISTA Nashville which are labels that represents some of the greatest artists, one being Michael Jackson and Beyonce.

Rob Stringer -Columbia, CEO Columbia Records remains a premier subsidiary label of Sony Music Entertainment. It was founded in 1988.

Artists include multi Grammy winners Beyonce and Adele. Also one of the most successful boy bands on the planet One Direction and TV People’s Choice Award Winners, the Glee Cast.

Genre: Rock, Pop, R&B, Funk, Punk, Alternative, Blues, Reggae, Latin and much more.

British boy band One Direction appeal to a much younger female audience between ages 13 – 21 who enjoy Pop music. However the Label is not based on just Pop music for example Grammy winner Adele has more of a soulful genre which is aimed towards the adult audiences aged 17 – 42. This suggests the label is able to appeal to a much wider audience.

Peter Edge - RCA Records, CEO

RCA Records is a flagship recording label of Sony Music Entertainment. It was founded in 1901.

Artists Include Grammy Award winners Alicia Keys, Chris Brown and Justin Timberlake. The label also includes one of most talked about artist Miley Cyrus.

Genre: Rock, Pop, R&B, Funk, Punk, Alternative, Blues, Reggae, Latin and much more.

Justin Timberlake has a more of a Pop/RnB genre which is aimed towards a much older audience from 17 upwards whereas Miley Cyrus is more up to date with her music, creating a Pop genre towards her younger fan base which came from her childhood actress career. We see here that clearly this label is able to appeal to different audiences.

L.A. Reid - Epic Records and Arista Nashville, CEO

Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Originally conceived as a jazz imprint in 1953, it has since expanded to represent various genres.

Artists Include best selling female group of all time TLC and “King of Pop” Michael Jackson.

Genre: Pop, R&B, Soul, Hip-Hop, Alternative, Blues, Reggae, Latin and much more.

Audiences from 5 years old to 90 years old are able to enjoy Michael Jackson's Thriller. I think that's the key that made it the most successful music video. It reached to people of all ages. It had that fright that spooked the young audience, yet had comedy, contradiction to it at the end that the older audience enjoyed along with intricate dance moves that everyone could follow along.

Arista Nashville is an American record label that is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment, operated under the Sony Music Nashville division.

L.A. Reid - Epic Records and Arista Nashville, CEO

Genre: Country

Artist’s include Carrie Underwood, a winner of six Grammy Awards, sixteen Billboard Music Awards, seven American Music Awards and ten Academy of Country Music Awards, among several others.

Carrie Underwood music is aimed towards those who enjoy Country Music or traditional Texas music. She was also a winner of American Idol which suggests she has a younger fan base too as much as an older audience.

Sony Music Entertainment owns 34% of the industry and is one of the big three. They own many subsidiary labels which include:

1.1 Columbia Records1.2 Epic Records1.3 RCA Records1.4 Sony Music Nashville1.5 Sony Masterworks1.6 Provident Music Group1.7 Legacy Recordings1.8 RED Distribution1.9 IODA and The Orchard Labels1.10 Sony Music UK1.11 Sony Music Japan

The biggest labels under Sony are: Columbia Records, Epic Records and RCA. They are home to one of the most mainstream, most talked about artists such as Miley ‘Twerking’ Cyrus and One Direction. This label allows these artists to adapt to new music tastes, for example seeing as Twerking was introduced in 2013. RCA Records and Miley Cyrus incorporated this into her genre which shocked but eventually widened her audience. By doing this she topped the Billboard Album 200 chart with her Pop, Hip-Hop album ‘Bangerz.’

Sony Music produces various types of genres such as pop, hip hop, R&B etc. They have signed mainstream artists such as Chris Brown, Avril Lavigne and Michael Jackson, these artists are known worldwide and are very popular in the music industry, this artists are know for selling a load of records and achieving outstanding goals such as no.1's and earning the title 'King of pop'. So room the alone we can see that Sony has a big reputation and has to be very competitive with other companies to keep it that way.

There are different types of companies that make up the music industry, there are three major music labels and many independent labels. Major labels are mainstream which means they appeal to people globally by use of their genres such as hip hop and pop. They are seen as the Big Three which are: Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Bros Music Group. Independent labels have a niche audience, as they have artists who are less well known, they focus on genres such as rock or indie.