THE MUSIC INDUSTRY

Right...so today was pretty much a re-cap on the music industry.

There are five major music industry companies:

Sony, Universal, BMG, EMI and Warner are the five biggest conglomerate companies that own 76% of the music industry share. Alongside this are the 'Independents', some of which are subsidiary companies of the majors, which own 24% of all music shares and production. 

Smaller more subsidized music companies are known through the term 'Oligopoly'. 

The five big majors are known as conglomerates. They are each a business, aiming to produce popular mainstream music to a wide audience on a global level. There is not so much focus on the performer, but more on the star image, as Richard Dyer's theory suggests, creating 'synthetic acts' as opposed to 'organic' which the Independents specialize in. 

The Independents additionally target their audience on a more national level and help to nurture the artist to hone their creative talents. Media theorist, Keith Negus, suggests that we have 'a web of major and minor record labels' and that music video is a 'promotional tool' and a form of synergy.