Universal Music Group
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| Universal Music Group | |
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| Type of Company | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1998 |
| Headquarters | Santa Monica, California and Broadway, New York City  United States |
| Key people | Doug Morris, CEO |
| Industry | Music entertainment |
| Revenue |  €4.989 billion (2005) |
| Net income |  €480 million (2005) |
| Parent | Vivendi SA |
| Website | Universal Music |
Universal Music Group (UMG), formerly MCA Music Entertainment Group, is the largest business group and family of record labels in the record industry. With a 25.5% market share, it is one of the Big Four record labels.
In February 2006, the group became 100% owned by French media conglomerate Vivendi SA when Vivendi purchased the last 20% from Matsushita, the group's sole owner from 1990 to 1995 and co-owner from 1995 to 2006.
UMG's record labels have many of the world's biggest artists including Shania Twain, Bon Jovi, Jay-Z, Mariah Carey, Eminem, Luciano Pavarotti, U2, Kanye West, and The Game. It also owns one of the largest music publishing businesses of the world, the Universal Music Publishing Group.
"Universal Music" was once the music company attached to film studio Universal Pictures; its history is long and complex [1], which was merged with NBC to form NBC Universal, with Vivendi SA retaining a 20 percent stake.
The present organisation was formed when its parent company Seagram purchased PolyGram and merged it with UMG in 1998. Seagram merged with Vivendi SA in 2000 to form Vivendi Universal (now Vivendi SA).
In the United States UMG is located in Santa Monica, California, and New York City, New York along with Universal Music Group Nashville,and in the UK a number of offices in London.
On September 6, 2006 it was announced that Universal Music will purchase BMG Music Publishing, for €1.63 billion, subject to regulatory approval. [2]
Contents |
[edit] Record labels
UMG owns, or has a joint share in, a large number of record labels, including:
[edit] Interscope-Geffen-A&M
- A&M Records
- Geffen Records
- Star Trak Entertainment
- The Black Wall Street Records
- Interscope Records
- Aftermath Entertainment
- Shady Records
- G-Unit Records
- Flipmode Records
- Cherrytree Records
- Kickball Records
- Fort Plains Recordings
- Maloof Music
- Runyon Ave. Records
- Fyre Department
- Red Head Records
- Iron Fist Records
- Mosley Music Group
- Nothing Records
- Tiny Evil Records
- Vagrant Records
[edit] The Island Def Jam Music Group
- Def Jam Recordings
- Dame Dash Music Group
- Def Soul Records
- Disturbing tha Peace Records
- Roc-A-Fella Records
- Russell Simmons Music Group
- Desert Storm Records
- Island Records
- Lost Highway Records
- Roadrunner Records
[edit] Universal Motown Records Group
- Universal Records
- Motown Records
- Blackground Records
- Cash Money Records
- Street Records Corporation
- Republic Records
- Brushfire Records
- Casablanca Records
- Next Plateau Records
- Republic Records
- Rowdy Records
- Tuff Gong Records
- Universal South Records
- Uptown Records
- The Inc. Records
- Derrty Ent.
- Starchild Music Group
- Scrilla Records
[edit] Universal Music Classics Group
- Decca Broadway
- Decca Records
- Deutsche Grammophon
- Philips Records
- ECM Records
[edit] Universal Music Group Nashville
[edit] Verve Music Group
- Blue Thumb Records
- Brunswick Records
- Commodore Records
- Coral Records
- Decca Records (Its jazz holdings only.)
- GRP Records
- EmArcy Records
- Impulse! Records
- Verve Records
[edit] Other
- Barclay Records
- Bite Records
- Cinepoly Records
- Go East Entertainment
- Impact Records
- Isadora Records - Canadian imprint, run by Hawksley Workman
- Jazzland Records
- Mercury Records
- Vertigo Records
- Motor Music Records
- Nhi Le Records
- Polar Music
- Polydor Records
- Fascination Records
- Radioactive Records
- RMM Records & Video
- Stockholm Records
- Urban Records
- UMTV/ Universal Music TV
- Universal Music Limited
- UCJ Universal Classics & Jazz
- Globe Records
- Family Recordings
- Manifesto Records
- Show Dog Nashville
- UNI Records
- Universal Music Latino
- Universal Music Enterprises
- Hip-O Records
- Universal Chronicles
- 20th Century Records
- Ruff Ryders
[edit] Independent labels distributed by Universal
- MySpace Records
- Weapons of Mass Entertainment
- Concord Records
- Hollywood Records (Owned by The Walt Disney Company, distributed by UMG in the Americas and EMI in Europe)
- 19 Entertainment
- Bungalo Records
- Treacherous Records
- Softlite Records
- WVS Entertainment
- Starchild Music Group
Universal Music Group also owns local "Universal" labels in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey.
[edit] Pay for play
In May 2006, an investigation led by New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer concluded with a determination that Universal bribed radio stations to play songs from Ashlee Simpson, Brian McKnight, Big Tymers, Lindsay Lohan and other performers working for Universal labels. The company paid $12 million to the state in settlement. [1]
