top of page

Universal Music Group:

 

Universal Music Group is the largest of the “Big Four” record companies in the world and are known for selling music, television, film, publishing, telecommunications, the internet and video games worldwide which means that any music that is produced by them can be easily published through all mediums due to their popularity. The year 1958 was very important for Universal because MCA developed the Universal Studios property and gained Paramount's pre-1948 film library for its MCA TV division. The company was united as MCA Inc. and it became a public company in 1959. Universal and MCA Inc. officially merged in 1962 after MCA acquired "Decca Records". In 1999 the UM3 was launched, UM3 is a division of Universal Music International that covers all areas of strategic catalogue marketing outside North America.

 

A fact for 2001 is that Universal formed exclusive distribution and worldwide licensing agreement with UMG. In 2002 the UMG achieved an industry milestone, and provided customers with more than 75000 download tracks. In 2003 UMG bought the rights on DreamWorks Records and worked with eBay to establish "Universal Music Store". UME Digital, an all-digital download label, was formed in 2004 through which UMG achieved a 43, 7% market share for week-ending November 14th, the highest in Sound scan history. In 2008, 1 billion video streams have been delivered on YouTube by UMG. In the following year UMG created VEVO and the companies Sony and EMI joined VEVO.

 

The Universal Music Group is owned by the French media corporation Vivendi. In 2010, the UMG had 6967 employees. The turnover of UMG in 2010 cost $5584 million. Universal Music Group operates in 72 countries, including North American headquarters in Santa Monica and New York. UMG is involved in different types of media fields such as Film and Music. Every part has with his single productions a specified target group. The music column of UMG includes such a huge range of artists and genres that it is covering all types of target groups. Business customers of the UMG are distributors and companies from the same industry column.

 

UMG sells its products and services in different ways. For instance, the company uses a network of companies, joint projects and licensees. UMG produces musical recordings which represent 70% of the income, and lyrics and musical scores which represent only 20% of the income. The company's products list also consists of the production of master recordings, the manufacture and packaging of CDs and the production of databases to distribute downloads of recordings. It is well-known that Universal Music Group works with different popular artists such as Lady Gaga, Gwen Stefani, Chamillionaire, and The Black Eyed Peas.

 

The record labels that make up universal are:

 

  • ECM

  • Island Def Jam Music Group

  • Mercury Records

  • Polyd or Records

  • Verve Music Group

 

Some of the famous artists that worked with Universal are:

 

  • Akon

  • Justin Bieber

  • The Black Eyed Peas

  • Mariah Carrey

  • Eminem

  • Jessie J

  • Enrique Inglesias

  • Rolling Stones

  • Duffy

  • Cheryl Cole

  • Mika

  • Taylor Swift

  • Selena Gomez

 

A music publisher owns the copyright for music and lyrics and can license them for use in film, TV, advertising, mobiles etc. as well as for other artists to cover. UMPG is the largest in the world, with over 1 million copyrights.

 

UMPG looks at the development, promotion and protection of the interests and rights of songwriters and composers, they manage the rights in the music, enables the music to reach its many audiences by encouraging record companies to record and release material and licensing works using synergistic marketing. They worked with songwriting and production company Xenomania, Jay-Z’s production company Roc Nation and many other producers and writers.

 

bottom of page