OCTAIN wrote:scorpion1082 wrote:In music, it used to be the big 5 but since the Sony/BMG merger there's only 4 now.
1. Sony/BMG - Columbia, J Records, Epic, Jive
2. WEA - Warner Bros, Elektra(doesn't exist), Atlantic
3. Universal - Island/Def Jam, Geffen/Interscope, Motown
4. EMI - Virgin, Capitol
Is this the most recent?
Yes..... Universal has so many labels between , it's rediculous.
The majority of the industry major artists are under the Universal(especially R&B)umbrella.
Sony has made it back to respectability merging with BMG. They were living off of Destiny's Child and Beyonce record sales. They had to merge or Sony/Columbia records was going under. BMG was living off of Usher. With this merger, they have the biggest selling artists in the industry.
WEA was(and still might be looking)good. They had decent artists doing decent numbers(especially rap). Even though Fat Joe left, they still got Twista, T.I., Fabolous, Trick Daddy, Missy Elliot, Paul Wall, Yung Joc, Lupe Fiasco, Lil Scrappy, Juvenile, Little Brother, ect. R&B is where WEA is lacking..... If they get that together, then they might challenge Universal for the throne.
EMI stays in trouble.... They've been living off of Janet Jackson(and any classic artist in their catalog)for way too long and their people have made bad deals and don't know how to market & recruit their talent.... They've got talent but good deals by the other majors have done them in...... JD even left after his girl's album flopped after hyping it up and spending all that money on her project. He brought their rap division back to decency, but with him leaving, it's gonna go under again. They seriously need to rebuild.... Hire in-house producers(cause JD carried that label)to carry the artistic concerns. Fire the bad A&R reps and make their marketing dept. put in extra work.