THE MAJORS:
The 'major' record labels dominate the music production and distribution scene in the industry, owning or having shares in masses of smaller labels too. As a result, they have a huge amount of power over the music we all listen to and buy. This is because the major labels select what talent records what music as they record the music, print it on CDs, commission videos to be made, publicise the music and essentially distribute it around the world.
It is obvious that a record deal with one of the major labels, or a company related to one of the majors (such as Atlantic Records which is a subsidiary of Warner Bros), has many advantages for up and coming music talents. The majors have more money to invest in high quality music videos, tours and other promotional methods. In addition to this, they have a huge influence in other forms of media such as TV, games and films. Currently, the biggest 'major' labels are known as 'The Big Three':
1) Universal Music Group - Artists such as Ariana Grande, 5 Seconds of Summer, Game, Jessie J and Madonna.
2) Sony Music Entertainment - Artists such as Becky G, Kid Ink, Outlandish and Prince Royce.
3) Warner Music Group - Artists such as Bruno Mars, Wiz Khalifa, Ed Sheeran and Jason Derulo.
THE INDIES:
An Indie record label is one that is not owned by any of the majors. There are two kinds of independent labels.
1) THE MAJOR DISTRIBUTED INDEPENDANT:
This is a label that finds its own talent, signs its own acts, records its own music, but then has a contract with a label to do all the other elements such as promoting the act, manufacturing the CDs and packaging and distributing the music. An example of this is 'Roc-A-Fella' records - a subsidiary of Universal Music Group, being distributed by Def Jam Records.
2) THE TRUE INDEPENDANT:
This is a label that has no links to a major, and does everything itself in-house. Often these labels specialise in certain genres of music, and have a niche market.
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