Institution AnalysisBy Wojciech

Island RecordsIsland records was part of combined division label music group called “Island Def Jam Music group” which is owned by the Universal Music Group, that formed the partnership in 1999. Island records itself operates in the USA, UK, Australia and Jamaica. It was UMG’s decision to combine the two labels, which turned out to be popular decision because it brought lots of success by combining two different genre operating companies in order to reach a wide audience. As of 2014, the roster for the combined group consists of Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez and many others, which clearly shows they are a popular group for major artists.

The company’s success has been clearly indicated by the awards they have received, most notably in 2012 they received the award for the No.1 Rhythmic label for having 7 hit tracks in the No.1 spot, therefore also showing great consistency in success.

Island records historyIsland records were formed in 1959 by 3 men in Jamaica, Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall and Leslie Kong, also the partial financial provider was Stanley Borden from RKO. The label relocated to the UK in 1962 and have stayed since after overwhelming the Jamaican music market.

Their first success was when the track “My boy lollipop” sung by Millie Small was released, this triggered the movement to start a world tour that involved Chris Blackwell. Blackwell signed the Spencer Davis group to the label to improve distribution, the group became increasingly popular and Island started their own independent series to spotlight UK rock talent. In 1989 Blackwell sold the company to PolyGram for £180 million because the whole music scene “gotten too big” and he couldn’t “handle it”. In 1998 UMG bought the group and in 1999 formed 3 divisions of Island across the globe, that's also when they merged in the USA with DefJam records. Throughout the 21st century the label signed several popular artists such as Justin Bieber in 2008, however as of 2014 the IDJMG would no longer exist after the resignation of CEO Barry Weiss.

Genre focus and others

In the US, Island records are recognised as a pop/rock label, signing mostly these genre artists, whereas the urban and R&B artists are assigned to DefJam records to accommodate their specialisation in the music industry. However, the label still keeps their traditional diverse roster of artists.

Currently UMG is fighting internet piracy and have been part of a 360 deal music entity that is partnered with Bravado to control merchandising and others, which shows attempts to control copyrights.

Island uses different methods to find new artists, such as Fan Republic which is a crowdfunded method which gets artists worldwide become recognised as they receive rewards for their work. I believe that this information can help us in controlling what we show in our video for copyright reasons and also the type of image to set for our company to suit the genre.

Interscope RecordsInterscope Records is an American label, which is part of a major division that includes Interscope, Geffen and A&M records, all these labels are owned by the Universal Music Group, a subsidiary of Vivendi SA. The umbrella also another name for this division was formed in 1999 after UMG acquired MCA Geffen and PolyGram A&M, then merged them together with Interscope. This clearly was a success as by the end of the 20th century Interscope sales accounted for ⅓ of Seagram’s 27% share of the market. As of 2016, the artist roster includes Selena Gomez, Eminem, Lady Gaga, Maroon 5, Imagine Dragons, OneRepublic, Ellie Goulding and more.

The label is particularly popular for the quality of the artist’s album releases because Interscope artists have featured many times in the top 5 album charts for Billboard.

Interscope Records HistoryInterscope records was formed in 1989 by Ted Field as part of a sub-division to his film company Interscope Communications. John McClain and Tom Whalley were appointed in roles to run the label after success in roles at A&M Records and Capitol Records. Iovine and Field were introduced by Paul McGuinness, then U2's manager. Negotiations were carried out, which included Geffen, and in 1990, Interscope Records was founded as a joint venture with Atlantic Records. In a 1997 article for Rolling Stone, David Wild wrote: "Interscope's start-up coincided with a period of incredible change in the music world.”

Interscope’s first release was “Rico Suave” by Ecuadorian rapper Gerardo in December 1990, which reached #2 in Billboard's Hot 100 in april 1991. The label signed 2pac in May 1991 and released 2pacalypse Now, which caused controversy after it inspired someone to kill a trooper in Texas. Interscope further established its strength in the alternative and rock genres in 1994. A $2.5 million investment to establish a joint venture with Trauma Records yielded three #1 Modern Rock tracks and a platinum album. In 1995, the controversy related to gangsta rap and explicit lyrics intensified as it glorified violence and degraded women. In 2001, Field left as co-chairmen to create a new label and Whalley left to join Warner bros. Records. Throughout the 21st century the label has seen several successful moments through the work of artists like 50 Cent, Eminem, Lady Gaga and more.

Interscope genre focus and moreThroughout the years since its establishment, Interscope has focused on quite a diverse range of genres and artists, for example, eminem and 2pac are hip-hop artists, Maroon 5 and OneRepublic are pop/rock, Lady Gaga and Selena Gomez are pop, finally U2 are a rock band, therefore quite clearly they are a diverse label, which shows they can handle all genres as all these groups and artists are popular and successful. One of the issues they have had involved Eminem with Hotstylez after they claimed he used the sample tracks from them for songs such as “Rap God” without crediting them.

Parlophone RecordsParlophone Records was formed in 1896 by the Carl Lindstrom Company, the British division Parlophone Co. Ltd. was formed in 1923 and it gained its reputation for being a leading jazz label. Since its establishment Parlophone has become widely popular for creating home-grown talent and is amongst the most known and loved record labels in the world, this is the reason why they have been able to grasp such an impressive roster of artists throughout the years, such as The Beatles, David Bowie, Gorillaz, Tinie Tempah, Coldplay, Queen and many more.

Additionally, the artists that the label have acquired have yielded great results because the charts singles, albums and downloads have been topped with artists from Parlophone, for example, in 2008 Coldplay yielded the highest amount of downloads for “Viva la Vida” and The Beatles are 8th in all time best selling singles with “She loves you”.

Parlophone Records HistoryFormed in 1896 by the Carl Lindstrom Company and the British division was formed in 1926. In 1926, Columbia Graphophone Company acquired the Parlophone business, label name and its titles, and in 1931, they merged with Gramophone company to create EMI. The Parlophone continued as a division of EMI until it was merged into The Gramophone in 1965. In 1973 The Gramophone Co. Ltd. was renamed EMI Records Limited. The ownership with EMI ended in 2012 when UMG got the acquisition of EMI, however Parlophone and EMI records had to become divested for a year before Warner Music Group stepped in to acquire Parlophone and that made Parlophone one of WMG’s main labels alongside Warner Bros Records and Atlantic Records.

In the period with EMI, Parlophone saw lots of success, especially after the acquisition of George Martin, who signed The Beatles, this was a very significant moment for the label because it changed the focus of genre for the company and made them recognised for a different genre as before they were recognised as a comedy label. For a long time Parlophone claimed the best-selling UK single, "She Loves You", and the best-selling UK album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Also, they achieved placement of seven singles at No. 1 during 1964.

Parlophone genre and more

Parlophone have and is still a major pop record label group in the UK, currently in possession of major artists such as Coldplay, Tinie Tempah, David Guetta and Conor Maynard. Also, they have become more diverse with the acquisition of indie rock groups. The company has suffered with copyrights as companies abused The Beatles' name, producing T-shirts, hairspray and more. Many commercials used their songs without permission from the Beatles. The Beatles were only allowed to own 49% of the company shares, therefore only owning 49% of their songs, which was not enough to buy back the songs from EMI.