OWNERSHIP• Universal Music was once the music company attached to its film counterpart, Universal Studios. It was merged with Polygram in 1998.

• In 2004 Universal Music Group was split from its film studio for the first time.

• In February 2006 it was fully bought out by French media conglomerate Vivendi, who also own prominent French distribution company StudioCanal, French Pay-for-view television company Canal, video gaming giants Activision Blizzard and UK independent film distributors Optimum Releasing.

LABELS OWNED BY

ARTISTS• The All-American Rejects

• Aerosmith

• Amy Winehouse

• Black Eyed Peas

• Cheryl Cole

• Celine Dion

• Coldplay

• David Guetta

• Dr Dre

• Enrique Iglesias

• Faithless

• George Michael

• Green Day

• Hollywood Undead

• James Blunt

• Jessie J

• John Mayer

• Justin Bieber

• Kanye West

• Lady Gaga

• Nicole Scherzinger

• Nicki Minaj

• Owl City

• Rihanna

• The Wanted

• Take That

• U2

• Wyclef Jean

PRODUCTION• Universal Music Group co-designed the website Vevo, which allows free viewing of music videos – apparently in better quality than those on YouTube. This is a good example of how media technology and trends have been adapted to by the record label.

• Due to the popularity of the majority of their artists they generally distribute digitally and with CD’s, as opposed to vinyl which may only be produced for special releases and for extremely popular artists, such as Lady Gaga and Aerosmith.

• The introduction of the internet in music has led to the creation of “YouTube” stars, and talent scouts often scour such websites in search of stars such as Justin Bieber, Esmée Denters and Greyson Chance.

• The presence of Universal Studios means songs from UMG can be easily used in those films, and could be used to promote future releases from an artist or revive their popularity.

MARKETING• The capital behind the label allows intense marketing schemes for their artists, including advertising on websites such as Google and YouTube, self-promotion from artists and executives on circulation websites such as Twitter and on music-related programmes such as The Official Chart show and MTV Hits.

• Performances might also be given on television shows such as The X Factor.

• The label have a YouTube channel where they have created playlists of different genres of music they’ve released – showcasing the wide variety of genres they produce.

• A lot of their artists have high TV profiles, largely down to their popularity and participation on shows such as The X Factor and American Idol. Performances on these shows also increase their profiles.

• The capital they have can be used to market some of the smaller artists they have signed to make them into potential superstars.

• Many artists play at summer festivals, such as Reading & Leeds, Glastonbury, Latitude, T in the Park and V Festival.

• Artists such as Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Kanye West and Take That often frequent the Radio 1 Playlist.

LONG TAIL104,335,515 plays LADY GAGA

7,188,217 plays NICKI MINAJ

BLACK EYED PEAS

46,519,845 plays

SHONTELLE1,722,629 plays

MARRACASH

125,837 plays

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EVERYW

HERE

GROWING POPULARITY

UNKNOWN

DISTRIBUTION & EXCHANGE• Physical retailers will stock from UMG due to the vast amount of popular artists signed to them. However, lesser known artists such as Marracash won’t be available in every HMV store or independent record shops; nevertheless websites such as Amazon and Play do stock his CD’s, and iTunes have some of his songs.

• The UMG website doesn’t have links to directly download songs but it does list which albums have now been sent to stores and for digital purchase.

• Many radio stations will play music off of UMG simply down to the fact that they have such a large roster of artists with many different genres of music – specific radio stations that specialise in Latin and Motown could play songs just off of Universals divisions in those areas (Universal Motown Group, Universal Latin)

• Songs could be released on a soundtrack for a film produced by Universal Studios, or used in video games created by ActivisionBlizzard who are owned by Vivendi; alternatively, the entire soundtrack could be created by UMG artists.

• It could improve its web presence by selling songs through its own website and by affiliating with mobile phone companies to create a service which allows easy song downloads to phones, or alternatively affiliating with a service such as Spotify or Last FM to promote their artists there, with a link to purchase their songs present.