Label Research: Universal Music Group

For our first group assignment, we were tasked with researching specific elements of our assigned record label. My group was assigned Universal Music Group. Here is some of the info my group regarding certain topics.

History:

• Began with the formation of the American branch of Decca Records in 1934
• MCA merged with Decca in 1962
• 1990: Japanese multinational conglomerate Matsushita Electric acquires MCA for $6.59 billion
• 1995: Seagram acquires 80% of MCA from Matsushita
• 1996: Company is renamed Universal Music Group
• 2004: General Electric acquires UMG (UMG now separate from film studio)
• 2006: French media conglomerate Vivendi owns 100% of the company after purchasing the last 20% owned by Matsushita

Subsidiaries/Companies Owned: 

• Capitol Music Group
• Decca
• Def Jam Recordings
• EMI
• Interscope
• Island
• Republic Records
• Virgin/EMI UK

These are just a few of the many subsidiaries UMG has.

Scandals/Controversies:

• Two days after Frank Ocean dropped his highly anticipated album Blonde on iTunes, Lucian Grainge, CEO of UMG, announced that the label giant would be stopping the practice of making exclusive distribution deals with streaming services. Grainge didn’t mince words, expressing anger and disappointment at artists and labels who practice exclusive releases. (source: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/aug/23/universal-streaming-exclusives-frank-ocean-release)
• YouTube allowed UMG to claim copyright takedowns on videos featuring music by UMG artists, even if the video fell under fair use protection. (source:https://www.publicknowledge.org/news-blog/blogs/universal-music-group-and-youtube-agree-to-forget-about-fair-use)

Major Artists:

• Ariana Grande (Pop)
• Lady Gaga (Pop)
• Taylor Swift (Pop)
• The 1975 (Alternative)
• ZEDD (EDM)
• Imagine Dragons (Pop Rock)

These are just a few of the many major record artists Universal and its many subsidiaries have signed to them.

Promo Campaigns:

An interesting thing I found out about Universal is that they encourage their artists to build brand partnerships and be part of ad campaigns. The label goes into more detail on their brand partnership website https://www.umgb.com/. Here are some of the campaigns UMG artists have been a part of.

• National Geographic and ZEDD “One Strange Rock”
• Top Man and James Bay
• Dubai Tourism and Imagine Dragons “Thunder”
• Make Up For Ever and Jessie J