Universal Music Group

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Universal Music Group
TypeSubsidiary of Vivendi
Founded1934 (as Decca Records USA)
1990 (MCA Music Entertainment Group formed)
1996 (first UMG incarnation)
1998 (second UMG incarnation)
HeadquartersSanta Monica, California and Broadway, New York, United States
Key peopleDoug Morris: CEO
Lucian Grainge: Chairman and CEO UMG International
IndustryMusic entertainment
RevenueImage:Red Arrow Down.svg€4.989 billion (2005)
Net incomeImage:Green Arrow Up Darker.svg€480 million (2005)
ParentImage:Flag of France.svg Vivendi
Websitehttp://www.universalmusic.com

Universal Music Group (UMG) is the largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry. With a 25.5% market share, it is one of the Big Four record labels. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Vivendi.

UMG's record labels have many of the world's biggest artists[1] including The Killers, Enrique Iglesias, Tupac Shakur, Oasis, Bon Jovi, Falco, Elton John, Eminem, Guns N' Roses, Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, Reba McEntire, Diana Ross, Luciano Pavarotti, Rammstein, U2, the Black Eyed Peas, Nelly Furtado, Wu-Tang Clan, George Strait, Gwen Stefani, and Grace Jones. UMG now owns the largest music publishing business in the world, the Universal Music Publishing Group, (after their acquisition of BMG Music Publishing in June 2007).

In the United States, UMG is located in Santa Monica, California, and New York City, New York along with Universal Music Group Nashville; in the UK the group has a number of offices in London and Romford. Vivendi's headquarters are in Paris, France.

Contents

[edit] History

For history prior to 1996, see MCA Records.

"Universal Music" was once the music company attached to film studio Universal Pictures. Its origins go back to the formation of the American branch of Decca Records in 1934. MCA bought American Decca in 1962. The present organization was formed when its parent company Seagram purchased PolyGram and merged it with Universal Music Group in 1998. However, the name first appeared in 1996 when MCA Music Entertainment was renamed Universal Music Group.

With the 2004 acquisition of Vivendi's Vivendi Universal Entertainment by General Electric's NBC, Universal Music Group was separated entirely from its film studio namesake for the first time.

In February 2006, the group became 100% owned by French media conglomerate Vivendi SA when Vivendi purchased the last 20% from Matsushita, the group's sole owner from 1990 to 1995 and co-owner from 1995 to 2006.

On September 6 2006 it was announced that Universal Music will purchase BMG Music Publishing (to become Universal Music Publishing Group), for €1.63 billion ($2.1 billion), subject to regulatory approval.[2]

[edit] Labels

Universal Music Group owns, or has a joint share in, a large number of record labels, including:

[edit] Interscope-Geffen-A&M

[edit] The Island Def Jam Music Group

[edit] Machete Music

[edit] Sanctuary Records

  • Antidote Records
  • Attack Records
  • Castle Home Video
  • Castle Music
  • Castle Pie
  • Castle Pulse
  • Castle Select
  • Discotheque
  • Fantastic Plastic
  • Indigo
  • Mayan Records
  • Metal-is Records
  • Noise Records
  • RAS Records
  • Rough Trade Records
  • Rough Trade Records U.S.
  • Sanctuary Records U.S.
  • Sanctuary Records UK
  • Sanctuary Classics
  • Sanctuary Special Editions
  • Sanctuary Visual Entertainment
  • Sequel
  • Slogan
  • Trojan Records
  • Vapor Records
  • Vertical Records

[edit] The Universal Motown/Universal Republic Group

[edit] Universal Music Classics Group

[edit] Universal Music Group Nashville

[edit] Verve Records

[edit] Stand-alone labels

[edit] Independent labels distributed by Universal Music Group

[edit] Labels outside of the U.S.

  • Avex Trax
  • Decca Records
  • Def Jam Recordings UK
  • Deutsche Grammophon
  • Island Records Group UK
  • Jazz Echo (Germany)
  • Jazzland Records (Norway)

[edit] Controversy

[edit] Payola

In May 2006, an investigation led by New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer concluded with a determination that Universal bribed radio stations to play songs from Ashlee Simpson, Brian McKnight, Big Tymers, Lindsay Lohan and other performers working for Universal labels. The company paid $12 million to the state in settlement. [3]

[edit] Nokia - Comes with music

On November 4, 2007 Nokia announced that it had made a contract with Universal about a revolutionary program that enables people to buy a Nokia device with a year of unlimited access to millions of tracks from a range of great artists - past, present and future. Once the year is complete, customers can keep all their music without having to worry about it disappearing when their subscription is over. The downloaded tracks will have substantial limitations, according to information released by the companies. The downloads can only be played on the Nokia device and PC, and not an iPod.

[edit] iTunes

On July 2, 2007, the New York Times reported that Universal would not be renewing its contract with Apple allowing the sale of its artists on iTunes. Instead, Universal was reported to be seeking an "at will" contract instead of an annual one, allowing it to pull its music from iTunes at will. [4] This report has been denied by Apple, who says they are "still negotiating" with Universal. [5] Universal has since stated publicly that they will not sign a new long term contract with Apple, preferring to go month by month instead. [6] Also, they announced on August 9, 2007, that they would sell DRM-free music through a variety of online vendors, including the newly-created gBox, but not including the iTunes Store.[7]

[edit] Pay-per-listen innovation

In September 2007, Universal came up with an innovative way of tackling music piracy by "paying the pirates", beginning with tracks from will.i.am (will.i.am Music Group). If the pilot scheme is a success it is likely to be rolled out for Universal's entire music portfolio.[8]

[edit] MySpace.com

In December 2007, pop sensation Colbie Caillat involuntarily announced that The Universal Music Group recently enacted a new policy on MySpace.com that will reduce all songs from artists within The Universal Music Group to 90 seconds. [1]

[edit] imeem.com

In December 2007 The Label announced a deal with imeem which allows users of the social network to listen to any track from Universal's catalogue for free with a portion of the advertising generated by the music being shared with the record label[9]. Two weeks after the deal was announced Michael Robertson speculated on the secret terms of the deal and argued that ultimately this was a bad deal for imeem. This speculation lead to a flame war on the Pho digital media email list as imeem representatives denied his claims and dismissed his theories as unfounded.[10]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Universal Music Group - Artists
  2. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5319050.stm
  3. ^ Garrity, Brian (2006-05-11). UMG Settles With Spitzer. Mediaweek. Retrieved on 2006-07-05.
  4. ^ Leeds, Jeff (2007-07-02). Universal in Dispute With Apple Over iTunes. New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-07-03.
  5. ^ Lee, Ellen (2007-07-02). Apple denies big record label may quit iTunes. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved on 2007-07-03.
  6. ^ Starrett, Charles (2007-07-05). Universal confirms iTunes non-renewal. iLounge.com. Retrieved on 2007-07-05.
  7. ^ Aughton, Simon (2007-08-13). gBox - Not Google - has DRM-free Universal deal. PC Pro. Retrieved on 2007-08-13.
  8. ^ Pay-per-listen innovation from Black Eyed Peas man (thelondonpaper)
  9. ^ http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gqp7ASUPylhmS0K0wIrttzm3Kn8gD8TECHJG0
  10. ^ http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/daily-brief/2007/12/21/digital-music-war-gets-dirtier

[edit] External links

 v • d • e Vivendi
Directors: Jean-René Fourtou | Henri Lachmann | Claude Bébéar | Gérard Brémond | Fernando Falcó y Fernández de Córdova | Sarah Franck | Gabriel Hawawini | Patrick Kron | Andrzej Olechowski | Pierre Rodocanachi | Karel Van Miert
Canal+ Group: Canal+ | CanalSat | StudioCanal
Maroc Telecom: Maroc Telecom | Gabon Telecom | Menara, Maroc Telecom | Mauritel | Onatel
SFR: SFR
Universal Music Group: Universal Music Publishing Group | Interscope-Geffen-A&M | The Universal Motown/Universal Republic Group | The Island Def Jam Music Group | Universal Music Classics Group | Universal Music Group Nashville | Verve Music Group | Machete Music | Sanctuary Records
Activision Blizzard: Blizzard Entertainment | Sierra Entertainment | Activision
Other assets: NBC Universal (20%) | Neuf Cegetel (35%)

Employees: 34,031 (2005) · Stock Symbol: (Euronext: VIV) · Website: www.vivendi.com

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