Major record companies started appearing in around 1929 with the introduction of Music Publishers Holding Company (MPHC), Decca Records and Hollandsche Decca Distributie (HDD). HDD has changed name and ownership several times since its formation and merged with Universal Music Group in 1998 when it was known as Polygram. MPHC has changed name once, in 2003 and is now known as Warner Music Group. Decca Records is now known as Universal Music Group, and EMI (introduced in 1931) has remained the same since its creation. Sony Music was introduced in 1987 and joined with BMG music (Bertelsmann Music Group) in 2004 to create Sony BMG. This then became Sony Music Entertainment in 2008. Universal Music Group, EMI and Sony Music Entertainment are the four biggest music companies (although EMI is likely to be merged into Universal Music group soon) and between them own a large number of smaller record labels and thousands of artists.
It is interesting to note that two of the music companies are also film companies and owned by large multinational conglomerates – Sony Corporation and Vivendi. Warner Music Group was split off from Time Warner in 2004 and made completely independent.
Universal music group is one of the largest music content companies in the world and owns 10s of record labels including:
• Interscope Geffen A&M
• The Island Def Jam Music Group
• Universal Republic Music Records
• Universal Music Group Nashville
• Decca Label Group
• The Verve Music Group
• Show Dog - Universal Music
• Universal Music Enterprises
• Universal Latin Entertainment
• A&M/Octone
These are only the US Labels it owns. Outside of the US it has holdings in various countries including China, Brazil, Denmark, Italy, the UK and 31 other countries.
Fever Ray is signed to Rabid Records, which is an independent Swedish Record Label, founded by the band Honey Is Cool. I explain this in greater detail in an earlier post.
Rabid Records Logo
