Record labels

   When it comes to the western music industry, there are 4 labels that stand over all the rest, commonly referred to as ''the majors''. These consist of:

Emi:


Sony music:


Universal:


And Warner bro's:


Major independent
   Within each of these are major independents, so called because, although they are independent, they are owned by the major companies above.  A few examples of this include:

RCA: Owned by Sony entertainment. RCA are the second oldest recording studio in the U.S, after Columbia, and is the oldest label in Canada. They are currently housing bands and singers such as Pitbull, ''Weird Al'' Yankovic and Shakira.



   Island: Owned by Universal. Island records claims to be one of the most prominent music records in the us, with 3 major branches in the US, UK, and Australia. the US roster has people such as Taio Cruz, The Vamps, while the UK roster has Nicki Minaj, U2 and Jessie J.

Independents;
    Independent studios are studios with little, if any connection to the major labels. They vastly differ in both size and services. While major studios will make billions every year and have many mainstream artists attached to them, independent labels will earn a fraction of that, with a handful of artists attached, few if any in the mainstream media.