Jamie Boon

Major and Minor Record Labels

Major Record Label: BMG BMG Rights Management is the youngest major international company in the music industry. BMG opened for business in October 2008 as a subsidiary of one of Europes biggest media companies. BMG Rights Management was founded in 2008 by Bertelsmann. Despite BMG being such a big record label, they have experienced some problems in the past. In 2004, BMG were experiencing declining sales of their music, which led to the merge with Sony Music to form Sony BMG this helped with the resurgence of BMG, as by 2006 they were the third largest music publisher worldwide. Bertelsmann then sold BMG Music Publishing to Vivendi in late 2006 to raise funds for a large repurchase of BMGs shares. BMG is a major record label and has established an international group of music companies that focus on the management of music rights. The companys head office is in Berlin but BMG also have regional offices in London, Paris, Madrid, Milan, Munich, New York, Nashville, Los Angeles, Stockholm, Dublin and Hilversum. BMGs aims for the future are to be a top three music publisher as they are behind their larger competitors. The ethos of BMG is that they give artists and writers more freedom than other record labels which can give artists and writers the impression that BMG are taking in their best interests. BMG is the fourth largest music publisher in the world based on revenue. Some of their artists include Backstreet Boys, The Black Eyed Peas, Gorillaz, The Rolling Stones and Kings of Leon. As a record label BMG specialise in the rock genre of music.

Minor Record Label: Rough Trade Records Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London, formed in 1978 by Geoff Travis. Cash flow problems and overtrading lead to bankruptcy however Travis managed to revive the label in the late 1990s and found success. Rough Trade Records was re-launched in 2000 as an independently owned entity. They were bought out by BMG in 2002 and were then sold in 2007 to the Beggars Group making them independent again. Some of Rough Trades artists include The Libertines, Babyshambles and The Strokes. Rough Trade specialise as a record label specialise in the indie rock genre of music however this hasnt always been the type of music that Rough Trade Records make. When Rough Trade were first starting up they signed artists that covered different genres such as reggae, punk and electronic. Rough Trade were the first record label to get an independent record to sell over 100,000 copies.