THE MUSIC INDUSTRY

THE BIG THREE

The three major record labels, often referred to as The big three consists

of Sony BMG, Universal Music Group and Warner music group. These labels
represent the majority of the music sold, making up as much as 80% of the
music market or more depending on the year. Artists who are signed to a
major record label are either signed to the central label or signed to a
subsidiary of the label. For instance, a band may be signed to Sony, or they
may be signed to the Sony subsidiary label Columbia Records. These
subsidiary labels have their own staff, sign their own artists and make most
of their own financial decisions. However, they are answerable to the
"main" company, who sets their overall budget and makes decisions like
reducing staff at the subsidiary.

The Facts
From this chart
you can see
how much
money the
music industry
as a whole has
been
generating over
the course of 10
years. Despite
how big the
music industry
is nowadays the
total revenue
has unusually
decreased but
as of 2014
started to rise
again by 3.2%.

MUSIC ARTISTS
In 2015, Forbes released facts stating the highest paid musicians in the music industry with some making up to

$135 million. Below you can see a list of the top ten and how much they have made. Being popular and positively
portrayed within the media is undeniably essential for music artist and they can arguably do this independently,
without a record label however it may prove difficult. Katy Perry, the highest paid musician of 2015 signed a
recording contract with Capitol Records in April 2007 which arguably helped her get to where she is now.

Katy Perry $135m

One Direction $130m

Garth Brooks $90m

Taylor Swift

$80m

The Eagles

$73.5m

Calvin Harris $66m

Justin Timberlake $63.5m

Diddy

$60m

Fleetwood Mac

$59.5m

10 Lady Gaga$59m

MUSIC VIDEOS
Music videos are what makes the video, they tell the story behind the lyrics

and due to a proliferation or hardware over the years and an advance in

technology it has become increasingly easier to stream music videos from
gadgets like phones and TVs to computers. One of the most popular free
sites to watch the videos is YouTube with millions of daily users. With the
introduction of multiple new social media apps and sites in recent years it
has become one of the biggest and free ways to advertise music videos. It
is something used by a wide demographic of all different ages and helped
videos like Fifth Harmony Work From Home rack up over 590 million
views in 2016. There are many things that contribute towards the success
of a music video which consist of the four key micro elements.