Post 1: The UK Music Industry

The UK music scene is popular worldwide, some of the most well know UK artists are Ed Sheeran, Adele and Dave. The three major labels are:

1. Sony Music Entertainment

2. Universal Music Group

3. Warner Music Group

Sony Music has many subsidiaries:

Black Butter Records

Black Butter Records is a formerly independent record label based in London, England that releases various styles of electronic music. It was founded in 2010 by Olly Wood, Henry Village and Joe Gossa, with an investment of £5,000, and was named after a brand of condiments that had the same name. It was intended initially as an outlet for musicians who were signed to their artist management company, Stackhouse Management.

The label releases mostly singles,and has put out the first releases of artists including Clean Bandit, Rudimental, and Jessie Ware. It was awarded 'Best Small Label' at the 2012 Association of Independent Music Awards, and has been described as a "hub" of the British electronic music scene.

Columbia Records

Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded in 1887, evolving from the American Graphophone Company, the successor to the Volta Graphophone Company. Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in the recorded sound business, and the second major company to produce records. From 1961 to 1990, Columbia recordings were released outside North America under the name CBS Records to avoid confusion with EMI's Columbia Graphophone Company. Columbia is one of Sony Music's four flagship record labels, alongside former longtime rival RCA Records, as well as Arista Records and Epic Records.

Artists who have recorded for Columbia include AC/DC, Adele, Aerosmith, Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, George Michael, Frank Sinatra, Pharrell Williams, Paul McCartney and Joe Zawinul.

Insanity Records

Founeded in 2015, as a joint venture between Insanity Records and Sony Music Entertainment. With an independent approach to artist development, Insanity records has launched the careers of Craig David, Ambjaay, Yo Gotti and Tom Grennan. Insanity Music forms  the group of companies, includes artist management of music, television, radio, podcast and digital influncer clients. Insanity is led by Andy Varley. 

Legacy Recordings is an American record label that is a division of Sony Music. Formed in 1990 after Sony's acquisition of CBS Records, Legacy originally handled the archives of Sony Music-owned labels Columbia Records and Epic Records. In 2004, under the Sony BMG joint venture, the label began to manage the archives of RCA Records, J Records, Windham Hill Records, Arista, LaFace, Jive, and Buddah Records. Legacy Recordings now also handles Philadelphia International Records and the catalog of recordings produced by Phil Spector. Some famous artists are Aaliyah, TLC, Bob Marley, Adele, Justin Timberlake and Ciara.

Ministry of Sound is a global entertainment business, comprising recorded music.The label`s current roster comprised of Brit nominated group London Grammer. Some are notable artsist are Wretch 32, DJ Fresh, Ateez, Joey Badass, Solardo and Swizz Beats.    

The RCA Group UK is a flagship recording label of Sony Music Entertainment encompassing RCA records, RCA Victor, Space & Time Records and Chess Club Records. The company has existed since 1919 and pioneered very 1st 45rpm record. The label has a history littered with legendary artists from Elvis and David Bowie to Nina Simone and Diana Ross. UK artists on RCA include Little Mix, Paloma Faith, Olly Murs and NSG.  

Relentless Records is a British record label currently headed by co-founder Shabs Jobanputra. Originally known for UK garage singles such as Artful Dodger's "Re-Rewind" and B-15 Project's "Girls Like Us", Relentless has also published albums by Joss Stone, KT Tunstall, So Solid Crew and Cage the Elephant.Relentless Records was formally registered as a company on 1 December 1999. After first working with Virgin Records in 2003, the label was sold to it in 2009 (when Virgin was at that time a label of EMI Records).In January 2012 Relentless became part of Sony Music in the UK, reuniting Jobanputra with his former EMI/Virgin colleague Nick Gatfield. Recent signings include Bondax, Misha B, Misty Miller, The Other Tribe, Mausi, Roll Deep, Martin Solveig, Headie One, Chris Malinchak and Rude Kid. 

Launched in mid 2018, new label Since '93 is run by co-presidents Glyn Aikins and Riki Bleau. The Pair are set to capitlise and new era of entrepreneural artists, creating culture focused on developping grassroots talent into future global success. Some of there artists are Loski, Aitch and Fredo. 

Syco Music has offices in London and Los Angeles and is home to several artists. Syco has the exclusive right to sign winners and finalists of The X Factor and BGT. Susan Boyle's debut album, I Dreamed a Dream, has sold over 9 million copies, making it one of the bestselling releases of the last decade and Syco's most successful release to date. Between 2004 and 2009, Il Divo achieved four multi-million selling albums and in 2007, Leona Lewis became one of the most successful talent show winners when her second single, "Bleeding Love", propelled the album Spirit to 9 million global sales. In 2010, Syco began diversifying by adding producer/singer-songwriter Labrinth. Savan Kotecha, who had been writing for Syco acts for several years, also became an A&R Director and set up a joint venture, Kanani Songs. Syco also began forming closer partnerships with other Sony Music Entertainment UK labels. For the first time, Syco entered into an agreement with Columbia Records that would see them work together to launch the career of a The X Factor winner - Matt Cardle.

The official history and purpose of sony music is present above.