Music videos institutions are companies who help with producing and funding

music videos for their signed music artists. As an audience, we watch these
music videos nearly every day as we are intrigued to see what new music videos
are starting trends on YouTube. There are four main institutions dominating music
in the industry today. These institutions are known as The Big Four and they
are:

Universal Music Group largest of the four

Sony Music Entertainment the second largest
Warner Music Group the third largest
EMI Music Group Smallest of the four

All four are owned by Live Music, the largest music venue owner and promoter
which controls the live music industry. As well as promoting music, these
institutions also promote different forms of media that include film, magazine
and television. The big four companies have authority over a network of smaller
companies that go on to provide these forms of entertainment to target
audience.
Universal was funded in 1934 as DECCA records USA; it is classed as the worlds
largest music content company. The company developed in 1990 into MCA Music
Entertainment Group and then after 6 years, they made further development
which lead to what we know as UMG today. As there is a leading market in record
music, as well as music publishing and the merchandising, UMG both discovers
and develops recording artists and songwriters then going onto market and
promote their music. They market and promote through various formats and
platforms, YouTube, clothing lines and live shows are prime examples that
companies will use. Not only
that, UMG governs the
copyrights to musical
composition in order for them
to be used in public
performances, recordings,
films and advertising. They
have worked with many
successful artists such as Rihanna, Snow patrol and The Who. These are normally
situated in New York City, USA where the institution also managers a wide range
of labels including DECCA Records, Island Records and Def Jam Recordings.

Sony is a global recording company that claims a broad collection of both local
and international successes for instance Jimi Hendrix, The Fray and One Direction
is examples of these successes. Sony Music Entertainment is owned by Sony
Corporation of America after the Bertelsmann half of the joint business
enterprise. In 2008, the corporation was bought and was renamed to what it is
known as today. Headquarters in located in New York City, USA and is home to
numerous amount of labels including Epics Record, Roc Nation and Columbia
Records.

Warner is the next Big Four institutions.

Founded in 1958, Warner Music Group
was more commonly known as Warner
Bros Records and was later sold to
Seven Arts Productions in 1967. As the
companies were growing rapidly and
successfully, in 1972, the institution
renamed itself WEA Corp, which stood
for its three main labels Warner Bros,
Elektra and Atlantic. They built a strong
status within the industry during the
1970s and Warners gained its first
overseas bureaus in both Canada and
Australia in the same year. In 2004, they
resulted of becoming an independent
holder, and once again the company was
renamed to what its known as today. The same as the other two institutions,
their headquarters is based in New York City, USA, and also use similar
merchandising methods and management. It is also home to various record
labels including Asylum, Rhino and Sire; it has also assisted many artists that
have gone on to become very successful such as Green Day, Plan B and Estelle.

EMI was founded in 1931 as the Electric and Music Industries, EMI is the smallest
of The Big Four and unlike the other three, EMI is a British company which is
mainly based in London. The inventor of the
gramophone, Emile Berliner, found the
original companies behind EMI, and record
labels including Angel Records, Blue Note
Records and Virgin Records. Throughout
many years, they have also worked with
successful artists such as The Kooks, LCD
Sound system and Massive Attack. To this day, EMI are continuing to develop in
the music industry.

These institutions cover a variety of viewing methods and platforms to actually

promote its music video. This includes music channels such as 4Music or VIVA,
also coverage of entertainment news. However, as they keep making constant
developments in regard to the internet, its becoming commonly known for
consumers to view music videos online through sites such like YouTube as well as
the artists official site. Researching through institutions, I have found out that
they are more likely to watch music videos through a website like YouTube and
this is because it gives the product a chance to reach the vast and thriving user
community on YouTube through a branded site.