Research: Institutions (music companies)

Introduction: What is an institution? Most, if not all popular artists/bands are signed

Media institutions are companies that help signed artists either new or old to produce and fund their music
videos. Just like signed artists, there are many different media institutions that are put into the popular pile. The media institution an artist is signed to is very important as it reflects whether the the artist will be successful or not, for example if an artist was signed to a popular and mainstream institution, its most likely for it to gain more views and become successful as the media institution is already known for its other previous successes. In comparison to an artist who could be signed to a less popular media institution that's not popularly known could face difficulties in promoting themselves. Without media institutions the audience would be unable to view music videos on YouTube and other media platforms and therefore a media institution is extremely vital to an artists success.

What are the four leading media institutions? - Characteristics of each institution and examples of bands/artists?

The four leading media institutions is EMI, Sony, Universal and Warner.

• EMI - EMI is one of the most popular, leading media institutions originally an acronym for Electrical and Musical Industries. Its a British multinational music, recording, publishing, electronics, device and systems manufacturing company. One of the worlds leading music companies and is internationally successful, they also own multiple record labels including Astralwerks, Blue Note, Capital, Capital Latin etc. In addition working with mainstream artists who are consistently in the public eye such as Katy Perry, Kylie Minogue, Tinie Tempah, Lilly Allen, Cold Play etc. Because of EMI success and popularity, they are able to serve their artists, consumers and partners all over the world.

• Sony - Sony is globally known and is one of the four most popular leading music industries. Founded in 2004. Sony music has a worldwide distribution for music artists who want to be well known globally meaning promoting the artists in other countries too offering the audience hip pop, country, classical, gospel, pop and rock archival recordings and labels. Sony music tends to work with global and internationally popular artists who have been in the public eye for a substantial amount of years, some of them since their teenage years. Artists signed with Sony are very popular and mainstream for example Micheal Jackson, Whitney Housten, Celine Dion, Will Smith, Beyonce, Calvin Harris, One Directionm Pitbull, Chris Brown, Britney Spears etc.

• Universal - Universal is the largest music corporation in the world and operates as the subsidiary of media conglomerate, Vivendi. They own a number of different record labels too such as Interscope records, Capital Records, Virgin records etc. Universal also tends to work with mainstream artists who are too constantly in the public eye. Artists signed with Universal include Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj, Mariah Carey, Taylor Swift, 50 Cent, Jessie J etc.

• Warner - Warner is also globally known but not as popular as the previous music companies I have already discussed. Record labels include Asylum, Alantic, Cordless, East West, Elektra, Sire, Roadrunner, Rykodiskm Reprise, Nonesuch and Warner Brothers. Warner tends to help aritsts achieve long term creative and financial success by providing consumers with the highest quality music content available. Warner works with a varity of artists each with own unique style and genre including dance, hip pop, holiday, pop, rock, alternative, americano etc. Artists signed with Warner include James Blunt, Ed Sheeran, Paramore, Wiz Khalifa, Bruno Mars, Clean Bandit etc.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, from my research I've learnt that all media institutions sign different artists despite them individually producing different genres of music. When I create my music video, I would choose Sony out of the four for my media institution as the are highly popular having access to worldwide distribution. As a result, my music video is more likely to become viral and globally viewed by various audiences also potentially increasing my fan base. Sony caters for different styles of music allowing me to choose from a wide range of genres when creating my music video. There are popular artists that I also personally like signed by Sony including Beyonce which have become so successful and recongnisable around the world due to their music videos being distributed by Sony to mass audiences. Therefore, having Sony as my media institution is yet a strategic move for me as it would gaurentee success and popularity for my music video as they are already popularly known for their other success with other artists.