The largest entertainment company in the industry is Time Warner Entertainment Group, located in the United States, which owns the Warner Music Group. Warner Brothers Records began as an attempt to control music in the film industry during the 20’s.

WEA Inc.

Assets:

Three labels merged in the 1930's to form EMI, Columbia Graphophone, Gramaphone Company, and Parlophone. The company is based in the United Kingdom.

EMD (EMI Music Distribution)
HMV Group

Sony decided to create a software manufacturing and distribution system to complement its hardware manufacturing. With an agreement with CBS Records, Sony created the first manufacturer of compact discs in the United States.

Sony Distribution

The history of this Dutch entertainment holding company is long and complex. The company is 75% owned by Phillips Electronics N.V. Their biggest mergers and acquisitions have been with Polydor, Mercury Records, MGM Records, Phonogram, Island Records Group, A&M Records, R&B powerhouse Motown in 1993, and finally a 50% interest in Def Jam Records in 1994.

MCA began in New York in 1924 as a talent agency. Only after acquiring Universal Studios film facilities in 1959 did it move into publishing. The recording sector began by purchasing labels such as U.S. Decca, Coral, and Kapp in 1962. The Japanese Matshushita Electric Industrial Company purchased it in 1990, but Seagramn Company, Ltd. of Canada purchased 80% of Matsushita’s ownership in 1995.

This company began in Germany as part of the Bertelsman, A.G. corporation. By acquiring Aristan Records in 1979, the company took off in the United States and in 1986 the company bought RCA Victor from General Electric. Bertelsman owns television and radio stations around the world, film production and distribution, magazine publishing, book publishing, and newspapers- over 200 entertainment and publishing entities throughout the world.

BMG Music