September 16, 2004

4:34 AM

I'm giving a presentation on independent music and I'd like to sum up the practices of the five four major labels. To do so, I want to hand out a nice little visual of all the companies owned by these super-conglomerates. I remember seeing an excellent visual chart with all the branching labels and sublabels, but I've been searching and searching to no avail. Does anyone remember this site?
posted by themadjuggler to (9 comments total)

There's this one, but it seems a little confusing.
This is a UK version but it may be helpful
posted by FreezBoy at 5:39 AM on September 16, 2004

That's a great chart, FreezBoy, but....

All the material on the following pages is from MAXIMUMROCKNROLL #133 (June 1994). Given that it was written in 1994, much of the major label hierarchy referred to is no longer accurate...
posted by jpoulos at 5:43 AM on September 16, 2004

Ok how about this list copyright 2003.
posted by FreezBoy at 6:10 AM on September 16, 2004

The Nation had an exhaustive list of who the big ten media conglomerates owned but unfortunately the page has vanished. Thanks to archive.org you can see it here. MeFi discussion with some other good links here.

Also, the band Godspeed You! Black Emperor came up with a list of their own connecting the big four record labels to WMD. Take this one with a huge grain of salt.
posted by zsazsa at 6:22 AM on September 16, 2004

Actually, while the Big Ten html page is gone, it looks like they didn't delete the flash file...
posted by zsazsa at 6:24 AM on September 16, 2004

From PBS.
posted by dame at 6:34 AM on September 16, 2004

That PBS file looks pretty complete. If you wanted more information, or more up to date information, you should be able to find all you need in their annual reports, easily found on their websites under investor relations. A 2003 annual report will generally have been published in the Spring of 2004 so should be reasonably current.
posted by caddis at 6:57 AM on September 16, 2004

is this what you're looking for?
posted by andrew cooke at 9:03 AM on September 16, 2004

You guys are awesome. I think the British page was the one I saw, maybe I'll make my own little chart like the menacing octopus :)
posted by themadjuggler at 9:58 AM on September 17, 2004