Universal Music Group (UMG)

Universal Music Group (UMG) is the world’s leading music company and is comprised of two core businesses: recorded music and music publishing.
It is also the world's leading music company representing 98% of the music market and has licensees in 77 countries. The company discovers, develops, markets and distributed recorded music through a network of subsidiaries.

Who owns the company?
The universal music group is owned by Vivendi.

Where is it based? In which countries does it have offices?
UMG’s corporate headquarters are located at 2220 Colorado Avenue, Santa Monica, New York. UMG has offices in over 40 different countires including: Greece, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Russia, Italy, Spain and Denmark.

Is it part of the same company as:
1) A music publishing group? UMG is part of a music publishing company called the Universal Music publishing group (UMPG). UMPG owns or administers more than 1 million copyrights and They are one of the largest music publishing businesses in the world with more than 47 offices in 41 countries.
2) A music distribution company?
In the U.S., Universal Music Group Distribution has been the industry market share leader for the past ten years and consists of four major divisions: Universal Music Distribution (UMD), Fontana, Vivendi Entertainment (VE), and UMGD Digital. Although in some markets outside the U.S., UMG companies handle their own distribution and sales.

Music Industry Research

How far do you think developments in technology have changed the way the music industry operates? Consider how new technologies have changed the relationship between audiences and artists

There have been a lot of technological changes throughout recent years which has changed the ways in which the music industry works. Looking back a few generations in the music industry shows how much technology has changed it all. The only way you could listen to music was by buying a song or an album. If you wanted to listen to the song without buying it then you would have to wait for it to play on the radio. Later on the cassette was introduced then CD's were introduced where you can play them at home on a CD player. CD's are still being used and brought today but has much more competition with the new way of purchasing music by downloading it from the internet either legally or paying for it.

With the use of new technology people can download music instantly from the internet. To listen to the music you can save the tracks onto an Mp3 player/ ipod or even on your mobile phone. This means music can be listened to on the go. The changes in technology have also increased in piracy within the music industry. Illegal downloads occur more no that new software and technology allows it too such as lime wire.