Founded in 1912, Universal Music is a subsidiary of the French Vivendi Group, a world-renowned record company with the world's leading music content library and a reputation as a "record empire".
Universal Music Group (UMG) is the world's largest record label, belonging to the French Vivendi Group, with a 25.6% share of the world record market. Founded in 1912, Universal Music now has the world's largest library of music content, from classical to jazz to pop. Many famous music labels, such as Deutsche Grammophon, DECCA, Mercury Records, etc.; It has the world's three major tenors (Pavarotti, Domingo and Carreras) and world-class superstars such as Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Black Eyed Pea, Eminem, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, etc., as well as superstars in the Chinese music scene: Jacky Cheung, Zhang Huimei, Lin Yilian, Pan Weibo, Qu Wanting, Eason Chan, Zhang Liangying, Stefanie Sun, Liang Jingru, Zhao Chenhao, Zhao Chenguang (Global Heat Brothers), Wang Xinling, Rainie Yang, Luo Zhixiang, Alan Tam, Chen Huixian and others, the Chinese resource library also has Teresa Teng, Leslie Cheung, Faye Wong, Beyond and other collections.
History
Universal Music is the largest record label in the world today. The company was founded in 1912 as a division of Universal Pictures. In 1998, Universal Pictures acquired PolyGram, a company specializing in classical and pop music recordings, and merged to form today's Universal Music Group, which has become a huge "record empire" with subsidiaries in dozens of countries around the world to distribute various types of audio and video products.
Since 1998, Universal Music has been known as one of the world's top four record labels, along with Sony Records, EMI and Warner. In 2011, Universal Music bought the financially troubled EMI Records for 1.2 billion pounds (12.11 billion yuan), five times the price of another bidder, Warner Records. As a result, the pattern of the world record industry has officially shrunk from the "Big Four" to the "Big Three". After swallowing up rivals' assets, Universal's market share in most of the world's music markets is close to and above the ceiling set by local antitrust laws, and the Commission is concerned that the deal will give Universal's undue market power, drive up the price of music products, significantly worsen the licensing terms offered by EMI to digital platforms, reduce consumer choice, and reduce cultural diversity. Therefore, in order to make the acquisition pass the antitrust investigation of the EU and US regulators, Universal had to propose a series of rectification plans, and finally abandoned the famous brands Parlophone, Chrysalis, Ensign and Mute under EMI, while EMI Classics, EMI Classics, EMI Classics, two small jazz labels in Europe, and Sanctuary, a branch of Universal's original label, were also in the scope of being divested in the UK. Universal also abandoned EMI's operations in European countries such as France, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Norway, Poland, Portugal and Sweden.
In terms of specific tangible assets, Universal has acquired the Jazz label Blue Note owned by EMI, as well as its successor label Capitol and the famous Virgin Records. At the same time, Universal acquired the rights to the records of the greatest rock band, The Beatles, and British superstar Robbie Williams.
Universal Music has the rights to publish and distribute records by many world-famous artists and artistic groups, including the three tenors Pavarotti, Domingo and Carreras; pop singers such as Taylor Swift, Eminem, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Rihanna; Chinese singers include Jacky Cheung, Stefanie Sun, Liang Jingru, Eason Chan, Zhao Chenhao, Zhao Chenguang (Global Heat Brothers), Karen Mok, Wilber Poon, Zhang Liangying, etc.; classical musicians such as Horowitz, Pollini, Zimmerman, Argerich, Li Yundi, Wang Yujia, etc.; conductors Karajan, Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, etc.; Orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic, the Berliner Philharmonic, the Amsterdam Orchestra, etc.
