View a breakdown of the Big Four

Following is a breakdown of some of the record labels that are partially or fully owned by the four international conglomerates that control ninety percent of the music industry. This is only a brief sketch; it does not include the many record companies that were distributed through the Big Four (but not necessarily owned by one of them).

Legend:
* Indicates a label focusing primarily on hip hop
$ Indicates a joint venture/equity deal
~ Indicates a non-union-signatory label

I. WARNER MUSIC GROUP
[Fomerly AOL Time Warner]

4 AD
Antone¹s$~
Aquemini*$~
Asylum
Atlantic Records
Big Beat
Blackbird$~
Blitzz$~
Celtic Heartbeat~
Che~
Curb
Desert Storm*$~
Discovery
East West American
Elektra
Elementree$~
Fishkin$~
Flavor Unit*$~
Giant
Igloo~
John Dough
Kinetic$
Lava
Luaka Bop$
Mammoth$~
Maverick$
Nonesuch
Pyramid~
Qwest~
Reprise
Resound
Rhino$~
Sire
Slash
Sub Pop$~
The Music Label$~
Tommy Boy*$~
Top Dog*$~
Warner Brothers Records
Warner/Chappell Music Inc.

II. VIVENDI/UNIVERSAL

40 Acres and a Mule
A&M Records
Abkco Records
Aftermath*$
Almo
Antilles
Attic
Bloodline*$~
Blue
Capricorn
Cargo
CGI~
Cherry Entertainment$~
Chronicles
City of Angels$~
Decca
Def Jam*
Def Squad*$~
Deutsche Gramm.
DreamWorks
Eleven$~
Flawless*$~
Flip*~
Flyte Time$~
Fort Apache
Geffen Records
GTSP$~
H.O.L.A. Records$~
Hollywood Records
House of Blues
Imaginary Records~
Impact$
Interscope
Island Records
Kedar Entertainment$
L¹Oiseau
Lil¹ Man*~
Load$~
Mammoth$~
Margaritaville Records
MCA
Mercury
Mercury Nashville
Mercury/Curb*
MoJazz
Mojo$
Motown
Murder Inc.*$~
Narada
Nothing Records
Outpost$
Pallas$~
Philips Classics
Point Music
Polygram Latino
Pure
Radio Active$
Rebound
Rising Tide Entertainment
River North
Roadrunner$~
Roc-a-fella*$
Scratchie~
SpunOut*$~
Step Sun
The Label*$~
Timbaland¹s Beat Club*$~
Track Factory~
Trauma
Triloka
True North
Twism
Twisted$~
Underworld*$~
Universal Music
Uptown
Verve Group
Wing

III. EMI DISTRIBUTION

Angel Records
Anise~
Blue Moon
Blue Note
Capitol Records
Doggystyle Records*$~
EMI Christian~
EMI Latin~
EMI Records
Ensign$~
Global Pacific
I.R.S. Records
Java~
Jobete Music$~
Manhattan~
Mesa
Netwerk
Pangaea
Priority*$~
Roswell$~
Virgin Records

IV. SONY MUSIC

550 Music
American Recordings*$~
Aware*
Big Cat~
C2
Caviant
Chaos~
Columbia B¹way Masterworks
Columbia Nashville
Columbia Records
Crave$~
Creation~
Crescent Moon$~
Epic Records
Essential Classics
Facility
Flip$
Foodchain
Great Performances
Hall of Fame*$
Higher Ground
Hoppoh
Immortal$~
Independiente~
Jersey$~
Legacy
Lifestyle~
Loud*$~
Lucky Dog
Masterworks Heritage
MJJ~
Mosh~
Myrra~
New Deal~
Okeh
Ovum*$~
Roc-A-Block/Ruffhouse
Ruffhouse*$~
Ruthless*$~
SEON
Skint*$~
Slam Jamz
So So Def*$~
Sony Classical
Sony Discos
Sony Latin~
Sony Records
Sony Square~
Sony Tropical~
Sony Wonder
Soundtrax~
Stone Creek~
Trackmasters~
Tri-Star Music~
Undertainment*$~
Vivarte
Word*~
Work
Yab-Yum*$~

BERTELSMANN MUSIC GROUP
[BMG was formerly one of the “Big Five” but is now part of the Sony Music empire.]

Arista Records
Bad Boy Records*$
BMG Classics/RCA Victor
BMG US Latin
Flipmode*$~
J Records$
LaFace Records*$
Melisma Records$~
RCA Music Group
RLG Record Label Group Nashville
Time Bomb Records$
Wicklow Records$
Windham Hill Group$
Wyclef Records*$~
Zomba Group (eighteen labels)$~