The Big Four record labels are the four major records labels. They are:
- Sony BMG
- Universal Music Group
- EMI
- Warner Music Group
Big Four labels/major record labels represent the majority of the music sold, making up as much as 75% of the music market or more depending on the year.
Ed Sheeran is the service's most streamed artist of all time, with a staggering 3bn streams to date and more than 59m listeners throughout 2015.
Long Tail Evolution
the concept of millions of markets selling hundreds rather than hundreds of markets selling millions. It’s also clear that although the Internet is a global technology, the localisation factor is paying dividends and search engines are working hard to provide local search. Niching and localisation go hand-in-hand; one of the best ways to niche a market is to localise.
Right now it’s a short tail. A handful of artists sell millions of records. They are heavily promoted by a handful of record companies that make millions of dollars.
The Internet is changing that. Music distribution has the potential to benefit from a long tail effect online. That’s a good thing for artists
In the future independent artists will be able to do what most successful small business Internet entrepreneurs do now – niche and localise their market. Most artists may not become multi-millionaires, but by marketing locally they will be able to establish a niche following. As search engines and content delivery methods become more and more individually tailored, localised and instantly delivered, services like iTunes will be like Amazon, offering a massive inventory of unsigned independent artists compared to the few thousand CD’s available at your local HMV. Distribution will be instantaneous with tracks downloaded and consumable on demand, taking instant gratification to a new level.
