Warner Music Group (WMG) - Industry research

Warner Music Group (WMG)
History:
Founded in 1958, Warner Music Group is a company that contains numerous subsidiaries and labels that assign artists and bands to help them create music to release to the general population and make money off it. It has gone over numerous name changes (WMG as of 2001) as new labels have been bought and absorbed i.e. Atlantic Records and has become one of the biggest record label conglomerates in the music industry (3rd largest), becoming part of the "Big 3" which includes Sony BMG and Universal Music Group. It employs over 3500 people whilst operating in over 50 countries providing world-class arrays of services to help artists / bands and labels to grow their careers/businesses.
Values:

This image was taken from their investors page on their code of conduct

This outlines their brand values and what they aspire to achieve in the day-to-day working time. it shows that they put their artist first before the money to give a good impressions as well as a comfortable atmosphere for the artist to create in.

Subsidiaries assigned to WMG and the artists and types of music created there:

• Asylum - Mainstream music such as pop and rap. Features artists such as Ed Sheeran, Rudimental and Charli XCX
• Atlantic Records - One of the most iconic mainstream music creators. Features stars like Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran, Wiz Khalifa, Cardi B and Led Zepplin. Offers a wide range of music genres
• Big Beat - Mainly Electronic dance music but also has creeped into the pop music genre. Features artists like Skrillex, Clean Bandit, Knife Party and Galantis
• CanvasBack - Mainly a Rock company. Features Alt-J, Grouplove and the Orwells
• EastWest - Features a diverse selection of genres and artists such as Missy Elliot, Pantera, Simply red and the Kingsmen
• Elektra - Another Diverse subsidary of WMG featuring likes of Missy Elliot, Kaleo, The Flame and Saint Motel
• Erato - Mainly French based. Likes of Maxim Vengerov and Daniel Barenboim
• Full Frequency Range Recordings - Dance music label. Features Orbital, Salt 'n' Pepa, Lil louis and All Saints
• FUELED by Ramen - Mainly Punk inspired rock/pop bands. Features Panic! at the disco and Twenty one pilots
• NoneSuch - A classical label featuring The Black Keys and Kronos Quartet
• Parlophone - Variety famous label featuring David Guetta, Lily Allen, Kylie Minogue and Coldplay
• Reprise records - Diverse array of artists such as Niel Young and Micheal Buble
• Rhino - An expanding catalog music company featuring Greatful Dead and Frank Sinatra
• Roadrunner Records - Another diverse array of artists featuring Slipknot, Rush and Theory of a Deadman
• Sire - Cutting edge modern music label featuring Delta Rae and Ben Fields
• Warner classics - Classical music label featuring Emmanuel Pahud
• Warner Music Nashville - Country label featuring Ashley Monroe, Randy Travis and Cole Swindell
• Warner records - "Beacon of artistic freedom and creative expression for the past six decades." Produced some of the most culturally influential and innovative music. Features artists such as Dua Lipa, Jason Derulo. Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Linkin Park 

Parlophone, Sire, Reprise Records and Warner Records on connections they may have to the protest song genre or anti-mainstream Content:

• Parlophone - Has anti-mainstream content such as Queen, The Beatles, John Lennon, Coldplay, Dinosaur Pile-up which are all Rock brands/artists, Dirty Vegans (House Music) and lasse Lindh (Swedish indie pop)
• Sire - Connection to "Cop Killer" protest song by Body Count (Sire was the publisher) about a character who is fed up about Police Brutality. This received a lot of mixed reactions, however most were negative, and the album was later re-released without the song and the song was given away as a free single. also features anti-mainstream content such as The Beatmasters (electronic music group), Battle (indie rock band) and Madness (British Ska band)
• Reprise records - Connection to "If i had a hammer" cover by Trini Lopez in 1963 (Reprise records was the label) in support of the progressive movement in 1949 from the original song "Hammer song" by The Weavers. Features anti-mainstream content from American Bang (rock band), Disturbed (Heavy Metal band) and Green Day (american rock band)
• Warner records - Connection to Neil Innes "Protest song" in 1978. Also features anti-mainstream content such as The Head and the Heart (american indie folk band), J Balvin (Colombian reggaeton singer) and Muse (Rock band)

Warner Records Mainstream v Anti-mainstream:

Dua Lipa - Break My Heart:
Warner Records offer its fair share of mainstream content of pop/rap to retain its audience with well known faces. This is where Conglomerates such as Warner Records would be making the majority of their money as well as the artists/bands would make the most money here too as the genre is so popular and recognisable

The Head and the Heart - All we ever knew:
Anti-mainstream content featuring a indie folk band from Warner Records to counter the Dominant pop/rap genres and to diversify and offer a variety of music for its audience as well as broad its range of artists/bands. Can be considered niche as indie folk is one of the lesser heard genres so that Warner Records has a wide range of genres to expand on and offer.