What are the ‘Big Three’ record companies?
Once upon a time, in that mythical age of rebellion ushered in by civil rights and punk rock, and defined by the collapse of the post-war political consensus, being signed to an independent record label was par for the course among whole swathes of mainstream music innovators. So normal, in fact, that there wasn’t any great need to stress the fact that you were indie.
The term “indie rock” was years away from entering popular parlance. Artists on independent and major labels existed side-by-side, both aiming middle fingers at the establishment with carefree abandon.
Seminal punk bands the Sex Pistols and The Clash are a case in point, with the former releasing their output on Virgin Records, which was at that time a nascent indie label, and the latter signed to major industry player CBS. Both of them released songs attacking music monopolies – the Sex Pistols’ track ‘EMI’ and The Clash’s assault on their own label ‘Complete Control’ – which were equally legitimate and
Yes, there were the ‘Big Six’ and their subsidiaries, massive companies that had consolidated their control of the market since the advent of mass music distribution in the 1930s. CBS was one of them, as was EMI, classical specialist RCA, and the conglomerate Polygram, which originated with Rolling Stones label Decca Records and the Dutch electronic company Philips.
But even they took a punt on revolutionary underground musicians, as the CBS precursor Columbia Records did with Bob Dylan, EMI did with acid rockers Pink Floyd in the mid-1960s, and Warner subsidiary Atlantic did on disco concept band Chic in 1977. Independent labels like Elektra Records with the Doors and Detroit proto-punk outfits MC5 and The Stooges, new-wave pioneers Factory Records and London’s Rough Trade still took risks and drove musical movements in ways the big fish couldn’t. The delineation was far from clear-cut, though. Even the Velvet Underground and David Bowie were signed to major company labels from the beginning.
So, how did the Big Three take over?
Sadly, this balance between the major and indie labels couldn’t last. The 1990s saw the commercialisation of music on a whole new scale, with the advent of MTV a decade earlier giving the Big Six an additional channel through which they could control music consumption.
The transformation of the post-war economic situation in the Western world also threatened the entire underground music ecosystem. The subsided art colleges that had been breeding grounds for free-thinking musical rebels became inaccessible to working class kids, the social safety net on which unsigned musicians subsisted was whittled down to the bone, thousands of small music venues and record stores went under, and the minor labels themselves struggled to stay afloat. That is, if they refused to be bought out by a major.
Manufactured pop acts began to take over the charts, and the phenomenon of arena tours established in the 1970s became the aspiration of every successful rock outfit. The major record companies drove much of this process, and benefited from it like nothing before.
When they were done taking over as many indies as they could and eating up as much of their market share as they could manage, they began swallowing each other. Universal Music Group took over Polygram in 1999, before Sony merged with BMG. When Universal bought out EMI in 2012, only three remained.
Universal, Sony and Warner now account for a whopping 70% of recorded music revenues worldwide. They control the entire business, from what songs Spotify promotes to the artists headlining big festivals and who wins a Grammy. Independent labels really are the outliers, and the artists signed to them are flying the flag for freedom from corporate domination.
