1. pg. 337-343 and 344-348 Team 1The Global Media Industry: Global Products and Centralized Ownership

2. Ownership “Ownership and control of production must be understood in order to understand the overall nature of mass media.” (C&H pg 343) Music stores carry an overwhelming amount of musical genres to choose from: classical, funk, new age, world, rap, swing, dance, country, house, gospel, ambient, bluegrass, electronica, fusion, jazz, pop, reggae, Latin, folk, rhythm and blues, and rock—each having subcategories. Through all the diversity, the reality is that there are just five megacorporations which dominate the popular music industry worldwide. “The ‘big five’ distribute 95% of all music carried by record stores in the U.S. and more than half of the music in Europe.” (C&H pg 344) That includes independent labels. “The ‘big five’ increasingly require an ownership share in the independent labels whose titles they distribute.” (C&H pg 344) “The ‘big five’ in music illustrate one of the central ironies in the globalization of mass media: While the distribution of media products has spread out across the globe, the ownership and control of media production are largely centralized in a few megacorporations usually composed of dozens, if not hundreds, of different companies.” (C&H pg 347-348) Do consumers realize this? …No.

4. 3 Social Relations Between institutions Within an institution Between institutions and individuals *agency interacts with the institution to develop culture and society. Institutions are structural Culture/society Agency

5. Between Institutions The music industry has a conversation with the government, the musicians, and the audience. Can be expressed as the macrosocial institution; the “big 5” music companies. “Things are not always as they appear. What music listeners see as being hundreds of different music labels are actually owned—all or in part—by just five major media corporations.” (C&H pg 345) “Big 5” companies: Bertelsmann Music Group (Germany), EMI Group (England), Sony Music Entertainment (Japan), Universal Music Group (France), and Warner Music Group (U.S) Even the big 5 is owned by a larger conglomerate: Warner Music is owned by AOL Time Warner (only U.S. company of music big 5), Bertelsmann Music Group, owner of the popular BMG music club, is a German company that owns RCA and Arista records in addition to houses, magazines, radio operations, book clubs, printing operations, internet sites, and newspapers. Sony (Japanese company) owns what used to be CBS records and is now Sony Music. Vivendi Universal (French company) that resulted from a takeover of Universal, a diversified entertainment conglomerate, by Viviendi, a company with a telecommunications base. Vivendi Universal owns the Universal Music Group. EMI used to be part of Thorn-EMI, which was spun off into a separate company. This is the only “big five” music company not owned by a larger conglomerate.

6. Within Institutions Between the big 5 music corporations and the labels they own. There is a control issue. The musician’s labels control the musicians, but the labels are being controlled by this larger corporation. This competition for control is articulation. As of 2001 Warner Music Group owned (select labels): on pg 347 143 Atco Atlantic Beggars Banquet Big Beat Black Culture Blanco y Negro Coliseum East/West Elektra Erato Finlandia FutureFlex Hi Kinetic Korova Lava London Matador Maverick Mesa/Bluemoon Nonesuch Oval Paisley Park Palomar Parrot Press Qwest Reprise Rhino Ruffnation Sire Slash Tag Teldec Tommy Boy Tribe Seville Spark Richmond Warner Brothers Warner Classics Warner Jazz Warner Brothers Nashville WEA

7. Between Institution and Individuals The individuals (agency) are the audience. The audience can express being on the microsocial level. Crossing Cultural Boundaries: “Globalization is not just about the technological innovations used to communicate over long distances. In addition, and perhaps more important, it also refers to the exchange and intermingling of cultures from different parts of the globe. The globalization of mass media, especially, refers to the content—the cultural products—available globally.” (C&H pg 340) The globalization of music has resulted in at least three developments: 1: “music that would not normally have traveled beyond a particular culture is now more readily available to different cultures.” (C&H pg 341) 2: “the exchange of musical elements between different cultures” (C&H pg 341) Ex: Afro-pop uses the electric guitars of Western roc and roll with melodies of traditional African music. 3: “a hybrid form of music that incorporates many different cultures in its new unique sound.” (C&H pg 341) The audience as well as the musicians interacting with the Big 5 music companies have created a new culture of music for our society, proving the 3 social relations diagram to be correct.

8. Connections… We can’t choose to be in this type of society because we were born into it. Like our presentations on the Matrix, our class realized there is no choosing to get out or stay in because we are already in it. We were born into the Big 5 Music companies taking over record labels, as well as “independent labels.” 5 major companies own the labels who own the musicians that are being listened to daily by us, the audience. Music corporations have for ages been far ahead of us. They know what the trends are, what trends are about to be next, and what will get their listeners to be hooked. They also have the ability to transform messages and symbolism into our subconscious and therefore become puppets to their own satisfaction. The media works with the corporations to share ideas, peg off of one another’s ideas, etc. The individual then eats up whatever it is that the media decides to feed us. It is a cycle that we are stuck in. Even when we choose to look past the popular songs and media we then become out of the loop and a part of the minority. In today’s world the industry knows all, and we have become the product.