Major vs Minor

Major vs. Minor

Vertical Integration - The absorption a single firm of several firms involved in all aspects of a product’s manufacture from raw materials to distribution.

Which subsidiary labels do Sony BMG own?
Sony BMG also own Arista Records, Columbia Records, Epic Records, J Records, Jive Records, RCA Victor Records, RCA Records, Legacy Recordings and Sonic Wave America.

How are Sony vertically integrated (how do they profit from the different stages of music production, distribution, and consumption)?
Sony own the rights to the artist’s music, who are signed with them, so they get a percentage of the artists earnings from the amount of records they sell. They also sell the music to the listeners through CD sales and legal music downloading, and despite the problems with illegal downloads they still make a huge amount. Then their profit from distribution, is made from the public, who purchase music from places like itunes and records stores like HMV. Then finally consumption is made by the wide range of places the public hear the music from single tracks on the radio.

How do Sony profit from media convergence at the level of the media product (for example, a film soundtrack or music in a videogame)?
Sony distributes the music they make not only through radio but it is distributed amongst other platforms like in video games and their target audience for this would mostly be teenage boys who spend more time on games than downloading or listening to music. This means that they choose what kind of genre of music they put in a film like a pop song in a Rom-com or a hip-hop song in a crime thriller.