Universal Music Group (UMG) is the largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry. With a 25.5% market share, it is one of the Big Four record labels. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Vivendi; Universal Studios, the movie studio, was sold in part to NBC, which itself is part of GE.
UMG's record labels have many of the world's biggest artists including Def Leppard, The Killers, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson, Gym Class Heroes, Enrique Iglesias, Oasis, Bon Jovi, Queens of the Stone Age, Falco, Elton John, Eminem, Tupac Shakur, Guns N' Roses, Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, Akon, Reba McEntire, Sheena Easton, Diana Ross,Barry White, Luciano Pavarotti, Rammstein, U2, the Black Eyed Peas, Nelly Furtado, Wu-Tang Clan, George Strait, Gwen Stefani, Grace Jones, The Mars Volta, Rihanna, Kanye West, Ashanti, Mims and Fergie. UMG now owns the largest music publishing business in the world, the Universal Music Publishing Group, (after their acquisition of BMG Music Publishing in June 2007).
Vivendi's headquarters are in Paris, France. In the United States, UMG is located in Santa Monica, California, and New York City, New York along with Universal Music Group Nashville; in the UK the group has a number of offices in London and Romford.
