The 10 Biggest Record Label Stories of 2024

Ah, Grammy week — always a time of calm, peace and zen, right? Heading into the year there were already rumors of layoffs and changes at the Universal Music Group, and then just days before the Grammys, the announcement came: The company was reorganizing its labels into two distinct divisions, essentially aligned along West Coast-East Coast lines: John Janick would head up the newly-formed Interscope Capitol Labels Group, overseeing Interscope, Geffen, Capitol, Motown, Priority, Verve and Blue Note; and Monte Lipman would expand his purview to encompass Republic, Def Jam, Island, Mercury and a centralized REPUBLIC Corps hub.

It was the biggest structural change for the label group in a decade — since the process of unwinding the Island Def Jam Group began in 2013 — and it had an extensive knock-on effect. Capitol Music Group chair/CEO Michelle Jubelirer and president Arjun Pulijal left the label, replaced by Tom March and Lillia Parsa; dozens of high-profile executives were laid off; and several others were shifted around in the new structure. The result effectively split UMG in two, each with commanding market shares well above 10%: At midyear, ICLG’s current market share sat at 13.54%, with Republic’s at 16.36%. 

“Led by the industry’s best creative visionaries — we will cultivate more repertoire sources, we will invest more in new artists and emerging genres, and UMG will become an even more attractive destination for the world’s most gifted artists,“ UMG chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge said in a memo at the time.

Of course, the big realignment wasn’t Universal’s only Grammy week surprise: Just two days prior, negotiations over a new licensing deal with TikTok officially fell apart, and the biggest label in the world and Gen Z’s favorite social media app officially went to war. The first blows were in the press: UMG accused TikTok of “trying to build a music-based business, without paying fair value for the music” and of being a “bully”; TikTok’s response labeled UMG’s take a “false narrative,” saying the label group “has put their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters.” The war of words was extensive and brutal.

The fallout was just as extensive. Between Universal’s own recordings and ones connected to its publishing division, more than 60% of the most popular songs in the country were affected by the ban and taken down from TikTok, including songs by artists not signed to UMG’s record labels due to publishing connections. Universal, broadly, was unaffected by the standoff, though individual artists and songwriters took a hit, and even UMG’s artists and songwriters started finding ways around the ban. 

Ultimately, as is often the case, Taylor Swift tipped the scales; ahead of the release of her mammoth Tortured Poets Department album, she and her music returned to TikTok, likely through a direct deal. Three weeks later, UMG and TikTok struck a new licensing agreement, and the standoff was done by May. That wasn’t the only scrap with TikTok this year, however — months later, the company “walked away” from licensing negotiations with indie digital rights society Merlin, instead choosing to negotiate directly with its independent members — a decision that likely stemmed from lessons learned from the UMG battle. That issue remains in play.

Island Records is one of the most iconic labels in the business, having been founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell and growing into the home of legends like Bob Marley, U2, Traffic, Cat Stevens, Grace Jones and, more recently, The Killers, Demi Lovato and Shawn Mendes. But the label had lately been on a cold streak, with a market share that had fallen steadily for the better part of a decade.

That changed in 2024, in a major way. Building on a run of success that began the year before, Sabrina Carpenter exploded into superstardom, with a No. 1 album, three top 10 singles and a sold-out arena tour that cemented her status. Almost simultaneously, Island also oversaw the breakout of Chappell Roan, who saw her 2023 album rise from the ashes to ultimately peak at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 this year, while her single “Good Luck, Babe!” reached No. 4 on the Hot 100 and her festival performances were so crowded that she broke an attendance record at Lollapalooza. The two later became the first labelmates in history to be nominated in all four Big Four Grammy categories in the same year.

So, yeah, not a bad year for Island Records. By the third quarter of 2024, its market share had grown more than 3.5 times over where it was in 2023. And now, with Gigi Perez’s “Sailor Song” climbing into the top 25 of the Hot 100, the label has another success story on its hands. Island’s time, for sure.

In truth, Warner Records’ breakout began last year, with Zach Bryan’s explosion onto the scene as a bonafide superstar. But in 2024, Warner proved that its steady artist-development process was no fluke, as Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things” and Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control” spent a combined 75 weeks in the top 10 of the Hot 100, becoming two of the biggest songs of the year and earning both Grammy nominations for best new artist. Meanwhile, Bryan’s star has continued to shine with another massive album, The Great American Bar Scene, released this year.

The headline milestone: At the midyear mark, Warner Records had all three of the top-streamed songs of the year to date by that point, the first time any label had achieved that in a decade. It’s not just a few songs here or there, either: Warner has boosted its current market share from 4.84% at the end of November 2022 to 5.96% at the end of November 2023 to 6.58% so far this year — surpassing Atlantic Records for the top slot at the Warner Music Group and climbing to third among all record labels. It’s been a genuinely great story for the label, which has also seen big success this year with Dua Lipa, Dasha and Michael Marcagi, among others.

Republic has been on an extended hot streak over the past few years, regularly posting a current market share total north of 10%. That’s not unheard of, as Atlantic and Interscope have also at times been in that territory, but it’s certainly not something that most labels have the capacity to aspire to, much less maintain. Republic’s market share is boosted by the fact that it encompasses a few other labels in addition to Republic Records — Island, Mercury, Big Loud and Cash Money — but even relative to three straight years finishing in double digits, its midyear mark was massive.

Boosted by Taylor Swift’s all-encompassing The Tortured Poets Department, as well as albums by Morgan Wallen and Ariana Grande and big singles by Swift, Wallen, Grande, Post Malone and Sabrina Carpenter, among many others, Republic posted a midyear current market share of 15.72%. That was higher than the entire Warner Music Group (15.68%), inclusive of Atlantic Records, Warner Records, 300 Entertainment, Elektra Records, ADA, Warner Latin, Warner Nashville and more. 

That share receded somewhat as the year went on, and WMG is tracking to comfortably beat Republic by year-end. But even a midyear stat like that was eye-opening for many reasons.

Ever since Robert Kyncl came in as the new CEO of the Warner Music Group in January 2023, he’s outlined a goal of positioning the label group to be able to take advantage of the growth opportunities and changes in the business that will come within the next 10 years. In 2024, that manifested itself in several major ways.

The first came in February, when WMG announced financial results that included its best quarter ever — as well as plans to reduce its headcount by 10%, or some 600 employees, and sell off its owned media properties.

But the biggest bombshell came in August when Kyncl announced a major executive restructuring, which included the departure of CEO of recorded music Max Lousada, the appointment of Julie Greenwald to chairman of Atlantic Music Group, and the reveal that 10K Projects founder Elliot Grainge would become the new CEO of Atlantic Music Group. Greenwald would announce her own departure days later, putting Grainge in charge of Atlantic with new leadership for the iconic label for the first time in 20 years — a seismic generational shift. The new, “flatter structure,” as Kyncl called it, also brought divisions such as Rhino, WMX and ADA directly under his purview.

The final piece of the puzzle came in September, as the Atlantic Music Group restructured ahead of Grainge’s ascension. As part of that, Elektra Records was effectively folded, while 10K Records and 300 Entertainment got new leadership and a slew of high-profile, long-serving executives left the company, including Kevin Liles, Michael Kyser, Paul Sinclair and Grace James. Grainge has since added to his executive ranks as he’s ramped up in his new role, but the generational change at Atlantic and Warner more broadly has been one of the biggest stories of the year by far.

Before this year, there had been 44 songs to spend at least 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 dating back to 1977, when Debby Boone’s “You Light Up My Life” became the first to hit the mark. One thing all of them had in common: major-label backing. 

So when Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” started making its way into double digits, and then showed no signs of slowing down atop the chart, it came with an added significance: The song was released by indie label EMPIRE, with no major label affiliation at all. By the time the song tied the record for most weeks ever at No. 1 on the Hot 100 — 19 so far, tied with Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” — it had made not just Hot 100 history but radio history as well, hitting the top 10 at four different formats and proving that Shaboozey wasn’t going to fit into any genre box. The story is not yet done — Shaboozey has six Grammy nominations, including best new artist and song of the year — but it already represents a massive achievement.

Some of the biggest artists of the past few years are stars who regularly make country music (Morgan Wallen, Zach Bryan), while some of the biggest artists in the world, who have a history of making music in other genres, have also released country albums this year (Beyoncé, Post Malone). Meanwhile, the song that just tied the record for longest-running No. 1 on the Hot 100, Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” is ostensibly a country record.

So it makes sense that the coastal record labels have gotten very interested in what on earth is going on down there in Nashville — and are looking to get in on the action. 2024 was a year in which coastal labels started making inroads in the typically insular Nashville community and artists started to look beyond country’s traditional borders. Bryan famously signed directly to Warner Records, instead of Warner Nashville; Jelly Roll and BMG partnered with Republic for his latest album; and Wallen’s Big Loud deal also goes through Republic. This year, more artists have also moved outside the traditional Tennessee label environs, including Warren Zeiders (Warner Records), Koe Wetzel (Columbia), BRELAND (Atlantic) and, more recently, Dasha (Warner Records) and Wyatt Flores (Island).

The result is a challenge to the established order that has caused some existential hand-wringing in Nashville as deal prices go up and interest does, too. The future is uncertain, but change is here.

Don’t call it distribution — no, really, don’t, since the leaders of just about every distribution company these days hate the word. That’s largely because distribution is no longer the art of getting product onto shelves (or streaming services) — it’s about services and support, flexibility and ownership and, increasingly this year, market share.

It’s also one of the biggest topics in the business, and increasingly where money is flying, both for artists — who are getting better deals and have more options than ever — and for the companies themselves, several of which are raising money or on the block. The majors are getting deeper into the space, too, with Sony’s The Orchard leading the way, Universal investing in Virgin Music and Warner looking into acquisition targets to boost ADA. Several individual labels also have their own distribution wings, often as a way of offering more flexible deals to artists. What has fueled this is the DIY independent distribution space, where volume is the game — and where questions are increasingly being asked around fraud, AI and responsibility.

It’s not that fraud on streaming services had been flying under the radar — the industry has been raising the alarm about fake streams, illegal claiming, AI-generated content and the flood of sludge being uploaded onto DSPs for a few years now. But 2024 was the year it spilled out into the open in a major, high-profile way, particularly in the year’s final months. 

The first major development arrived in September when the federal government indicted a North Carolina musician in a $10 million streaming fraud scam involving “hundreds of thousands” of AI-generated songs, a first-of-its-kind case that set off alarm bells in the industry. Then in October, the Merlin-TikTok feud boiled over, with TikTok claiming that its decision to walk away from licensing negotiations with the indie body was due to fraud being perpetrated by some of Merlin’s members.

And then came November, and with it two big bombshells: UMG sued TuneCore and its parent company Believe for $500 million, alleging that TuneCore engaged in “massive” copyright infringement by facilitating the upload of songs credited to artists like “Kendrik Laamar,” “Arriana Gramde” and “Jutin Biber,” among others. And then Drake, in a series of legal moves that continues to confound, alleged in court filings that UMG used bots and third parties to help artificially boost Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” during their high-profile beef. 

The conversation around fraud had been bubbling behind the scenes, but 2024 was the year it boiled over into the broader consciousness. Fraud’s 15 minutes are here — but the way things are going, that may turn out to be an understatement.