Formerly part of Time Warner, the Warner Music Group was purchased in March 2004 by Edgar Bronfman, Jr. (former head of Universal before the studio and the label were sold to Vivendi) and a group of equity firms. It is now the world’s largest privately held independent music company, and it is home to a collection of the best-known record labels in the music industry including Asylum, Atlantic, Elektra, Lava, Maverick, Nonesuch, Reprise, Rhino, Sire, Warner Bros., and Word. Warner Music International, a leading company in national and international repertoire operates through 37 affiliates and numerous licensees in more than 50 countries. Warner Music Group also includes Warner-Chappell Music, one of the world’s leading music publishers, with a catalog of more than one million copyrights worldwide.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Warner Music Group is not an actual label, it is an umbrella company overseeing all of the Warner labels worldwide. Please use the applicable Warner label/imprint for new entries.

Note: Time Warner still has involvement—and, perhaps, some ownership—in Warner Music, since it does not license the trademarks it owns to Warner Music, unlike Hachette Book Group USA, which licenses the “W” logo shared by Time Warner and Warner Music for its Warner Books imprint, after it purchased Time Warner’s publishing division in 2006.