You Want to be Like These Guys

Chris Jones
Mr. Jenkins
Honors Eng 11
3 April 2009
You Want to be Like These Guys
Virgin Records is a rather large, small branch of the Virgin Group. Virgin Records is one of the biggest, well known, and profitable labels in the business. Virgin Records has signed the likes of The Sex Pistols, Rolling Stones, and Janet Jackson to name a few. The record label was started by super billionaire Richard Branson and he has built it up to what it is today. Of course, music is not all they do, since they are one of the big guns of the record producing industry.
Virgin Records was founded in 1973 and eventually became known as the Virgin Group. Many view The Sex Pistols as the first big artist to sign on with the company in 1977. Once things got rolling and more and more money came in, founder and CEO Richard Branson wanted to expand from being solely a music label to more broad endeavors. Thus, Virgin Group was formed. Opening up into over 200 different privately held companies, Virgin group not only consists of Virgin Records, but also, an airline, a soda company, a radio station, and even a railroad operation to name a few. The point I’m trying to make is that when you start a record label, ultimately you want to be like Virgin, and expand into other fields. Becoming a part of more than just the music business allows you to bring oodles of cash to throw at whomever you wish to keep your Label on "cloud 9." Yep, that’s how the big boys do it. Virgin group turns profits in the billions and funnels a lot to the record label, and of course its now billionaire founder, Richard Branson. When asked about his business philosophy, Branson replies, "Virgin is about doing things that really work, not just looking the part.....and making the whole process as fun as it can be." SOURCE: Virgin Group. 3 April 2009. http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Virgin-Group-Company-History.html