Independent hip hop labels consolidate into increasingly large music conglomerates

Evidence

In 2005, Jay-Z sold Roc-A-Fella to Def Jam and, as part of the deal, he became president and CEO of the historic hip hop label Def Jam. By then, Def Jam had been merged with the historic reggae label Island, the historic jazz and blues label Mercury, and more than a dozen others under the umbrella Island Def Jam Music Group, itself owned by Universal Music Group. — Andrew deWaard, Derivative Media, 333

Categorization

• XREF: The rolling-up of Roc-A-Fella into Def Jam into Universal exemplifies catalog/consolidation dynamics relevant to the reader’s part-one concerns about finance shaping music industries.