response 39 of 74:

Jan 7 01:10 UTC 2000

This is off the top of my head, with some references to the web.
There are now five multinational conglomerates who control 85% or 
more of all recorded music sales  (not just classical):
In approximate order of size, they are:

   Universal  (formed last year by merging MCA and Polygram)
   Time/Warner
   Sony       (historically, Columbia in the US)
   BMG        (historically, RCA in the US)
   EMI        (historically, Capitol for pop and Angel for classical in US)
 
Of the labels keesan mentions:
   Polygram controlled the Philips, London and Deutsche Gramophon 
       labels, so they are now part of Universal Music Group.
       I think all three labels are still active, though I'm not
       sure about Philips.   Mercury is also a part of the Universal
       conglomerate; Mercury dropped out of the business of 
       selling new recordings many years ago, so today the
       Mercury name is only used for their old reissues.
   Nonesuch is still an active division of Time/Warner.
   The "CBS Masterworks" label was retired when Sony bought Columbia.
       New issues are under the Sony name, and historical issues are 
       usually under Columbia.
   The RCA name is used for many BMG classical releases, both reissues
       and new items. 
   Angel and Seraphim were label names used by EMI; Seraphim was for 
       budget-priced reissues.  I'm pretty sure the Seraphim name is retired
       but I don't know about Angel.  New releases seem to be marketed 
       as "EMI Classical."
   I don't know what happened to Westminster.  I vaguely recall that
       ABC bought them, and then ABC's music operations ended up in MCA.
       Westminster used to have the funkiest LP covers.
   Musical Heritage Society, primarily a mail order operation, was still
       active as of a few years ago, but I have not seen any advertising
       from them recently.  "MusicMasters" was their label for retail
       store sales.  (Response above: maybe BMG bought them?)
   Vox is still putting CDs in store racks, but I don't know if they 
       are new recordings or just repackagings of old work.
   I never heard of Oryx before.

There are a lot of new small classical labels.  Harmonia Mundi, 
Hyperion and Chandos leap immediately to mind, and I'm sure there are 
lots more.