Actually, in the end, Sony owns most of the labels that Meat has associated with. Epic is a part of CBS, which is a part of the Sony family (BAT, DR, MATLAF); the RCA Music Group (RCA/Arista) was part of BMG, also swallowed by Sony (BA, and [in the UK] BBIS). That covers the first five albums. In addition, Sony also owns Mercury and the associated labels (which in the UK covers BAT III, and oddly enough Jim's label Ravenous).
So it's mainly a deal (at least where the U.S. is concerned) between Sony, Atlantic (which owns BBIS in the U.S.), and EMI (who owns Virgin). (In the UK, Atlantic, so far as I know, doesn't enter the picture because Arista owns BBIS there.) All three are big corporations, and therefore it's not easy to play office politics with these groups.
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