Research into record labels - Miss Georgiou

Record labels

A record label is a large company within the music industry that could potentially own other smaller record labels. The purpose of these record labels is to pay for the production of music, and distribute the music produced by the artists that are signed to the label. The record label are responsible for the advertising, marketing and promotion of music.

Syco Entertainment

There are two different types of record labels, major labels of independent ones. An example of one of the major labels in the UK currently is Syco Records. Syco Records is a subsidiary company of Syco Entertainment, which was founded in 2002 by Simon Cowell and has since gone on to sign artists including One Direction, Leona Lewis, Little Mix, Olly Murs and Labrinth.

Syco Records focuses mainly on the production and marketing of music, films and television programmes. Syco music artists have been highly successful over the years, selling more than 2 million albums collectively and delivering more then 180 No. 1 records worldwide. In particular, One Directions worldwide success has not only strengthened Syco Records global exposure, but also their reputation as well. Furthermore, Syco records can be linked to several different aspects of the media. For starters, many of the artists signed to the label are found through television programmes including Britain's Got Talent and X Factor which Simon Cowell is closely associated with because he helps to direct and produce them. The best example of a band who started out through television is One Direction, who Simon Cowell put together on the show and signed after they were eliminated. Syco Records has also been associated with the film industry. For example, One Direction's "This Is Us" film was released in the UK in August 2013 which allowed fans of the band to get to know more about them and what they do when they're not on tour. The high sales from the film could help the label to appeal to more artists because it shows them that the label can be just as successful in the film industry as well as the music industry.

Virgin Records

Another example of one of the UK's major labels currently is Virgin Records, established in 1972 as an independent label, but has since gone on to be part of EMI, which is the third largest record labels in the world. Artists signed to EMI records include Bastille, Rihanna, Kanye West, Avicii, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, American Authors, Pixie Lott, The Vamps, Justin Bieber, Naughty Boy and many other well known artists. The Warner Music Group is the parent company of Virgin Records, which has subsidiary companies including The Gramophone Co. Ltd., Columbia Gramophone Company Ltd., and Parlophone Record Co. Ltd. Artists signed to these companies include Gabrielle Aplin, The Beatles, Queen and Tinie Tempah. It could be argued that part of the reason behind the success of Virgin Records is due to the fact that the EMI company owned some of the major shops associated with selling music, for example, HMV, which is the parent company to The Gramophone Company. The Virgin is a brand is a multinational conglomerate company that is probably best know for its airline services. Virgin subsidiary companies include Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Galactic and Virgin America. The company also has other links to the media, including television channels which can provide the audience with a different ways of listening to the music.

Parlophone Records

Another well know major record label in the UK is Parlophone Records, which was originally founded in Germany in 1896, however, the British section of the label was formed in 1923. In 1926, Parlophone merged with The Gramophone Company which later became EMI. In 2013, the company joined the Warner Music Group family, which is one of the largest and most well known music companies worldwide. In the early stages, Parlophone Records identified itself as one of the leading jazz labels, but nowadays the company produces a variety of modern music genres from the likes of Gabrielle Aplin, The Beatles, Lily Allen, Conor Maynard, Tinie Tempah and Pink Floyd. The Parlophone company is a subsidiary of the EMI record label, which is one of the most successful multinational recording and publishing companies in the UK. The EMI company worked alongside the BBC and ITV television channels during its earlier years, providing them with camera equipment, for example, the EMI 2001 colour television camera.

Independent

An independent record label is a music label that operates just one or only a few music labels, which means that it will be smaller than the major record labels such as EMI. However, independent record labels can be just as successful as the bigger labels, they just operate from a smaller company base and are known for offering more 'organic' music rather than that considered manufactured for the mainstream, the most popular being music from the pop genre. Similarly, independent labels also pays for the production of music, and markets and promotes the records produced by the artists who are signed to them, however they do not distribute the music directly, they often go through distributors or a major record company first. Examples of independent record labels in the UK include National Anthem, Abbey Records and Candid Records.

Cooking Vinyl

The first example of an independent UK record label is Cooking Vinyl, which was established in 1986 by Martin Goldschmidt and has since gone on to develop a reputation as one of Europe's prime artist-focused and artist friendly independent labels, which is what draws different artists into signing with them. Another attractive quality of Cooking  Vinyl is that the label offers innovation services-only deals which means they claim no stake in an artists' copyrights, therefore an artist has full control over what happens to their music once it has been produced. Artists signed to Cooking Vinyl include The Pretty Reckless, Marilyn Manson and The Prodigy, whose 'Invaders Must Die' became the UK's biggest selling independent record in 2009. Cooking Vinyl is responsible for the management of a production, and seeks to expose the sales and distribution for its artists music on a worldwide scale through the help of different booking agents. When the label was first established in 1986, Goldschmidt attended a folk festive and recorded a live performance of the song ' The Texas Campfire Tapes' by the singer Michelle Shocked. After releasing the song through the label, it went on to sell 250,000 copies worldwide, a success which created great exposure for the newly set up label. Cooking Vinyl was the first independent label in the UK to make a deal with the MP3 download site eMusic, which helped them to develop the ways in which the audience of their artists could listen to the music. The label also set up its own online distribution company, Uploader, but later sold it on to the independent Online Distribution Alliance (IODA). The Cooking Vinyl record label is a subsidiary of the Cooking Vinyl Group, and other subsidiary companies include CV America, Essential Music and Marketing, Cooking Vinyl Australia, Cooking Vinyl Publishing and DoubleCross Records.

Rough Trade Records

Another example of an independent UK record label is Rough Trade, which was established in 1978 by Geoff Travis and became known for its signing and selling of music from the punk genre. As well as being a record label, Rough Trade has also opened several shops around the country where people can go and socialise with other people who listen to the various genres of music that Rough Trade are associated with. The Rough Trade label prides itself on being imaginative, high quality and musically diverse. Artists signed to Rough Trade records include The Smiths, The Fall, Go Betweens and Arcade Fire. Although they may not be the most well known artists, Rough Trade Records takes the time to establish the audience that each artist will appeal to, and allows each artist the opportunity to produce their music in the way that they want to.

It could be argued that the major labels have worked hard for the success that they have. The Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, EMI Group and Sony/ATV Music Publishing and Warner Group were known as the "Big Four" majors. Any other labels that weren't part of the Big Four were referred to as independent labels. The majority of artists aim to be signed by one of the major labels, because there are many pros to working with them. For example, major labels have more money to spend on the promotional aspect of the industry, either of the music or the artist themselves through videos and photo shoots. Also, major labels tend to be much bigger than the independent labels and have more established connections that can be very beneficial to an artist. However, the independent record labels may find the fact that the music industry is dominated by four companies unfair because it means that artists may not take another look at the independent ones because they are not as well known. Although there are some pros of an artist being signed to an independent label, rather than a major one. For example, artists signed to a major label will have to fight for the attention of the label because they usually have a lot more artists signed to them, but there is only the one label, therefore the more successful artists may be of a higher priority than the newer ones, due to the fact that they will be more likely to make the label money. Also, major labels tend to have a high employee turnover, which may affect an artist in a negative way because if the person who liked the music that a specific artist was producing is laid off, the new person who replaces them may not be as interested, therefore the artist may suddenly find themselves not producing or selling much music. Another drawback are artist unfriendly deals, some of which can result in an artist having little flexibility within the industry and a loss of creative control. Furthermore, within major record labels the passion of the employees may be questionable because most people who work for the label will only be in the job for the money. From a music point of view, artists usually aim to have a major record label sign them to their label because of the money and connection advantages they would have when starting out in the industry. This will affect the industry because it will mean that there will be more competition between the artists to get signed to the major labels... there will also be competition between the artists who are already part of the label to gain the attention of the managers within the label, this is due to the fact that artists from within the same music genre want to be the best at what they do, which means selling more music than their competitors, and making a bigger name for themselves. Although it will be harder, it is possible for independent labels to be as successful and major labels due to the fact that they usually have less artists signed to them, therefore more attention can be given to selling an artist and their music that they do have signed to the label. Success is mostly judged by how well known an artist is, because an artist with more fans is more likely to sell a high amount of albums compared to an artist with a smaller following, and they will therefore make a larger overall profit. It could be argued that the music industry is very money orientated and that the major labels are seen as being more successful than independent labels because they make more money. Independent labels will offer artists a more genuine service because it is more likely that the major record labels will have more artists signed to them, therefore they will only have a limited amount of time to spend with each artists, and it is likely that they will be more interested in working with the artists who are higher up in the music industry, therefore newer artists are at risk of not being seen, and consequently not having their music produced. Furthermore, artists signed to an independent label are more likely to be encouraged to do what they want to do in regards to the type of music that they want to produce and the way in which they want to appear to their audience. This is due to the fact that, unlike the artists signed to major record labels, independent artists will not have to worry about fitting into the mainstream.

There are some drawbacks to the music industry being dominated by major record labels such as Sony BMG due to the fact that this label does not promote all styles of music genres, for example, they mainly focus on pop and rap artists such as One Direction and Tinie Tempah, due to the fact that these are two of the most popular genres of music, which will therefore mean that the label will be more likely to make more money from the sales because there are more people who listen to and will buy into these genres. This also means that independent labels, who usually promote indie and country artists which are not the most popular genres of music may miss out on the chance to reach a mainstream audience, due to the fact that the bigger labels do not promote these genres as being part of the mainstream. Furthermore, it could take an artist who starts out on YouTube several years to break through into the music industry, for example, Gabrielle Aplin and even then they are not guaranteed to. A reason for this could be due to the fact that they struggle to compete with artists who are represented by the major labels such as Syco records due to the fact that they will rely solely on their fan base to continue listening to and buy into the music that they produce, rather than having money given to them by the record label. Also, these artists will not make a lot of money, therefore it is harder for them to promote themselves within the music industry and attract an audience that they can target their music to. This also means that they cannot make expensive music videos, whereas the major labels and the artists that they represent, such as Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande are always in the media due to how popular they are and therefore how many people want to know more about them. Furthermore, a record label such as Sony BMG has a lot of money behind the label that can be used to promote their artists without having to worry about whether or not the artist is going to be a success within the industry.
The main ways in which the success of an independent label can be compared to that of a major label will be through analysing the sales of albums, records, tours and festivals for the artists that they represent within the label. Through these sales, the record labels will make money, therefore the higher the sales, the more money the label will make, and success is usually judged based on how rich a label is, as with this money they will be able to spend more on promoting their artists and creating expensive music videos for the audience to enjoy.
A benefit of an independent label is that they are more likely to take the time to get to the know the artists that they represent and the style of music that they produce. They often create artists that they believe an audience will want to listen to, instead of seeking to change an artist in order to help them to fit into the mainstream. Major labels, on the other hand, primarily care about how much money their artists are making them, therefore if an artist is not as popular as they were expecting them to be, and is not making the label enough money, they will easily drop them from the label, for example, the Sex Pistols were dropped by both EMI and A&M, to then go on to be picked up by Virgin records.