Research into record labels - Miss Georgiou

Records Labels come under two main identifiers in the music industry:

1) Major Record Labels, These are large companies within the industry that own smaller record labels. The Music world is overrun by these three major record labels which includes the following.

The major labels that operate in the UK at this given time are, Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group.

Universal Music Group own artists such as Bastille, Elbow, Ellie Goulding, Elton John , Emeli Sande, Fall Out Boy, Fat Boy Slim, Florence + The Machine, Iggy Azalea, Imagine Dragons, Jake Bugg, Kaiser Chiefs, Kate Perry, Ne-Yo, One Republic, Sam Smith, Taylor Swift, 50 Cent.
They also own small record labels such as Interscope Records, Island Records, Def Jam Recordings, Polydor Records and Capitol Records. This Major Record label co-developed Vevo, which is a website alike YouTube which streams music videos only. Videos are free to watch but there are adverts so the company can make a further profit.

Sony Music Entertainment own artists such as Miley Cyrus, Faith, Williams, Daft Punk, Olly Murs, Tine Tempah, 1D. They own smaller record labels such as Columbia Records, Ultra recordings and Epic Records. Sony is a wide platform company as they cover areas such as television, film, mobile phones and games consoles.

Warner Music Group own artists such as James Blunt, Ramones, Paolo Nutini, B.o.B, David Guetta, Coldplay, Fleetwood Mac, Ed Sheeren. They own smaller labels such as Alantic Records, Warner Bros. Records, Rhino Entertainment and Elektra Records. This Major Label is owned by Time Warner, which is the largest media conglomerate which all owns Warners Bros, which have created a wide array of blockbusters at the box office.

2) Independents, Music labels that operate one or a few music labels, this labels can be as successful as Major ones but the main difference is that they operate from a smaller company base. It can be said that they offer more fresh and realistic music which can be said is lost through manufactured mainstream music which is auto-tuned etc, and has the main objective of maximizing profits.

In the UK there are many independent record labels which include ones such as;

Fatcat Records, which are based in Brighton. Founded in 1997 by David Cawley and Alexander Knight.  This label represents genres such as electronica, post rock, indie, downtempo, minimal techno and punk pop and pop. Artists signed to this label include Mum, Animal Collective (Psychedelic Rock, who I have analysed in a previous blog.), Frightened Rabbit and Vashti Bunyan.

Jeepster Records, this is a London based independent record label, founded in 1995 which genres include British Indie and Alternative Bands it two most creditable artists are Belle and Sebastian and also Snow Patrol. It was founded by Mark Jones and Stefani D'Andrea as they both had interest in indie music. In 2002 the label found itself in financial trouble due to production costs and the artists poor promoting.

In my opinion I think that by having 4 companies that dominate the music industry has both positive and negative connotations. The positives being that having 4 labels means that there will be a clearly extremely high standards and will be able to bring artists into music scene quickly and as efficiently as possible and make them appeal to fans due to heavy promotion and heavy pumped advertising resources due to increased funds created by less competition. On the other hand there are many negatives, by having a small number of record labels it only allows popular genres to be catered for and takes away all competition of other genres due to lack promotion nor popular interest by audiences. Also it means that the 4 companies control the music market regulating the price of music for audience due to lack of competition and there objectives to make as much profit as possible.

By doing this is does not allow young new talent to be given a chance as only a few select will be scouted and promoted by the labels, and without this due to finical issues it makes it hard for artists not to be signed to one of these labels in order to make them successful, which is the same for generally unpopular genres.

I do believe that Major record labels without much consideration are more successful than small independent ones. This is due to the fact they have the power to gain access to the best artists around and are able to successfully advertise and promote them to audiences. Which is extreme hard for small labels as they cannot compete. This doesn't gives independent record labels much choice in the artist they sign as they have to be whiling and committed to the label, and not wanting to sign to a bigger label that could in turn offer them more success and a more clear cut route to fame.

These record labels all own theses artists due to the fact that the labels are well known and these artists want to be as successful as possible. If they sign to a major record label they have a better chance of becoming a huge hit. This is due to the fact that major record labels have large funds that they are prepared to invest in young music stars, even if they are not 'the next thing' that will be popular with audiences. This shows directly in relation to the artist how much control the labels have as they dominate the market they are in and divert young potential artists from signing from minor labels as they feel that they will not have as much success, hence why some independence struggle as they have a small fund and have to scout artists more cautiously as they cannot afford to risk money in artists that will not succeed.

On the other hand Independent record labels do offer the music industry a wider arrange of artists and genres that are more realistic and not moulded by the record labels in order to fit a character that needs to be maintained and always in the media for positive or negative reasons. Therefore their artists are more lifelike as they may be comparable to most of their audiences in beliefs or financial status etc. These labels are also more likely to sign never seen before artists that are young, underdeveloped and maybe consider a wide difference from the norm which provides audience a differentiation in the music that they listen too. Independents also work more closely with their artists and spend more time recording, increasing the overall quality of the final produce which it can be said is lost with majors as they pump out music to increase sales.

But on some occasions these labels do make a break through such as XL recordings who signed Adele who now is a massive success. The only downside is the fact when artists breakthrough they tend to join bigger labels, as did Adele when she joined Columbia Records which could offer create publicity and help due to their bigger financial background. Some artist go straight to major record labels that have scouted them straight away. And due the success that they crave, they will sign to these record labels without a second thought. Madonna a young talent whom now is one of the most successful artists of all time, selling over 160 million records which is rising on a daily basis. She was signed by a child label of Warner Bros records, which signing unarguable paid off.