Research Into Major Record Labels - Miss Georgiou*

Record labels are companies that manufacture and distribute recorded music. They are brands or trademarks that are associated with the marking of music recordings and music videos. Artists tend to belong to record labels and are maintained through a contract deal with their managers. In the music industry, more artists have become reliant upon record labels to widen their audience, market their albums, and both be promoted on other means of communications such as MP3, radio, and television. The internet has increasingly been vital for artists way to avoid expensive costs and gain new audiences, as well as use their videos to sell their products. Overall, the purpose of a belonging to a record label is so that they manage the artist as a whole, which benefits them and could make them more visible in the music industry. 

Major Record Labels

Major record labels are labels that command a high percentage of the annual sales of record, and have their own distribution system. These are large companies within the music industry that may also own smaller record labels. Major record label usually work with artists who've developed a fan base but will back new acts that they have faith it.  

The three major record labels in the UK currently are: Syco Music, EMI (Electric & Musical Industries Ltd.) and Warner Music Group. 

The record label, Syco music, also known as Syco Records is a British record label founded by Simon Cowell in 2002. It is a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment and has got offices in London and Los Angeles, but the original base in London and is known for its successful artists, especially in the UK market. Xfactor winners and Britain got talent exclusively have the right to get signed by Syco. An example is Susan Boyle's debut album, I Dreamed a Dream, which sold over 9 million copies, making it one of the best selling releases of the last decade. Also, the well known successful boy band One direction is signed with the Syco with a full UK deal and joint US deal with Columbia Records. Syco Music do not not only handle music but also handles entertainment overall and this goes by the name of Syco Entertainment. Within Syco Entertainment, they have music, films for artists such as One Direction and TV shows e.g The Xfactor and Got Talent (which has global television formats that air in 60 countries including chine). This shows that Syco is not only for music, but for film and TV shows too. 

The second record label is EMI group (Electric & Musical Industries Ltd.) who are a British music company that is one of the world's largest music companies, controlling record labels on five continents. EMI own a vast collection of record labels such as Capitol Records, Virgin Records and EMI records. There are more than 70 labels that operate around the world, throughout Asia, Africa, Europe, South and North America. Artists that are signed under EMI Group include Coldplay, Spice Girls and Emeli Sandé. 

Last but not least, another major record label is Warner Music Group. It is the third largest global music record label and it was founded back in 1958 as 'Warner Bros. Records.' Originally it was owned by Time Warner itself, the world's largest global conglomerate. WMG operates some of the largest and most successful recording labels in the world. This includes its flagship labels Warner Bros. Records, Parlophone Records and Atlantic Records. WMG also owns Warner/Chappell Music which is one of the world's largest music publishing companies. British Artists that belong to this major record label are Birdy, Ed Sheeran and Only The Young. 

Independent Record Labels

Unlike Major record labels, Independent record labels or indie record labels operate without the funding of or outside major record labels. These record labels are likely to sign undeveloped or unusual artists than major record labels are. In independent record labels their releases are usually distributed by smaller regional distributors, but sometimes they'd arrange a "pressing and distribution" deal with a major label that will help get your record into more stores. Due to them being smaller organisations, independent record labels will often be satisfied with small profits from any given act. Whilst they lack the expansion in marketing and distribution power from major labels, they however help artists build on their niche appeal rather than try and make you conventional to the mainstream act. 

An example of an independent record label in the UK would be XL recordings with is an independent record label owned by Richard Russell. It originated as a 1989 offshoot of Beggars Banquet Records and is part of the Beggars Group of labels. The label releases albums worldwide and operates across a range of genres. Artists such as Adele, FKA twigs and Tyler, The Creator have worked with XL recordings. A particular artist that has made the label successful is Adele, with her sales for Adele's 21, it helped XL Recordings' bank balance from £3million to £32million in the space of 12 months. 

In addition, another independent UK record label is Cooking Vinyl which was founded in 1986 by former manager and booking agent Martin Goldschmidt, who remains the current owner and managing director,and distribution manager Pete Lawrence. The company is based in Action, London. The record operates as part os the Cooking Vinyl Group whom comprises essential music & marketing, CV America, Cooking Vinyl Australia and Cooking Vinyl publishing. This record label is home to artists such as The Prodigy, The cult and Alison Moyet. 



From a music point of view I don't think its fair that four companies dominate the music industry because it puts other companies in so much pressure just to compete with them. For example an artist from an independent company wouldn't be able to compete with an artist from one of the four companies, as they have a small fan base and less promotion for themselves because they don't have the mass funds from the company to distribute and promote themselves. Also, with four companies having more impact in the music industry this creates a hierarchy of record labels as they offer more opportunities than other record labels. For example, Emeli Sande belongs to the media conglomerate EMI and since the company operates around the world e.g Asia, America and Europe etc, this allows her to have more promotion and distribution than an independent artist such as Alison Moyet because the company runs in different parts of the word, which diversifies her fan base. Whereas independent artist, Alison Moyet would only rely on the independent record label to distribute her music to the nice audience, which concentrates her fan base and gives her less opportunity to expand. However, with these music conglomerates dominating the industry, what is let out is usually mainstream which allows independent labels to diverse and stem away from the mainstream acts. Even though major record labels are prone to be more successful than independent labels, this could be criticised slightly through XL recordings and their success with Adele's 21 sales which made their bank balance increase rapidly. Adele is a well known soul artist who's music can be recognise anywhere with her songs "Rolling in the deep" and "Skyfall" which was a song for the James Bond film 'Skyfall'. This proves that even though Adele belongs to an independent company, she has still gained the same success that a major artist would have, because of her authentic sound and also expansion through films. But of course major record labels will remain more successful. Honestly, I think it is possible for independent labels to be just as successful as major labels but it's just that the'd have to put more work in to reach there. It could be argued that independent labels are more authentic and appealing to a niche audience which major record labels cannot do solely because they're interested in the profit rather than the interests that the artists wants to put out like in independent record labels. Therefore, independent labels can allow artist to nurture and invest more time into their music, whereas major record labels are busy and need their artists to be ready whenever they need them.