R & P Post 7: Record labels of interest

The institutions, in this case the record label, behind an artist are hugely important in supporting an artist in the music industry. This importance is magnified with debut artists, as the label is responsible for providing them with a footing in the industry. In order to do so, the record label will be behind the production, distribution & marketing of the artist or group and their first album. Thus, the record label provides the financial backing to an artist in order to break into the industry, and will support the costs of the distribution & marketing process, concerts & tours, as well as general expenses – provided the artist makes a profitable return.

In terms of the wider industry, the market ownership of record labels is dominated by the so-called ‘Big Three’:

The so-called 'Big 3' record labels

-Sony Music Entertainment
-Universal Music Group
-Warner Music Group. 

Interestingly, however, their market share has slipped from 64.8% in 2013 to 64.1% in 2014. Meanwhile, the market share for indie labels has jumped from 35.1% in 2014 to 37.6% ownership in 2016. Thus, this could suggest that indie ownership is becoming more preferable in the industry today. To find out possible reasons, I investigated the pros and cons of both independent and major conglomerate labels in the slideshow below:





British Indie Case Study: Domino Recording Company
I have investigated Domino as an example of a successful British indie recording company. Domino Recording Company was founded in 1993 by Laurence Bell and his partner Jacqui Rice.

Ever since - having been initially marginalised during the Britpop era of the 1990s and early 2000s due to their promotion of unusual British acts & established American rock - the company has enjoyed a degree of success, celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2003, and following this up in October 2005 with their first UK Number 1 album and single in the same month: Franz Ferdinand's 'You Could Have It So Much Better' and Arctic Monkeys' 'I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor' respectively.

The company's love for their music - notably unusual British music, as well as world music - is demonstrated by their wide-ranging list of artists and bands under their name:

Going forward, I think that this research into a wide range of record labels is extremely important for our own project, as we have been able to not only examine how record labels work and what they are responsible for, but also the pros & cons, and examples of, major & indie record labels, all of which we will need to consider going forward for our own artist.

I believe it would be best if we aimed to sign our artist onto an independent label, as the risks of a fight for attention at a major label (especially as an upcoming artist with a debut album) and a loss of creative control outweigh potential disorganisation or a shortage of funds with an indie label.