A record label is a company/institution responsible for the marketing and distribution of music recordings and music videos. They are often also responsible as a publishing company that manage bands or artists, co-ordinating everything from production to copyright enforcement. They search for new talent using scouts, and some are dedicated to training up new artists.
In the music industry, there are three media conglomerates that dominate the market with their record labels, accounting for 70% of the world music market:
Universal - Universal Music Group
Sony - Sony Music Entertainment
Warner Bros - Warner Music Group
This is because these record labels own other smaller, subsidiary record labels, which deal with a variety of genres, and can therefore have a wide reach and large potential audience. It takes advantage of the horizontal and vertical integration within these conglomerates to reach the largest audience possible, ensuring a higher chance of popularity.
An example is Sony's ownership of Epic Records (through Columbia Records), who, originally associated with jazz, had expanded to include all genres by the late 1960s. Now Epic Records have artists such as Paloma Faith, Olly Murs, Nicole Scherzinger and previously Michael Jackson, with their greatest achievement coming from 'Thriller' in 1982, selling 51 to 65 million worldwide sales. They also have artists such as Ozzy Osbourne and Lamb of God, showing their genre-variety.
INDEPENDENT LABELS
Genres: Heavy metal, thrash metal, punk rock, alternative rock
Location: New York City
Artists: Metallica, Anthrax, The Del-Lords (Most of their artists are relatively unknown or old)
LAB Records:
Genres: Various
Location: Manchester, England
Artists: The Summer Set, The LaFontaines, previously Pegasus Bridge (The label has a reputation for developing UK talent)
Domino Recording Company:
Genre: Indie Rock/Indie Pop
Location: London
Artists: Arctic Monkeys, Lou Barlow (Mostly unknown artists)
UNSIGNED ARTISTS
Artists can also be unsigned, and still successful. An example of this is Radiohead, who have a distribution deal with TBD records but are not signed to the label. Their most recent album, 'The King Of Limbs' was released in 2011, reaching number 7 in the UK album chart.
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