Research into record labels - Miss Georgiou

Record labels are the companies that artists rely on to market their music to widen audiences and to get them more popular, they also handle all of the distribution behind the artists work and enforce the copyrights of an artists songs, so they market the videos that artist may have as well as the albums they may have just released. Some mainstream record labels are so big they own smaller record labels so they can widen the amount of popular artists they have rights over, they have contracts from the manager and the artist which may entitle they have do certain things to keep a certain image that makes the artist very popular. The definition of major record labels is large companies within the industry that may own smaller record labels.

In the UK there are three dominant major record label companies, these are Universal Music Group (UMG), Sony Music Entertainment (SME) and Warner Music Group (WMG). UMG have managed a lot of popular bands like the beatles and the rolling stones over the years, the most popular people they manage currently are Justin Bieber, Nicky Minaj, Iggy Azalea, Lorde, Katy Perry and Kendrick Lamar are just a few examples of who they manage. SME have managed some big names as well and these people have been considered to change the music industry entirely, these include Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Van Morrisen and Whitney Houston. WMG owns a company called Warner/Chappell that are responsible for producing such artists like Radiohead, Beyonce, Red hot chili peppers and Madonna just to name a few artists that they manage and have contracts with.

UMG owns various different other smaller record labels so that they can get more artists under their name and to have the rights to their music so they can earn more money from audiences, UMG owns subsidiary record labels like def jam records known for Rick Ross and Kanye West, interscope records known for eminem, madonna and Tupac Shakur. SME own other smaller record labels as well, these record labels include Columbia records known for signing on J. Cole, Calvin Harris and Duft punk and another smaller record label they own are called Epic Records that have made some artists like Michael Jackson and Celine Dion. Lastly WMG are known for controlling some record labels that are know as Parlophone that have signed Coldplay, Radiohead and Blur as well as the record label that was mentioned before is Warner/Chappel.

Independent record labels aren't as successful as parent ones usually but some of these record labels have followings based on some of the artists they have made before. The first independent label i'll be looking at is "Beggars Banquet", founded in 1973 by Martin Mills and Nick Austin, began as a chain of shops owned by the two founders and is part of the Beggars Group label or their parent company if you will. The founders decided, during the UK's punk rock movement, to start the independent record label from their shop name and start producing artists for it, on of the most famous artists they produced was a band called "The Charlatans" but their first band were called "The Lurkers". Another independent record label is "Audio Antihero" which was founded in 2009 by a man named Jamie Hallday. The record label produces a different range of genres and music including indie so this record label is relevant to our artist, most of the artists the company have produced are not well known artists but some of the artists include Nosferatu D2 and Jack Halladay.

In conclusion, I personally don't think it is right for only 3 companies to dominate the music industry for several reasons, one is that they can make whoever they want famous and popular as they know how to market the songs the artists make towards audiences and make them instantly popular, i also feel it doesn't give much opportunity for upcoming artists as they will only be contracted by the label if they are already achieving a massive fanbase or if they meet follow certain trends audiences seem to be taking part in. The effect this has on the industry is that certain artists may seem a bit samey and certain artists may have a similar sound to each other showing the industry doesn't have too much originality anymore and some labels are not willing to take risks that may not profitable for them as they need artists that will make them profit. In short, the only way to become very famous for mainstream record labels is to be a pop singer which is shown to be the most popular genre amongst audiences. Independent labels are not as successful in my opinion and the reason for this opinion is because popularity is measured differently, millions of people love the artists parent record labels have contracted and they don't seem to be losing popularity at all, instead they keep attracting more audiences. Independent labels offer artists that chance to make it in the industry, they are given a chance to try make it a bit more honestly than appealing to current trends like the more popular artists do to widen their fan base, they're given a chance to work up their following first so that maybe they can make it successfully into the industry. For example an artist that isn't that successful, as mentioned earlier, "Jack Halladay" has to rely on his youtube fan base as mainstream record labels won't recognise this person as profitable however independent record labels will nurture these artists to make a success out of their music career and will encourage them often to write more music and will shape them so that audiences can buy as much as they can that the artist has created. Mainstream record labels only need an artist for their profit as they know how to market the artists towards audiences which is to follow a specific genre that is becoming increasingly popular towards audiences. The industry then becomes re-hashed music because the music style isn't seeing much variation in the songs these record labels produce, they stay comfortable in the pop genre as it gets them more money. Independent record labels aren't as successful as mainstream record labels, the reason i think this is because mainstream record labels have a lot more artists that constantly make the same genre of music but the sales of albums, singles, tour tickets are enormous, however independent companies don't have this sort of money nor the resources to make sure artists can achieve this, so this is why independent companies are often not as successful. Independent record labels offer artists a chance to make it into the industry and to keep making music for their fans, independent record labels also nurture theses artists in the hopes that they will offer something that audiences will appreciate for it being different.