Record Labels

1a) Record labels are companies that invest in and develop musical talent in the around the world, they pay for the recording and mixing of albums (with this money being recouped through the sale and a wder expolitation of the recordings) from this they often underwrite new acts to help raise their profiles and sales of tours. They also provide an essential promotion and marketing role, which includes developing, executing and marketing campaigns aswell as promoting acts to the media. Record labels can find other ways of exploiting their recordings such as being used in movies and adverts.


b) The services that a record label provides for an artisit is a;

• promotion and marketing role
• advertising
• manufacturing and distributing the recordings
• exploitation

c) An artisit would want to be signed to a record label because it will enable the artists, through advances and marketing/sales support, to treat their music making as a full-time career. They expolit the artists recordings commercially and collect snf psy the resulting royalties on their behalf. Record labels turn to the financial community to provide money. they use royalties, tour tickets, sales of albums and singles and get banks to invest in there artist (label) 


'Big Four' (majors) 

• Sony BMG (Beyonce, Justin Timberlake) 
• Universal Music Group (Justin Bieber, Black eyed Peas)
• EMI (Kyle Minogue, Dizzee Rascal)
• Warner Music Group (Michael Buble, Madonna)