This is a screen shot of the free encyclopedia online which gave me a basic over view of what the music industry is about. It explained it as a industry which sells music through recordings of it and compositions.
It was explained by this sources as a number of levels or steps within the industry which in the end resulted in a music video or a concert, or a band having a large fan base.
1) Musicians who perform the music
2) Companies that sell and record the music.
3) Those who present live music performances
4) Professionals who assist the Musicians in their career
5) Those who broadcast the music created.
I felt this was a low level of knowledge I was collecting so I decided to research further to find real life examples of these steps which I can relate to and research in a lot more detail.
I found a site in which aspects of the Industry was shown in detail, there was lots of information to go through and discard to find the information that would help me understand the different aspects of the industry. heres the hyper link to the site http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/music-industry-channel.htm - the site is to help people who are trying to get into the industry and be successful.
The ways in which record label's work is explained in a comprehensive way, here's a summary of what I understand record labels to be after this research.
A musician has to have recorded a few songs before confronting a record label, without a record label it's is seen as near impossible to be a successful musician as their knowledge and connections within the industry is how the music gets out there.
Once signed to a record label all albums that are recorded will have the record labels name or logo on it to associate the band with them.
Before this even happen's the band must ;
1) Sign themselves to the company
2) Develop themselves as a musician ( through image change, or adjustments to sound)
3) They then have to record the album or single in one of the labels studio's.
4) The record label will carry out many promotion techniques that will get the band into a good position to release the album
5) Next is publicizing the act.
6) Finally is the release and selling of the music which has been recorded.
With all these different jobs to carry out I looked at the structure of a record label to help me understand how these processes go through departments.
The record labels that dominate the music market are usually from a huge corporation that has many record labels within it, to cover different genres of music so they have a full overview of the music market. An example of a company like this is Warner Brothers Records which is described as a parent company which owns many more record labels such as Respire and Maverick records.
So having identified an example of one of these parent companies within the industry I looked at the way in which they work to produce album and promote new stars.
Its best to look at this in steps starting with who is highest up and what here role is going through the company until the album is sold.
1) At the top is the CEO who is in charge of the whole business ( the parent label)
2) Each label within the corporation will have a president.
3) The president will higher several vice presidents who overlook each department.
The departments are;
1) A&R - in charge of discovering new talent, they're hands on with those they soon and are there through all the stages to make sure the artist is happy and that the image they had of the artist is maintained.
2) Art Department - In charge of Cd covers, advertisements and displays at music store promoting the band.
3) Artistic Development - is responsible for planning the artists career.
4) Business Affairs- deal with the business side of the label.
5) Label Liaison - serve as a liaison between the record company and there distribution company, which maybe part of the corporation or a completely different company.
6) Legal Department - responsible for all contracts between the artist and company.
7) Marketing Department - creates a marketing plan using techniques for album promotion. Push and Pull technique is the one I looked into in detail.
8) New Media- In charge of creating presence for the band on the internet and promoting music video's. Also in charge of promoting and producing a music video.
9) Promotion Department- Getting the music heard through radio and music channels as much as possible.
10) Publicity - Getting the press excited about the new or established artist by arranging articles to be written on them or have them do appearances on radio and TV.
11) Sales- Oversees the retail aspects of the business, by making sure the album is on the shelves, they collaborate with the publicity and promotion departments to ensure maximum sales.
The further detail has allowed me to see where my tasks for this coursework would fit into the record label in terms of departments.
After this research I wondered if the music market was overruled by big corporations or if there were in fact smaller record labels that are still successful. I found that there were labels that were run by a handful of people rather than lots of departments, but it seems as if they're becoming more rare within this giant dominated market.
The big corporation record labels seem to cover all the aspects of the artists development from being signed to there album being released.
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