Music Industry and Record Labels – Conglomerates vs. Independent

Sony Music• Sony Music is an American Music Corporation operated by Sony

Corporation of America.• The enterprise was first founded in 1929 and in 1938, it was

renamed Columbia Recording Corporation.• In 1987, SCA bought the company and in 1991, renamed it SME.• It is the second largest music company in the world. • SME and Bertelsmann Music Group came together as Sony BMG

Music Entertainment, in 2004. • Alexis Jordan, Calvin Harris, Carly Rae Jepson, Johnny Cash,

Ke$ha, Michael Jackson, Miley Cyrus and The Script are just a few of the hundreds of artists that are signed to Sony Music.

• It is a major record label and one of the biggest conglomerates.

Case Study – Michael Jackson • He was an American singer, songwriter, dancer and

actor.

• The eighth child of the famous Jackson Family.

• Often referred to as the ‘King of Pop’.

• He died in June 2009 due to to a cardiac arrest bought on by being administered propofol, lorazepam and midazolam. His death was treated as homicide.

• He was best known for ‘Thriller’, ‘Bad’, ‘Beat It’, ‘They Don’t Really Care About Us’, ‘Billie Jean’ and ‘The Way You Make Me Feel’.

• He had 13 number one singles and an estimated sale of 400 million records worldwide.

Universal Music Group • It is the largest music corporation in the world, it is a major record

label. • The groups headquarters is currently in Santa Monica, California. • Its origins go back to the formation of Decca Records in 1934.• There were lots of ‘merges’ with other record company’s between

1939 and 1996, it was named ‘MCA Music Entertainment Group’.• In 1996, it was renamed as ‘Universal Music Group’.• Universal Music Group owns the rights to many different music

labels, including ‘Motown Records’, ‘Island Records’ and ‘Republic Records’.

• Artists that are signed to Universal Music Group include ABBA, Avicii, Cheryl Cole, Eminem, Mariah Carey, N Dubz, Robbie Williams and Queen.

Case Study – Cheryl Cole• Cheryl Cole (now Cheryl Fernandez Versini) is a Biritish singer, dancer and TV personality.

• She found fame when she was on Popstars – The Rivals and landed herself a place in a girl band known as ‘Girls Aloud’, which would inevitably become the UK’s biggest girl group.

• Cheryl was given a role as judge on The X Factor UK in 2008 and has been the winning judge in both 2008 and 2011.

• Her best known singles include ‘Fight for this Love’, ‘3 Words’, ‘Promise This’, ‘Call my Name’ and ‘Crazy Stupid Love’.

• She has had four number one singles in the UK and earnt three BRIT nominations.

XL Recordings• XL Recordings is a British Independent Record Label owned by Richard Russell. • It originated as an offshoot of Beggars Banquet Records in 1989. • On average, only 6 albums a year are released by this label. • In 2008, Russell transformed the rear garage of the labels Ladbroke Grove headquarters into a recording studio, it was called XL Studio. • It releases various genres of music every year. • Some of the artists signed to this label include Adele, Dizzie Rascal, Vampire Weekend, Radiohead, The White Stripes and The Prodigy.

Case Study – Dizzie Rascal

• Dizzie Rascal is a British grime MC, born in Bow, East London.

• His music ranges from grime, rap, R&B, hip hop and garage.

• He has had five number one singles and two gold and one platinum selling albums.

• He used to attended YATI (Young Actors Theatre Islington).

• He has had collaborations with Shakira, Jessie J, James Corden and Calvin Harris.

• He has also created his own record label, named Dirtee Stank.

• He is best known for his singles ‘Love This Town’, ‘Shout’, ‘Dance Wiv Me’, ‘Bonkers’ and ‘Holiday’.

IAMSOUND Records• It is an independent US based record company.

• Founded in 2006 by Niki Robertson.

• Based in Los Angles, California.

• Promotes mainly indie genre music.

• Some of the artists signed include Florence and the Machine, MEN, Fool’s Gold, Kate Boy and Bank.

Case Study – Florence and the Machine

• Florence and the Machine are an English indie rock band, with the lead singer being Isabella Summers.

• Their debut album ‘Lungs’ was released on 6th July 2009, it was well relieved and held its place at number 2 for two weeks.

• Their second album ‘Ceremonials’ was released in 2011 and entered the charts at number one.

• Their genres include rock, soul, indie and indie pop.

• They are best known for ‘You’ve Got The Love’, ‘Dog Days are Over’, ‘Shake it Out’ and ‘Spectrum’.

Conglomerate or Independent?

• The advantages of a conglomerate company are that you are more likely to get your name recognised. Therefore, sales will be high. Also, they have more money to invest in you overall. Marketing and production will be better due to having more money. Artists are more stable and are very unlikely to lose anything. However, due to the amount of money the record label needs to earn; they may not allow you to have the rights to or own anything you produce. Therefore, everything belongs to them. You also have to stay within mainstream music, and anything that may be seen as ‘different’ is unlikely to be signed.

• The advantages of being part of an independent company is that they are more likely to find new and creative talent rather than stick with what they know people enjoy. Also, due to lack of money, you will probably own most of what you produce. Independents also make better use of new technologies. Disadvantages are that your name is less likely to be big and due to lack of money there is less stability. Also, marketing and production will be poor.