RCA Music Group (Joint venture of RCA, Arista & J) J Record

1
Record Companies and Labels
2
The Big Four

• Warner Music Group
• EMI (Electrical Music Industries Ltd)
• Sony BMG (Bertelsmann Music Group)
• Universal Music Group (UMG)

3
Sony BMG

• Sony BMG (Massive Entertainment Company)
• RCA Music Group (Joint venture of RCA, Arista
  J)
• J Records (Avril Lavigne, Barry Manilow, Pearl
  Jam)
• US Records (Vanity Label of Usher)

4
Hierarchy of Record Labels

• CEO
• Vice Presidents
• ar
• art
• artist development
• business affairs
• label liaison
• legal
• marketing
• new media
• promotion
• publicity
• sales

5
Artists Repertoire (AR)

• Discover new artists
• Receive all new demo recordings
• Dont listen to unsolicited recordings
• Work with existing roster
• Develop it creatively
• Work on song structures/orders/remixes/radio
  edits etc.
• Realising the artists vision of the album/single
• Interacting with the other departments
• If the artist fails, they (AR) are putting their
  name on the line

6
Example record label signing

• AR receive demo CD from trusted source
• AR research the band
• AR representative goes to see the band live
• AR representative convinces the rest of the
  department that the band is worth signing
• The band decide, with AR on the concept of an
  album and select songs.
• The record label gives the band a budget/advance
  for the recording
• Record label sets a budget for advertising, art,
  publicity, promotion etc.
• Artists, designers etc. Begin their work
• AR work with publicity, marketing and sales to
  work on release dates
• Artist development and other departments plan
  gigs, tour, interviews etc.
• Before the album is released, all departments
  work to create the hype
• Now everyone is working together to make sure the
  band sells lots of copies, is successful and
  everyone gets paid.

7
Labels and Radio/TV Stations

• Work together for both their successes
• Labels do whatever they can to get airplay
• Interviews
• Live sessions
• Exclusive material/edits/remixes
• Promotional events such as gigs/festivals/signings
  etc.

8
Independent Labels

• Can be ran by just a few people
• More difficult to run with less people and money
• Specialise in local or genre-specific music
• Now even easier to sell music

9
Homework

• Talk about how Usher fits into the record label
  business by answering the following questions
• Describe the process by which Usher was signed
  and produced his first album.
• Describe how Ushers label US Records fits into
  the record label business.
• In what ways would Ushers label make sure he
  gets airplay on TV and Radio?
• Due next week