R&P Post 7: Record labels of interest

A record label is a brand or trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos.

Often a recording label also..
- coordinates the production
- distributes the product
- is in charge of enforcement of copyright
- offers contracts to new/upcoming artists
- maintains contracts with existing artists


The Big Three:

These three major conglamerate record labels consist of Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group. They control over 70% of the world's music market which is a much greater dominance than in any other industry.
- Universal is considered the largest of the three groups, controlling 29.85% of digital album sales.
- Sony is seen as the middle of the Big Three, with an income of $6bn.
- Warner was sold in 2011 to Access Industries for $3.3bn.

Marshall Teller Records: 

Marshall Teller was founded by one individual, demonstrating how successful an independent record label has the potential to be. The music released by this record label was predominantly under the alt-rock genre, indicating that releasing music of a particular genre is a much more successful approach to generating awareness of your record label. To the right I have copied a list of all the artists under the Marshall Teller label, evidently there is a clear sense of genre throughout all these bands and artists.


Young Turks: 

Young Turks is an imprint label; An imprint is sometimes marketed as being a 'project', 'unit', or 'division' of a record label company, even though there is no legal business structure associated with the imprint. 

This essentially acts as a USP for the artists as they are known for the conceptual and unique music and artists, such as  FKA Twigs, The XX and SBTRKT. This quirky branding works in symbiosis with the marketing of the artists themselves.



Rough Trade:

Rough Trade is an independant record label based in London in 1978. They usually promote punk, indie pop, post-punk suchas, Buzzcocks, The Smiths and The Desperate Bicycles.

The Rough Trade website is very interactive and demonstrates synergey with its other platforms via the colour scheme (black and white predominantly) and by the instantly recognisable font style.