Task 1.

14: Record Label Case Study

Universal music group- Taylor Swift
Universal music group or UMG is
one of three major record labels
along with Sony Music
Entertainment and Warner Music
Group. Major labels are large
corporations often owned by a
parent company, like Sony. UMG
is a subsidiary of Vivendi, a Paris
based media conglomerate. UMG
claims to be the biggest of the
three major labels and the biggest label in the world, with an annual
revenue of 4.56 billion as of 2014. AS UMG are a major record, they
also own or control several hundred smaller labels such as
Interscope-Geffen-A&M, Def Jam Recordings and Polydor Records.
UMG own and operate a broad array of businesses engaged in
recorded music, music publishing, merchandising and audiovisual
content in more than 60 countries. One of UMGs biggest artists is
Taylor swift, Whose Latest album 1989 sold 3.66 million copies in
2014 becoming the years best selling album. Taylor Swift is signed
to Big Machine Label Group, which is owned by UMG. As UMG are a
multibillion dollar company they can to afford to effectively promote
an artist for example, for Taylor Swifts latest album UMG spent
millions on advertisements to ensure it sold well. The benefits of
being signed to a major are that the company has an extremely
large marketing budget and distribution rights to several counties
across the globe. However a disadvantage of being signed to a
major is that as they have so many artists they may not give you
enough time/attention.

Rough Trade Records is an

independent record label based
in London. Geoff Travis who
opened a record store on
Ladbroke grove formed it in
1978. The label found initial
success promoting and selling
punk and early post-punk acts
such as the Smiths. The company
went in to bankruptcy in the late 1990s before being relaunched
and finding success with acts such as the libertines, the strokes and
Warpaint. As of 2007, Rough Trade records is owned and distributed
by Beggars Group after they were sold be Sanctuary records
therefore making them an independent once again. Being an

independent gives Rough Trade Records the chance to focus on new

unknown talent for example in 2001 Rough Trade Records signed
the then unknown band the libertines after their success in the
underground music scene. Being signed by an independent record
label gives you a good balance between a major and being
unsigned, as they still have a fairly large marketing budget but they
have fewer artists so they will focus on you.
An unsigned artist is an
artist that is not under a
contract with a record label
meaning they have to
release their own material
and sell their own records.
Traditionally unsigned
artists ma6e most of their
money by performing
concerts or live shows however the introduction of websites such as
SoundCloud and YouTube have made it easier for artists to promote
and monetise their music. After garnering attention on the
underground music scene via his Wicked Skengman series of
freestyles over classic grime beats. Stormzy released his debut EP
Dreamers Disease independently in July 2014. Stormzy went on to
become the first artist to get a freestyle to in the UK top 40. A
positive of being an unsigned artist is that you Keep 100% of the
profits, however as you have no label behind you have to finance
yourself i.e. any marketing or distribution costs.