Research into record labels - Miss Georgiou

Record labels are seen to come under two main categories in the music industry. This consists of major record labels and independent.

Major Record Labels

Major record labels are large companies who operate within the industry, they are seen to own and control smaller record labels each owning a variety of artists. The music industry is dominated by only a few of these major companies. In the UK this consists of the Universal music group, Sony Music Entertainment and the Warner Music Group. They are seen to own and represent a wide variety of artists that control the music industry within Britain.

Universal Music Group

The numerous artists that belong to this major record company consists of artist such as 50 Cent, Ellie Goulding, Jake Bugg, Katy Perry, Fat boy slim, Sam Smith, Florence + the machine. Taylor Swift and many others that are of a similar status and reputation. Almost all the artists owned and represented by the company aim towards a mainstream audience and a popular and well known throughout the country.
The major company is also seen to own smaller record labels such as Interscope records, Polydor records and capitol records. This furthermore helps them to involve themselves with a large variety of artists that cover different large mainstream audiences across the country. In addition to this the  Universal music group also co-developed and currently owns the website 'vevo'. This is a well known website used for streaming music, much like YouTube; however, the website only streams music videos. It allows the company to easily promote their artists by offering their music and videos for free on the internet. It additionally benefits the company through advertising as the website is often used as a platform for online marketing of which the Vevo is able to make profit from.

Sony Music Entertainment


Sony Music Entertainment owns artists such as Tinie Tempah, Olly Murs, Daft Punk, One Direction, Robbie Williams and many other artists of a similar stature. Much like Universal, this major record label also aims to represent artists that reach out the mainstream target audience within the UK. They, again, cover a variety of genres in order to have a wide spectrum of artists that appeal to a widened target audience in order to become known on a national level.
The company is also seen to own other, smaller record labels such as Columbia Records, Ultra Recordings and Epic Recordings. Again this is done by the major record label in order to appeal to all genres and all mainstream audiences across the country in order to build up their reputation and their artists reputation so that hey can make more money. Sony itself is a wide media platform; the conglomerate company covers television, film, phones and video gaming. This means that they can appeal to big name artists and market artists on a
larger global scale.

Warner Music Group

Artists that belong to this major record label consists of people like James Blunt, B.o.B, Coldplay, David Guetta and Ed Sheeran. Much like the two other major record labels this also owns artists who appeal towards the mainstream British audience. This is a reoccurring theme for major record labels as they aim to maximize profits through large sales and marketing opportunities. This record label also owns the smaller record labels of Atlantic records, Warner Bros records, Rhino Entertainment and Elektra records. They also do this in order to maximise their marketing opportunities over a variety of large target audiences for different popular genre. Finally, the company is also seen to belong to Time Warner; this is a massive media conglomerate which covers mostly film and television on a large scale. It also helps the company to appeal to big artists and make themselves more known to a bigger audience.

Independents 

These are record labels that control or own only a select few music artists; these companies can also be successful just not on the large scale of the bigger major record labels. The smaller companies are often known to produce much more untouched and original music that is true to the artists and their genres. This is due to the fact that the artists are less influenced through mainstream audiences and maximised profits so that they can have freedom to express their originalities. This can often be popular for niche target audiences throughout the music industry.

In the UK there are numerous independent record labels; examples may include:

Ram Records

Ram records was founded in 1992 by DJ and producer Andy C. It is based in Essex and is seen as a very successful growing company. The company manages artists such as Andy C. himself, Chase & Status, Calyx & Teebee, plus Sub Focus. These artists are seen to be similar; all categorised into the genres of electronic, drum and bass and dance. Although not being mainstream genres, this music is seen to be very popular for teenagers and young adults due to it being used in many clubs. The genres are seen to be growing in recent years with various artists reaching out to mainstream audiences; this increasing popularity is currently allowing the record label to grow.

Cooking Vinyl

Cooking Vinyl is seen as Europe's top independent record label; it was created in 1986 by Martin Goldschmidt and Pete Lawrence and is based in West London, England. The label itself represents a variety of artists however can be seen to be focused mostly on alternative and Indie rock bands with their more successful and well known artists being Madness, The Pretty Reckless, The Prodigy and Marilyn Manson. This is also aimed towards a niche target audience with a growing culture; allowing artists to build upon their reputations. 

Conclusion  

Looking from a music point of view alongside a industry point of view I don't feel it is right that only a select few of the major record labels are seen to dominate the music industry. Independent artists that are original and less known by the mainstream find it very hard to develop themselves within the industry within an independent company. Independent companies do not have to budget to globalise an artist and present them to the mainstream. This could be seen as unfair for certain, more original, artists; examples being the grime artists 'JME' and 'Skepta' who struggled to become recognised by the mainstream. However, independent artists can still be seen as successful, the record labels are able to reach out towards specific cultures and niche target audiences that the major record labels miss as they aim towards the mainstream. This can clearly be seen through Ram Records as their artists are seen to dominate their selected target audiences and cultures in order to create an original and selective image for themselves. Evidence of this is seen through the numerous awards RAM records has won; consisting of the 'Accelerated Culture Awards' and 'K Mag Awards' Although major companies may be seen to dominate the majority of the music industry, especially the mainstream audiences; they often miss out on the selective niche audiences who are seen to take a further interest into unknown talents within selected genres. Also, a key difference between independent and major companies is their support for their artists, independent's are seen to be far more supportive of their artists, allowing them to grow; however, major companies often drop artists when they become unsuccessful.