4 Areas Of The Music Industry

In this assignment, I will explain these 4 areas:

Record Companies
Artist Management
Music Publishing
Live Performance


Record Label/Companies

A record label is a company that manufactures and sells recorded music. Instead of doing the promotional work themselves, they hire other people to handle that job. They also hire A&R (Artist & Repertoire) to look out for new, young talent in the hopes of finding the "Next Big Thing".

When they sign an artist, the main focus of the label would be to make the artist a "brand" (i.e Wu-Tang, Eminem and The Beatles are all brands). That means the artist (now considered a brand) can sell both records and merchandises and on top of that, the label advertises the artist and gets them out here in the public to increase their fan base. The purpose of this is so they can play at bigger venues for live performances which means more profit can be made.

There are two types of recording labels - major and independent (Note: A lot of independent labels are backed by major ones these days). Here are the pro's and con's of both:

Major (i.e. EMI, Def Jam & Universal):

Pros:

*Resources
They have the money, the studios, the equipment, etc. Even in today's industry where several changes are being made, major record labels still have a lot of money to spend (unlike independent labels). For example, they can invest in the recording, touring, promoting your work, videos, clear samples for you (if any of your songs contain a sample).

*Connections
A lot of major labels have been around for decades (i.e. EMI) so there's no doubt that they have various connections, especially in the media. Which means that they would find promoting an artist much easier than an independent label would.


Cons:

*Priorities
Scenario - You've just signed to a major label, you think that everything's going to go smoothly right? Wrong. To put it in the simplest form, you're simply a page in a big book and you're one of the last few pages. A major label will boast musicians in their rosters who have proven themselves and gained stardom, meaning they would have a bigger fan base than you do.

*Shady deals
There's been a history where major record labels have trapped artists in very bad contracts (very bad for the artist, look at Mase with Bad Boy Records for instance). In these types of deals, the label puts in various things stating so and so and the artists wouldn't know what they mean, so they'd sign it and won't know they'd regret it until later down the line. One way to look at it is that the label puts a leash on you.


Independent (i.e. XL Records, Cherry Red Records & VP Records):

Pros:

*Passion
Independent labels have more passion than a major label does. A major mainly focuses on sales, chart success, etc (basically money). On the other hand, an independent would focus on finding good music and getting it out there. If you're signed to an independent, then the main reason for their interest in you is because they like your music, whether it's innovative, the style, etc.

*Direct relationships
Because an independent label is smaller than a major one, access is easier compared to a major, which means you can build better relationship with the staff members and artists on the roster, which may lead to future collaborations whether it be a single or an LP (album).


Cons:

*Resources
While the major labels are on the greener side of the grass when it comes to finance, independent labels are on the other side doing what they can with what they've got. So while the major labels pour money into promotion and advertisement, independents have to think innovative ways to capture attentions in the hopes of getting their artists some recognition.

*Smaller than major
Because independent labels aren't as big as majors, that means they won't have as many connections as they would, let alone established ones. This would also mean that it would be hard to make their presence known because of the size of their roster, unless they had it packed with proven musicians with big fan bases.


These days, picking an independent label over a major seems to be the way forward and with good reason, however that doesn't necessarily mean going major is a bad thing. It's all down to you and what you'd prefer.



Artist Management:

The best way to describe the artist manager's relationship with the artist is simply yin-yang (Chinese philosophy of how opposing forces are complementary to each other). "Yang" being the "sunny" side, which in this case is the artist since they've got the fame, their face is the one in lights, they're the one person people pay to see perform live, etc etc. On the other hand, there's "Yin" which is the "shady" side.

The artist manager does everything the artist doesn't want to do, things like "taking care of business" (i.e. talking to various people to get stuff done like finding gigs, deal with bookings, meet with labels, etc), looking after the interests of the artists and working very long hours. Note that the pay for an artist manager would be around 20% - 30%.


When is it a best time to get an artist manager?

*When you start doing live performances because you'd have a big enough fan base that are willing to pay to see you perform live, so you'd want a manager to find gigs for you.

*When you sign you're first major label deal. If you sign a major deal, they would provide you with a artist manager but I'd advise you turn it down because you don't want to trust major labels these days as the manager they'd offer you would see that you commit yourself to the label rather than working towards what's best for you and your career/future.

*When you start selling records. This will lead you do live shows and will attract interest from labels, both major and independent.


Skills needed:

*Patience - "Rome wasn't built in a day".

*Communication - because how are you gonna make connections and succeed if you're going to remain quiet.

*Be a nice person - basically meaning don't be rude so you can establish long term relationships.

*Experienced - if you're going to manage an artist/band with no experience whatsoever, then it'll only lead to a road of stress for you and whoever you're managing.

*Industry knowledge - you need to know about the environment you're working on, otherwise you may make some mistakes due to lack of knowledge and you'll encounter trouble along the way.

*Contacts - the more you have, the more key's you have to open more doors of opportunities.

*Organized - as an artist manager, you have a lot of work to do and a lot of things to keep track, so it's very important to keep things in order to make work easier for you in the long run, as long you stay organized.



Music Publishing:

If you're a song writer (or if it's one of the things you can do) then I highly recommend you get a music publishing deal. Music publishers treat songwriters much like how a record label would treat their roster of artists: contract agreement, promote their songs to other singers (for example "End Of The Road", sung by Boyz II Men but written by Babyface (Kenneth Edmonds), Antonio "L.A." Reid and Daryl Simmons) and other reasons such as adverts, movie soundtrack, etc. It's also very important to note that songwriters are entitled to 50% of profits made from a song they wrote the lyrics for.

Much like contracts between an artist and a record label, there are certain types with some being good for a songwriter. Some can help the songwriter a lot in both their craft (style) and career, and as you'd expect, there are some bad ones that can either slow down your growth as a songwriter or just ruin your career.

Although it has various similarities with record labels (in how they function), there are also different types of music publishers:

*Major - Mainly and directly linked with the major labels (i.e. Sony), these songs would be the "creme dela creme" and would boast great songwriters who are on the top of their game.

*Independent (associated with major) - These types of publishers have it easier than publishers that are 100% independent. The difference is that the independent labels that are directly linked with majors let them handle their licensing.

*Independent (actually independent) - Instead of allowing majors to handle it, they handle their own licensing and on top of that, they have their own money.

*Writer-Publishers - This is truly independent, where you do the work yourself. It's not "out of the ordinary" that some writers publish their own written work. If the song writer decides that there is too much work for them to handle alone, they'll hire someone to handle some of the work for them (mainly the administration of the song). However, instead of receiving a % of income the song makes, they work on a salary.



Live Performance:

This is very fundamental to artists, especially in this day and age. Due to the internet, you can pirate (illegally download) music which means bad news for record labels and their artists because they won't be selling any records. So the artists have to generate their income mainly through live performances. That being said, it doesn't mean live performances are a negative thing. If the people that attended your shows give a good review to their friends then you've done a good show, but if you do a bad one (or arrive late, etc etc) then there's a chance you could lose some fans (however if you mess up, you can learn from it by not making the same mistake). It's also good to do your research into venues to see which ones can match/suit the genre you mainly work in (you don't want to be a classical musician playing in the House Of Blues).

Performing live grants you more advantages than disadvantages (in fact, there are practically no disadvantages), such as:

*Experience - One of the things you'll need during life in general and it's also an important thing for live performance. The more accustomed you are to performing in front of a large number of people, the better the show you can put on.

*Popularity/Reputation -  You can increase it in the music industry if you do great live performances (i.e. Kanye West) and that also increases your fan base which means more people will want to see you and that means more money for you.

*More money - indicating from the above points (experience & popularity/reputation), the more you have of both, then more people will want to see which means you'll have to move to bigger venues and that will mean prices for tickets will increase and that will increase your pocket size.