Music Industry G322

Lesson Aims

To begin investigating independent record companies.

To understand how they may operate and target audiences differently than the majors

Music Industry G322

What are the pros of being signed to an independent record label?

What are the cons?

How do they operate differently from the majors?

Aardvark Records Ltd is one of the rising stars of the UK music industry.

We are a staunchly independent record label with a growing roster of original, new talent covering a variety of music genres: Indie rock, Americana, Alt Country, Commercial Dance,Electronica

We've racked up a series of firsts. We were one of the first record labels to use podcasting. We were one of the first labels to support internet radio. Other firsts include: providing music videos to YouTube, Google Video, Singingfool, ROO TV and a host of other online music video entertainment wesbites; providing full tracks on MySpace, Reverb Nation, Bebo and Last.fm; setting up a blog to share our thoughts about music industry developments and news; and using widgets for people to share our music and our videos with their mates.

Recent audio content provision deals such as the one struck with the gaming company Audio-Surf, is a continuation of our ethos...making music for the people - and not for our accountants.

You will need to research an independent record company of your choice.

This will give you individual knowledge for the exam.

You need to explore the following:

What genre of music/type of artists do they promote?

Who is their audience and how do they target them? Do they cater for niche audiences?

How has new technology developed their company?

How do they produce, distribute and market their artists?

If possible you should email and ask direct questions if you cannot answer these questions from their website.

Case Study

Research the following websites:

We7Spotifyhttp://www.audimated.com/Tunited.com

In the last two years grime's benefited hugely from the growth of independent record labels Boy Better Know, True Tiger and No Hats No Hoods),

online resources (leading retailer ukrecordshop. com, and grimepedia.co.uk), radio shows(Logan Sama Kiss FM grime show draws over 100,000 listeners,

1Xtra, Rinse FM), club and live nights (Dirty Canvas)