Choosing a record label

Independent MajorVS

XL are an independent record label, who are owned by Richard Russell. This label began as part of the Beggars Banquet Records and now is part of the Beggars Group of labels. This label operates across a wide variety of genres and this is illustrated in the artists that are signed to it.

Well-known artists signed to the label: M.I.A. AdeleFKA TwigsJungleRadioheadThe XXTyler, The CreatorVampire WeekendDizzee RascalThe ProdigyThe White Stripes

Videos from these artists.• In the videos for these artists, they really reflect the lyrics of the song and also

reflect the genre of the particular song.• For example, in FKA Twigs’ video for ‘Pendulum’, she is seen to be suspended by

ropes; illustrating herself as a pendulum which clearly reflects the song title and therefore shows how she is focused on the music and the visual of what she is trying to say rather than thinking about the money side of the industry.

• Another example is in M.I.A’s video for ‘Paper Planes’. In the opening of the video, there is a simple shot of a paper plane flying towards a city landscape which I interpret as representing how the people in the city care too much about money and need to think more about the society they live in. This is also supported by the use of a repeated cash register noise in the song.

• After deciding what I thought the song was about and what it was used to represent, I researched the song’s meaning and what I found was really interesting so I thought I’d include it into this presentation.

• I had no idea the song was actually intended to be received as a message about stereotyping. I think this illustrates how people on independent labels such as XL Recordings have much more freedom and say what they think about things that are happening in the news or their views on society. This song was a hit in 2008 but some radio stations thought that it was too controversial to play, particularly because it contained gun shot noises and children singing about shooting and stealing.

Positives and negatives.• XL would be mainly focused on the

music and not making a profit, which would be a great thing for my new artist as she would have to make a name for herself before trying to make lots of money from being an artist.

• They work with a wide range of artists from all different genres so the artist wouldn’t be made to fit any particular mould and so would be able to do the music they like and want to do.

• Freedom to be who they want and mix with other artists.

• The label wouldn’t have a lot of money to produce the album and the music video so this would mean that it could possibly end up looking really basic.

• May not be very easy for artist to make an album, so may end up having to upload to cheaper places like iTunes (although this isn’t necessarily bad because this is still a global company so would reach millions upon millions of potential consumers).

• May be too unorganised due to them being an informal label.

• Less influence on the music industry because of size.

Sony Music Entertainment is a major record label (and are part of the ‘Big 3’ – Sony, Universal and Warner). Because of how big it is, it also has lots of subsidiary labels including Columbia Records, RCA Records and Epic Records.

Well-known artists signed to Sony Music Entertainment:Fifth HarmonyMeghan TrainorOne DirectionSiaT.IWhitney HoustonAC/DCBob DylanCarrie UnderwoodCalvin Harris

Videos from these artists.• Because these artists share the same ideology from the institution they are signed

to, the music videos and songs that these artists release are quite generic and similar to those that are in the charts alongside their competition.

• A prime example of this is Meghan Trainor’s video for ‘All About That Bass’, as this is a song all about how people that are on the larger side are still beautiful and shouldn’t be judged by others. I don’t think the lyrics for this song are very ‘pro all body types’ though as she says ‘go ahead and tell them skinny bitches die…nah im just playing’, which is saying that larger women are more attractive than women that aren’t.

• I also think this song is used by the record label Sony to suggest that they think everyone is beautiful and that they don’t discriminate against anyone so that people believe the song and therefore want to buy their products and consume their music.

• The video for ‘Bo$$’ by Fifth Harmony is one that tries to focus on women empowerment and this is again used to portray Sony as a really positive label, trying to make people consume their products and in return make money from it.

Positives and negatives.• Major record label; will have lots of

money to spend on production and promotion for artist’s products. Products may look better because they could be done more professionally and more time could be taken on creating them to make them more appealing.

• Artist would be more likely to get noticed because more people know of Sony and therefore would be more likely to hear about new artists from them.

• Could create products in all different forms; for example a CD, an online mp3 and iTunes.

• Main focus is the money that they receive from their artist’s music and/or merchandise, not the music itself. This wouldn’t be good for the artist I have created because I want the music to be the main focus and then if the money happened to increase and she became more popular, I would want that to happen through her being herself and not being moulded by a major company to conform to be someone who they need in their company.

• Label focuses a lot on pop music, which isn’t the genre I am looking at as my artist is specifically indie-pop.

• Less freedom to be who they want and create something they like, as a lot of the decisions would be made by the label.

Which label?• I think the best choice for the artist that is going to be in my music video

and that I am going to create an album and advert for would be the independent label XL Recordings.

• This is because they are more focused on the music that the artist creates and this would be the ideology I would like my artist to have so that people in the music industry would take her seriously. I think that putting the artist straight into a major record label would possibly cause her to be moulded into something she wasn’t to fit a specific model of something the label needs.

• I also would choose XL Recordings because they will have more experience with dealing with a variety of genres and not just the pop genre which is the main genre in Sony Music Entertainment.

Parental Advisory Label (PAL)• This is a sticker that appears on a lot of albums in the music industry, due to the taboo

language that the artist uses.• This is more of a convention within the rap genre, as artists like Nicki Minaj and Eminem

are well-known for their use of explicit language in their songs.• This allows the person searching for albums to know that what they will hear on the album

will be explicit, and that if this is something that they don’t want to hear or is something that will offend them then they shouldn’t buy it. It works as more of a warning than anything else, as the album can be sold to anyone and the artist or institution can’t be blamed for their products being consumed by minors as they have had the warning they need.

• This isn’t something that my product will need to have because my artist isn’t going to be explicit due to her audience being quite young and I want her music to represent her ideology.