contrast between major and independent record labels

There are many differences between the major record labels and the independent labels. One major difference between major and independent labels is the financial aspect. A major record label signs who "they" consider to be the most popular, and the major players of today's music. The major record label has the means to obtaining and using hundreds of millions of dollars, which allows them the ability to fund and promote the artists they sign in a variety of different media aspects. Whereas an independent music label does not have the huge funding that a major label does for promotion. An independent artist must contribute to helping promote their music. While this may not be something every artist would want to do, an independent artist that is hands on with their promotion is able to form a personal and unique bond with their fan base.

Most major record labels artists earn a 10-15% royalty on their music. But before an artist can receive their royalty their label must be clear of any debts relating to their music. Such as touring costs, album and video production and any advances the artists received. Money made from the music will first go to the label until all debts are covered, before the artist will ever start to receive any royalty's. Whereas, independent record labels offer a much higher royalty rate, because independent labels production costs are much lower than those of major labels. An independent label is common to offer the artists 40-75% in royalty's

major music label

Universal Music Group is an American major global music company. It is the largest of the big three music companies.
Universal Music Group owns Universal Music Publishing Group, which is the second largest music publishing company in the world.
The UMG global corporate headquarters are located in Santa Monica, California.

independent record label

Boy Better Know is a grime collective and record label founded by Jamie Adenuga (also known as JME) in late 2005. As a collective they are best recognised for their tracks including "Private Caller", "Duppy (Doin' It Again)" and "Too Many Man".

Recently, popular YouTube youth broadcaster SB.TV celebrated their "100 Million YouTube Views" mark by recording a Boy Better Know Cypher. At the start of the cypher, SBTV was congratulated by a series of celebrity musicians including Mary J. Blige, J. Cole, and Kelly Rowland, as well as YouTube's co-founder and former Chief Executive, Chad Hurley. The video has now reached over 1,000,000 views since its release.

Mark zuckerberg- Founder of Facebook

Born on May 14, 1984 in Dobbs Ferry, New York, Mark Zuckerberg co-founded the social-networking website Facebook out of his college dorm room. He left Harvard after his sophomore year to concentrate on the site, the user base of which has grown to more than 250 million people, making Zuckerberg a billionaire. The birth of Facebook was recently portrayed in the film 'The Social Network'.
Zuckerberg and his friends created a site that allowed users to create their own profiles, upload photos, and communicate with other users.
In 2005, Zuckerberg's enterprise received a huge boost from the venture capital firm Accel Partners. Accel invested $12.7 million into the network, which at the time was open only to ivy league students. Zuckerberg's company then granted access to other colleges, high school and international schools, pushing the site's membership to more than 5.5 million users by December 2005. The site then began attracting the interest of other companies, who wanted to advertize with the popular social hub. Not wanting to sell out, Zuckerberg turned down offers from companies such as Yahoo! and MTV Networks. Instead, he focused on expanding the site, opening up his project to outside developers and adding more features.

Founder of Napster

iTunes

iTunes is a media player and media library application developed by Apple inc. It is used to play, download, and organize digital audio and video on personal computers

sean Kingston

It becomes everyday buzz that new artists emerge on music industry but amid the heavy competition, sean Kingston was making strides in the point of his career that hardly any freshman do. Perhaps what makes Sean a big buzz out there is not only his reggae root but also his choice on avoiding profanity for his lyrics.

All in all, Sean was in healthy dose of music stream that he started taking aspiration on the field. Realizing how tough the industry is, Sean tried every possible way to get in touch with music producers. He ambitiously mailed every music-related people on MySpace but none was willing to answer.

 

The opportunity came when a message popped on his computer signed by J.R. Rotem. The producer was interested in Sean's different quality and asked him to come by. All fell into its place as coincidentally Sean was planning to migrate from his hometown to Miami, Florida himself. Upon meeting, more than impressed, Rotem believed that Sean has the quality to be a star.

 

Sean Kingston recieved his oppertunity also through the growing trend of social media.

impact illegal downlodaing has on the music industry

According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), 30 billion songs were illegally downloaded between 2004 and 2009. Even with sites like iTunes and Rhapsody offering legal downloads, peer-to-peer file sharing still exists. Illegally downloading music has had a significant impact on the music industry resulting in a loss of profits and jobs, and changing how music is delivered to the masses.

music sales in the United States have dropped 47 percent since Napster first debuted in 1999. The availability of free music has cost the music industry $12.5 billion in economic losses. To recoup some of these losses, the music industry has filed lawsuits against individuals who have been found to have illegally downloaded music. In some cases, individuals have been sued for thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.

impact in the future

The artists who make the music lose income because of illegal downloading. If the customer doesn't pay for the music, the record company doesn't get paid, and thus the record company cannot pay its artists for the download. This can discourage artists or cause them to seek other ways of making money besides focusing on music, such as going on tours, starting side businesses (like clothing companies) and seeking product endorsement deals.

Counter arguement

Contrary to the alarming claims of the music industry, illegal peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing can actually boost compact disc (CD) sales. For example, research shows that a major segment of file-sharers, or “samplers,” usually purchase an album on CD after downloading a few songs. It also demonstrates that P2P promotes albums as radio stations do: file-sharers typically download chart hits. It is recommended that music companies and record labels monitor P2P—instead of discouraging it—to devise new, effective promotional and marketing strategies.

Justin Beiber case study

Born March 1, 1994, in Stratford, Canada to a single mother, Justin Bieber took second place in a local talent competition but turned into a YouTube phenomenon. He signed a record contract with Usher and became the first solo artist to have four singles enter the Top 40 before the release of a debut album. His record "My World" has gone platinum in several countries. He lives and works in Atlanta.

Bieber always had an interest in music. His mother gave him a drum kit for his second birthday and, as he tells it, he was "basically banging on everything I could get my hands on."

But it was an obscure talent contest in his hometown, in which the 12-year-old Bieber finished second that put him on the road to superstardom. As a way to share his singing with family, Justin and his mom began posting clips of Bieber performing covers of Stevie Wonder, Micheal Jackson and Ne-Yo on YouTube.

The singing sensation, who rose to stardom in 2007 when he was discovered based on his music profile on YouTube, has built a music empire in just three short years. Among his many accomplishments are hit records, a movie, an autobiography, and even talking dolls made in his likeness. Justin bieber is a good example of an artist that has promoted himself through social media.

Lilly Allen case study

 

Lily Rose Beatrice Cooper better known by her birth name Lily Allen, now professionally known as Lily Rose Cooper, is an English recording artist, actress and fashion designer.

 She is the daughter of actor and musician Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. In her teenage years, her musical tastes evolved from glam rock to alternative. Allen abandoned school and concentrated on improving her performing and compositional skills. Afterwards, she created several demo songs and, near the end of 2005, she created a profile on MySpace where she made some of her recordings public.
A contract was signed with the label Regal Recordings, as the views on MySpace rose to tens of thousands. In 2006, she began to work on completing what would be her first studio album and its first mainstream single "Smile" reached the top position on the UK Singles Chart in July 2006. Her debut record, Alright, Still, was well received on the international market, selling over 2.6 million copies and brought Allen a nomination at the Grammy Awards, BRIT Awards and MTV Video Music Awards. She then began hosting her own talk-show, Lily Allen and Friends, on BBC Three.
Out of school and with no money in pocket she had to do something so she moved to Ibiza where her life changed after she met George Lamb, an influential A&R man and the former manager of Audio Bullys who became his manager.
In 2005 she signed a contract with Regal Records, a division of Parlophone/EMI but she met the real success after she uploaded three of the tunes to her MySpace page. The result was nothing short of astounding as she soon had 1.5 million people streaming her tracks while an additional 30,000 registered as friends.

greenshaw media department

www.greenshawmediadepartment.co.uk