Task 1.

1. Record Labels
Task 1
Adam Brown

2. What is a record label?
A record label is an institution that is formed for the publication and marketing of
music. They guide the production and distribution of the music, enforce the
copyright of the artist and search for/develop artists. Within the music industry,
there are major record labels and independent record labels. A major record label
holds the higher annual sale percentages, and they are able to self-distribute.
Independent record labels are much smaller and self-fund, generally without the
support of the major labels.

3. Our artist’s label
I believe that our artist would be part of an independent label. This is because I
believe that, under an independent label, our artist would be able to achieve more
creative freedom as they would not be constrained by a major label’s production
of music and image. It would also make sense as the artist is early in their career
so unless they were scouted early on by a major label, they would be part of an
independent label to start their career. Also, the electropop genre is part op the
pop genre; as it is one of the most popular genre, it would be a lot harder for a new
artist to be identified into the mainstream.

4. What current label would our artist be signed to?
I believe that our artist would be signed to RCA Records, a label under the
ownership of Sony Music UK. This is because the label has artists signed across
the electropop genre, including David Bowie, Giorgio Moroder, Jean-Michel Jarre,
Kesha and Justin Timberlake. The label is currently set within the UK, which is
ideal as our artist is from the UK and will release music there to begin with.

5. Brief label history
RCA Records is an American record label formed in 1901, with its current
headquarters in New York. RCA Records (UK) is a separate label of Sony
Music UK formed in 2006, and it signs UK artists as well as importing
American artists. This combination is good for popularity, as there is a
wider variety of artists that are mainstream under one label. That label
then becomes known for good artists, which increases the chances of our
artist growing and being recognised internationally.

6. Copyright is the legal protection of material released by an artist, enforced and
controlled by the artist’s label. It means that the ‘content creator’ or the artist and
the label own exclusive rights, and can either remove any breaches of the
copyright law or they can sue if an individual or a company if they have been
infringing copyright e.g. if they have been making money off of unauthorised
sales. Any material released with the copyright logo has been copyrighted by the
labels that have released it.
Copyright

7. Influence of copyright on our video
Using the research I have done of copyright and record labels, I
understand the need for the correct copyright labelling to be done by the
record labels; this will help for my work to look realistic and professional,
improving its quality. To keep within the copyright law, I will not alter with
the song in any way whatsoever and I will email the label that has the
exclusive rights to the song, asking for permission on whether we can use
this song for a non-monetary and educational purpose.

8. How we are going to use record labels and copyright in our product?
To correctly use copyright within our products, we will put the correct copyright
labelling on both our music video and our digipak to make sure that we do not
breach the copyright law, as we are showing that it is our original content and we
have exclusive rights to our product. We will also use the logo of our artist’s label
to make it clear to the audience who the record label for our artist is. To make
sure we don’t infringe the original content creators, we will email the label for
permission.