Blog post 1: The UK music industry

RESEARCH
I researched the current UK music scene to understand the music industry and the major labels influences in the UK. I found out about three main existing labels which dominate the UK music industry and their subsidiaries, signed artists and performers. Our fictional artist is signed to Sony Music, a major label, and so I needed to understand what kind of artists they represent and the conventions of major labels.  Also it enabled me to look at my artists competition and so spot gaps in the market within the pop music industry which I could use as a unique selling point for my own artists to give them the edge.

The Music Industry is dominated by three conglomerates who are all vertically and horizontally integrated:

Sony BMG

Universal Music Group

Warner Music Group

Shows that the big three conglomerates dominate the market 2016 to 2017

Making music with a record label is very different to working independently as you have funding from your label for the production of your music and video. The brief says my artist works for an "independent media production company" meaning the music video is handled by a smaller company, this means that there is less high budget cinematography, but the artist gets more creative freedom. The production process is still similar to big companies.

How record companies work:

Labels create legally binding contracts for artists that means they must produce a certain quantity of music over a certain time limit. The artist is given an advanced payment to support them but then only receives royalty payments after the label receives all the money first. In return the label markets, distributes, gives artist a studio and puts them in touch with professionals that can help them e.g. producers. They also own the brand and music of the artist.

This research data shows how little the artist gets payed compared to the label and others working in the industry behind the scenes. It shows that the artists have to push merchandise, so that the profit margin is larger and so they are seen as a valuable asset to the company and so that they get more money.

Pay-out according to role 

The labels use their distribution network to get exclusive contracts for their artists which helps the artist achieve huge success.

How individuals in the music industry come together to create an artist and their music - shows a large part of the artist is constructed

The labels have subsidiaries which specialise in different areas, such as different genres. For example  Insanity Records is a subsidiary of Sony Music with a more independent approach to artist development.

Sony Music Entertainment 

An American corporation part of the Sony Corporation of America, which in turn is a subsidiary of the Japanese based Sony company. SME (Sony Music Entertainment)  finds its roots in the 1930s when multiple labels merged into one, which then bought by Columbia records which was bought by Sony in 1987.

After Universal, Sony is the second best label in terms of popularity in the pop genre. In terms of my project this is important because, as a pop artist I will have to follow conventions and look very professional. 

Shows how the big three dominates the Hot 100 and Hot 40. They produce big hits that do well and attract a mass market. They want artists that are going to produce huge hits that bring in a large profit. The second largest label in the Hot 100 and Hot 40 is Sony Music Entertainment.

Both horizontally and vertically integrated and have their own in house production teams and recording studios and so they can maximise profits and don't have to work with anyone else. There is controversy as artists can be left with unfair deals as the companies are powerful, have high profile lawyers and lots of money.

In the UK Sony Music has stand alone projects to promote artist from within the UK. So if my artist is from the UK Sony.

Sony has a huge number of subsidiaries that are genre- specific or flagship:

2019 roster of subsidiaries for Sony Music

Sony's values and purpose- suggests what they are looking for in an artist :

From Sony website- Sony's purpose and values

Sony Music's about page featuring its most famous artists and its history 

This shows that Sony is looking for commercially successful artists and so my artist will need to create profit. So on my website I will push my merch, tour tickets and music so that more people buy it and I become a valued party for the label. In order to get people to buy merch I will need a strong brand identity and star identity so that they buy into my artist, visit the website and then buy products. 

From this research I have learnt important information about the big conglomerate that influence the current UK music industry and dominate the industry. I looked at how the conglomerates work with the artists to create success and control the market. Sony would sign my artist because they will be fun, creative, have a mass market, loyal fan base that act as a fandom community. This community will buy merchandise and tour tickets and so my artist will be commercially successful. My artist will also be a role model for his fans by representing a charity and bringing relevant social issues to the front of his image. My song choice will be affected as Sony wants a song that will get into the Top 100 and hopefully Top 40 and so I will need to pick a successful song, that is poppy and fun. 

I looked at Sony Music in more detail so that I could understand what I needed to do in order to fulfil my brief. It influenced my planning and ideas as I learnt about the types of artists they sign and the main priorities of the conglomerate- creating profitable assets that feed back into the conglomerate.