Distribution

There are many distribution methods available to artists today. One way it seems most artists are availing of is that of digital distribution.

Definition of Distribution
Distribution is how albums get into shops. Distribution companies sign deals with record labels  that gives them the right to sell that label's products to record stores that have an account with that distributor. The distributor takes a cut of income from each album sold and then pays the label the remaining balance.

News on Distribution
Now there is a lot more of illegal distribution than legal, and to respond to this the music industry took up substantial legal action. The industry succeeded in closing down popular file-sharing network Napster, however after this received a significant slow down in revenues which almost proved fatal.  By 2012 digital music sales had topped physical sales. This has become more of option for listeners due to the increase in popularity of sites like Itunes and other options available on the android market.  However although the increase in digital music legal downloads, the revenues from CD's has not been recovered. The 2008 British Music Rights survey showed that 80% of people in Britain wanted a legal P2P service, however only half of the respondents thought that the music's creators should be paid. This website is useful in regards to the increase in digital music distribution: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-18278037.
     

Scenario of change in Music Distribution

Assume you live in New York and you make a watch you want to sell. You take your watch to the nearest watch store and ask the owner if you can sell it in their shop. They agree and ask how much you want to get paid if it sells. You tell the owner $10 You return to the store a month later, your watch is gone, the owner hands you $10, however you have no idea how much the watch sold for. Maybe it was given away, maybe it was sold for a million dollars. 

The next day you get a call from Joe at Joe Smith Watch Distribution.  Joe tells you he is a watch distributor from Chicago who can help you sell more watches.  If you are interested, you can send him all your watches and he will store them, insure them, inventory them and more.

In addition to warehousing, he also tells you that he has a sales force of 40 people that walk all around the country to watch stores showing the new watches to the owners and he mails out a paper catalog each month to 4,000 watch stores.

Back at his warehouse, he has 20 more people that pick, pack and process the orders.  If a watch is damaged, it is sent back and Joe Smith fixes it.  Each time a watch leaves his warehouse, you will get paid regardless of if Joe gets paid. 

Finally, Joe will provide you opportunities to market your watch in the store.  For example, it will be displayed up front when people walk in.

In return for all these services, Joe asks to be paid 25% of the money earned from each watch sale. If a watch sells for $10, Joe will get paid $2.50 and you get the rest.

This is the music industry - only instead of watches, it's CDs, and record labels hire people to make their "watches".

• http://www.tunecore.com/guides/promote_introduction  This website is useful for information on the changes within music distribution

Record Labels

Identify a variety of record labels and identify the owners of these labels.

For this task I'm going to look into 5 different record labels from 5 different genre's of music - Electronic, Indie/Rock, Pop, Country and HipHop and give an explanation for each of them. I'm also going to look into their ownership. Are they independant or part of a conglomerate?

Electronic

Downstream Records



Downstream Records are a record label based in London, England. There motto is "a label dedicated to bringing you “electronica” in all its forms." It is an independent label which was opened in 2004 by Damon Vallero, a previous producer of music in this genre. He had previously ran Hard Techno label Electrocom, however he didn't have much scope with this label because it was predominently Hard Techno. 
     Orginally from South Africa, he joined together with friends to create 2 singles under Warner, however they didn't achieve much success. He then moved to England in order to start producing music, the actual process of creating the music wasn't for him.
     Due to proliferation of music genres and advances in technology it is now almost virtually impossible for one label to focus on one set genre and keep expanding their business. For this reason Downstream Records have branched out into a variety of Electronic music under many different guises. This label has been rather successful gaining airplay on big stations such as Radio One, and winning the Diesel 2002 Music Competition in the house category. The label markets their products through a variety of media including a website,  a facebook page, a twitter account, arkada and last fm.
     Their goals for the future include branching out into further fields of techno and keep their music diverse and fresh. They also want to keep reaching out into as wide a market as possible. When I take into consideration the above points and the fact that this company is an independent label, I would say they have been rather successful in their field. They have realised the development of technology and the greater need for diversity and applied this to the label in a successful way. 


Indie/Rock

Aardvark Records



Aardvark Records is an independent british label whose main genre of music is Indie Rock, however they also deal with other genres such as Electronic, Pop and Country. They rose to fame due to their uptake in new distribution techniques. This was mainly through social media sites such as Youtube, Twitter and podcasts. They are based in Cornwall and were started by Andrew Reeve and Alex de Savoia. The original intention for this company was to champion local bands in Cornwall, when this label was started Cornwall wasn't exactly on the world stage for music. This labels main strengths were due to its recognition that digital music was going to level the playing fields for small independent labels and major labels alike. 
     This label unlike others is a fair trade music producer and publisher, they ensure that their music artists receive a higher than average royalty split and that their expenditure is kept at a minimum level. Along with this they also refer to themselves as a "Green Label" ensuring that their actions will not impact negatively upon the environment. This includes production of Eco-Friendly CD's and relying heavily on digital music and the internet thus reducing the impact of their carbon footprint.
     Some of the methods they introduced for the distribution of music include :

• Podcasts
• Blogging
• Online Streaming Sites (LastFm)
• Social Networks
• Paying fans to share their music via their own sites.

The company also have a very strict policy on copyright, staying up-to-date with the different illegal download sites and having their music removed if they spot it. They have a wide customer base ranging from Teenagers to Adults in the 30-35 range and generally have received a good response. Their blog is a good point of reference for the news and occurences within the company: http://aardvarkrecords.blogspot.co.uk

Pop

EMI Group

* This as a seperate label is no longer as of  2012.
EMI was a british multinational music recording and publishing company.  Standing for Electric and Music Industries it was founded in the 1930's as a merger of 2 companies. They state on their website that they bring "artists and fans together by driving action and creating value wherever music is experienced". They say that they base all of their work on the origins of music and try to show this through their modern music. They have been at the forefront of music production and distribution wiht EMI engineers developing the stereo recording, electric television, radar and assisting with the development of magnetic tape. 
     Some of the pop artists they represent include David Guetta, Kylie Minogue, Katy Perry and Cold Play. 
However in recent years they suffered a lot within the Zombie Economy because they didn't adapt as well to the introduction of digital music, relying more heavily on the physical distribution of music. That being said in 2011 they sold their music operations to Universal Music at £1.2 billion. They therefore are now a subisdiary(child) of this Major Label.  They kept the name of EMI due to its worldwide recognition, and set up a UK subsidiary in the form of Virgin EMI. 
     At one stage EMI was the largest music publishing company in the world. They have copyright of over 1.3 million songs. 
     In regards to copyright, they adhere to principles set out for musical recordings. 

• C1 - Publishing Rights
• C2 - Master Recording Rights.

In recent years they have faced extreme criticism due to their copyright held over the Martin Luther King speech "I Have A Dream". Within the above principles there is a further 4 sets of rights:

• R1 - Reproduction
• R2 - Communication (R2A-Distribution, R2B - Public Performance)
• R3 - Adaptation
• R4 - Synchronization 

The below diagram gives a fairly easy explanation of the above points:

Also refer to this website for an indepth explanation of the above points:

http://www.emimusic.com/openemi/basic-rights/

Country

Sony Music Nashville

Sony Music Nashville is the country music branch of Sony Music. It is a conglomerate of 3 other country music labels as well as a Christian Music Label, namely:

• Arista Nashville
• Columbia Nashville
• RCA Nashville
• Provident Music Group.

In terms of distribution this company between January 2011 and February 2012, signed deals with 2 companys regarding distribution of their music. Therefore all their music distribution is done through these other companies through methods such as CD's and on the itunes market. This is really the only interaction which they have with digital music. 

    Noteable artists in this label include Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert and Brad Paisley. In 2012, Sony Music as a whole company introduced a new copyright policy, this has involved them reducing their physical product in line with the digital age. When researching look at this http://www.sonymusic.com/copyrightinformation. This area of the Sony website contains good information on the new and old copyright and distribution patterns of the Sony company as a whole. Sony Music Nashville as a subsidiary to Sony have to abide by the copy right procedures they have in place.

HipHop 

Young Money Entertainment

Young Money Entertainment is a record label which was founded by rapper Lil Wayne. He has since stepped down as president with the new president being Cortez Bryant. They are based mainly in the HipHop and Rap music genre. They deal predominently with the production of music and ownership while using other distribution companies namely:

• Republic (In the US)
• Universal Island Records (Outside of the US)

This label is an imprint of Cash Money Records which is overall distributed by Universal. Because Lil Wayne is signed by Cash Money Records, all artists who are part of this company are therefore signed to Cash Money Records. It is therefore part of a conglomerate. Some well known artists who are part of this conglomerate are names such as Drake, Nicki Minaj and Christina Milan. In regards to Cash Money Records, in 1998 they signed a $30 million pressing and distribution contract with Universal, entitling the label to 85% of its royalties, 50% of its publishing revenues and ownership of all masters.