Why Do We Need Music Labels, Anyway?
If you want to learn more about the inner workings of music labels and what they can do for you, you’ve hit the right page. I'm going to go over what the label is designed for, and do a quick dive into the history of music labels. That might give insight into why a lot of artists start their own labels instead of looking for an already established one. This summarizes the inner working structure of a label company and how they came to be.
History of the Record Label
Back in the 1800s, when phonographs began getting popular and commercialized, there came mass production and the establishment of the first major record companies. We see Deutsche Grammophon in Germany and the Gramophone Company in the UK. There was Thomas A. Edison Company, Victor Talking Machine Company, and the Columbia Phonograph Company in the US. An offshoot of Columbia Phonograph in Washington DC was started in the UK under the name Columbia Graphophone Co. Ltd. They began popping up everywhere.
Eventually, the patents on audio recording tech expired and entered the public domain. Suddenly, anyone had access to recording equipment, and recording studios were born. With the popularity of live radio emerging, giant monopoly record companies like Victor lost power in the more industrialized record making efforts and changed their goals. Now they began consolidating themselves into record labels—also hooking up with film studios like MGM and Warner Brothers. By the 1900s, we see a lot of merging and companies buying each other out. Today, we have it all down to three major players; Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group. Everything else falls underneath, somewhere in the gangland.
Why do we still need record labels?
It’s the question every artist contemplates, and the answer really depends on how much work you’re willing to do yourself as a career musician. Record labels make things like marketing and negotiations easier. If you’re signed with a good one, you should be able to put most of your energy into making music, not worrying about numbers and advertising.
Major labels generally have a board of directors and various executives who oversee the entire hierarchy of the company and have the last word on major decisions. Next down the ladder you have a label liaison, who works as the main communication between the artist and the company. Think of them as a priest; the middleman between a congregation and their god. They have other responsibilities too, like getting your CD into stores. Label Liaisons can also be teams; consisting of label managers, label directors and label assistants, depending on how much work is going into the promotion of an artist.
Now we have a legal department, which is absolutely vital. They cover contracts and step in when there’s a potential lawsuit or PR nightmare on the horizon.
Giant labels have separate marketing and promotion departments, but not every company can afford that luxury. It doesn’t make them a lesser company to work with; it just means bigger companies with with more people working can get things done faster.
Larger labels have their own media department, responsible for building a presence for an artist online and in print. The publicity department works to actively get the word out; they deal with radio and tv coverage, and act as the artist’s PR if the artist doesn’t already have their own PR person. Lastly, there’s a sales department in charge of the retail aspect of merchandising, ticketing, etc.
And then there are smaller and indie labels. If you want to understand how they will work for you, just consolidate everything and expect one or a couple of people to be running everything by themselves. In this respect, you may not get coverage on major media outlets and television stations, and you definitely won’t get all the bells and whistles of production and promotion that bigger companies provide. Most companies operate with the above list, some have even more extensive departmental structuring.
In the past, record labels had their own in-house recording studios. Today, they set up sessions and schedules for their artists with independently owned studios.
Now that you know the inner workings of what a music label can do for you, how do you get signed by one?
If you’ve decided it’s in your best interest to go ahead and proposition yourself for signing, you’ll want to do your homework and figure out which label will be more aligned with your work and who you are. Narrow it down and start learning everything you can about each company you’d like to work with. Think of it like you’d think of seducing a potential date. (I'm not kidding. It works for every kind of networking scenario—people like to be "courted".) Find out what turns that big company on; what does their current roster of artists look like? Who is on their A & R team, and what are these people like? In other words, stalk the company. Find out exactly what they’re all about. Then blow up your social media to start getting some attention. That’s an entirely different article.
Major record labels are like investment machines. They put money into your musical ideas, and they want the R.O.I. They are constantly bombarded with propositions, and cannot possibly take in every artist who flies in front of their window. If you’re not a celebrity in the industry already, then your best bet is an independent label. That’s where a lot of artists decide to start their own.
Indie labels can be pretty great. They’re a love child. People who start indie labels are usually artists themselves, and they’re putting everything they have into them. You still need to shop around, though, because in every industry, you’ll have those who aren’t so passionate simply trying to capitalize on something they know nothing about. So hunt down your genre, look at the artists those labels are dealing with, and start building your list.
