Record labelsRebecca Preston

What is a record label and what do they do?

A record label is the brand associated with the marketing of the music recordings and music videos.A record label is the company that:

● markets and promotes the artist/song● coordinates the production, manufacture and distribution of music● enforces copyright protection of the song and music videos● conducts talent scouting and development of new artists● maintain contracts with recording artists and their managers

Is the artist signed to a major or independent record label?

Our artist will be signed to an major record label because they will have a bigger budget for the music video, this means that the artist can have better locations, more props and more costumes. The artist will also have a wider audience because the record label is well known, the record label will have more money to promote the artist and the song.

Our artist will be most suited to Cash money record label because they are most suited to the genre of the music that are artist is creating, this is hip hop/R&B music.

History of the record label

Cash money records was founded in 1991 by two brothers Bryan and Ronald WIlliams, today it is a subsidiary of universal music group. They have signed artists such as Drake, Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, Tyga and Christina Milian. This record label has had some problems with copyright and were sued for $15 million because they claimed that Lil Wayne's song “Bedrock” was stolen from Done deal.They specialise in many different types of music and they do not have just one specific genre of music from their artists.

What is copyright and how are the record labels responsible?

“Copyright is a form of intellectual property that allows individuals such as artists, composers and writers to own the fruits of their creativity”. Copyright is the right to a person, song or writing.

The producers control their work and where it is used, copyright can be granted to someone or it can be sold to someone. If the work is not your own you may have to ask permission because the song is not yours.

What do you need to consider as you are using copyrighted music?

When I am creating my music video i need to consider the type of music that i use and where i post the music video. The music is not my own and i cannot make money from the music video that i create because i did not create the song.

When I create the music video I can post it on youtube because that is a free site and anyone can view it for free and I won't make money from it.

How are you going to use what you have learned about record labels and copyright?

There are many things that you need to consider when making a music video, they are the promotion of the song/advertising and copyright. I have also learned that I cant use the music video to make money or say that the song is my own as this is against the law because it is owned by someone else.