Music Industry Assignment 1.Docx 1

8/12/2019 Music Industry Assignment 1.Docx 1

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Music Industry Assignment 1 Areas and Roles in the Music Industry

Record companies

Record companies are built up of many different layers, each fulfilling different roles in thecompany. Their objective is to profit off of the music industry in any ay they can, be it

selling songs, live performances, media, internet etc, thus one of the most important roles inthe company is the A!R department "Artist ! Repertoire#. $ne of their main roles is to scoutout potential artists and performers that they thin% ould suit the label. They find the artists

by having their scouts go out to different venues, festivals and performances to find ne, upand coming and unsigned acts. The A!R scout must be on the ball, and up to date on hat&shot in the industry. This is important because if they ere to recruit several bands or artists totheir label and neither of them sold any albums, the scout could lose his job. 'oever, this isnot the sole purpose of the A!R department. They also focus on artist development loo%ingout ho they ill be targeted toard, and the types of songs and genres of music they ill be

performing, to do this they hoo% them up ith artist features and lin% them up ith producersthat the band could have decent chemistry ith, to furthermore create the desired sound. They

help out the artist ith the recording, boo%ing studios, paying for anything they need,providing them ith a decent facility to create their music. $ne of the advantages of beingA!R is you get to go to events, concerts, festivals and get inside clubs for free because ofyour record label contacts. (ou also get paid depending on ho good you are at your job,hich can be a good and bad thing depending on ho ell you do. Record companies ma%e a

profit by selling songs and albums, but first they must go through a strict process and coverall the costs of getting that song out there. They must contact the manager and set a meetingith them, discussing hat genre of songs they ould li%e them to do, if they are not ritingor composing any of the songs themselves a songriter or composer ill be contacted by therecord company this means the record label ill be re)uired to pay them royalties. $ncethat is done, they ill be paired up ith a producer, ho ill basically ta%e control of and runthe recording sessions the producer is given a certain amount of money to pay off anyoneor%ing in the studio, for e*ample engineers and session or%ers ho may or may notcome in, depending on the type of song and if it&s a band or not. The record label must covermar%eting, and get their specialists to figure out here abouts and ho the song is going to betargeted toards, and here they can base promotions to optimi+e the success of the song.They do this by loo%ing at statistics and carefully figuring out their target audience. $nce themar%eting have figured out the best locations, the promotion team ill ta%e over and dothings such as concerts, put up billboards and leaflets, pay for local radio play and advertiseon the T all of hich are very effective methods of promotion. After the promotion iscomplete, they can start manufacturing and figuring out ays in hich they can distribute the

material, such as over the internet on iTunes and distributing them the old ay on -s.Major labels pay around about /0.0 to /0. per -, this figure doesn&t seem li%e much, butthe cost of manufacturing -s can really add up hen you&re running a label that has soldmillions of albums and songs. Record companies receive around about /10.00 per -, so asingle album can potentially ma%e them millions.

Music Publishing Companies

Music publishing companies see% out song riters and composers. They help them to pay forcosts for the e)uipment they used to compose and rite songs. The music publishingcompanies ill provide the artists ith advice and guidance, and give feedbac% on their or%as to hat %ind of music they should be loo%ing to come up ith, in order to better help them

ma%e more money and ma%e the publishing company more money. They are thefacilitators for the songriters and composers. They help the composers2songriters on their


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label get or%, and they ta%e care of all of the commissions and upfront fees. They %eep acopyright archive of all the or% by their songriters and composers, for legal trouble and

proof that they made it in case any lasuits may come up. The company produces demorecordings of their songriters2composers to help promote them and get them %non, so theyget more or%. They produce and license the production of printed music, and online music

especially no since it&s becoming such a massive thing, soon to be even bigger than printedmusic. The music publisher promotes the composers and songriters to performers,

broadcasters and record companies in hope that they ill use some of their or%.3erforming Rights 4ociety is a music publishing company. They collect the license fees on

behalf of the song riters, composers and publishers. If someone plays music in public thecomposer or songriter ill get money from the licensing.3ublic 3erformance 5icense anyhere that plays music or anything from the radio in a

public place is re)uired to have a 335 license. They pay money to play out songs, and themoney from those songs goes to the performer of the song.Live Music Companies

5ive music companies setup live music events for artists. They organi+e and control every

aspect of a live music event. At the venue they ill organi+e the stage, there ill be a stagemanager ho oversees everything going on the stage, and multiple people setting things upincluding a production manager ho chec%s all of the sound e)uipment and produces theevent. They sort out the prices for the tic%ets, these can vary massively on the venue, andhere abouts you ould li%e to be placed in the event the artist also ma%es a huge differentto price, for e*ample if it as some international superstar such as 6ustin 7ieber, his tic%etsould probably cost a lot since there&d be a lot of demand to go there, and he ouldgenerally only be performing at large venues. They promote the event by putting up

billboards around local areas to gain attention, placing adverts on T and radio, handing outleaflets, putting up posters on alls and at clubs, another techni)ue becoming increasingly

popular is advertising over the internet and on social netor%ing sites because it is easy to doand relatively cheap. The artists playing at the venue could possibly have their people supplymerchandise to sell at the event, to increase profits made. The live music companies ouldhave contacts in the food catering industry, to sell food and alcohol at the events the livemusic company ould provide them ith 8 amount of money, and the catering companyould ta%e care of everything else. There ould have to be someone financing the event,carefully atching over budgets to ma%e sure people don&t overspend, allocating it to eachdepartment involved in the live music company. It is also important that security is at theevent to stop people from getting on the stage, and also to stop people starting trouble andfights. They ma%e a profit through selling tic%ets and from sponsors from other companies,ho ant to be a part of the event.

Artist ManagementA manager helps the artist achieve hat they ant, or these days help achieve hat the recordlabel ants. The manager organi+es and steers the artist toard the desired outcome, sincethe artist manager is often very closed and involved ith the artist. They control the businessand more diplomatic side of the artist, figuring out ho they can come up financially. Theyma%e vital career decisions for the artist. The artist trusts them to %no hat&s best for the

business and career side of their music. The artist and manager must have utmost faith in eachother, since they spend more time together than anybody else in the record label orManagement -ompany. The artist management runs the business side of the artists.

Role in a record label

Record company Managing irector


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The managing director of the record label oversees the labels activities and projects, ma%ingsure everything run smoothly. They facilitate for other departments in the record label, andget them hat they need. They spea% to artists to ma%e sure everything is going good. Theynegotiate recording deals. The managing director ill spea% ith the artists and also assistith their image. They&ll help ith things li%e deciding logos to represent the band, hich

ill be printed out for band merchandise and could potentially be used for anything to banddistributes, and also promotion it&s important that they have a recogni+able label. Theydiscuss ith other departments in the label, and set regular meetings to ensure the band ismeeting up to their full potential. The managing director helps discuss and arrange multiplethings, this means he must constantly consult ith, and stay in touch ith the otherdepartments in the label. 9or e*ample, the managing director may assist choosing acts to

perform at one of the labels events. The managing director ill help decide, and have a say inthe final decision on signing a band or certain act: he goes to see them perform, and tal%s tothem to see if they are up to or%ing on a record label. The managing director must ma%esure that the band ill be an act that they can use and profit off of, for e*ample, even if theyli%ed a certain acts songs and music, they may not necessarily ant to sign them due to the

politics involved, for instance if they ere e*tremely talented musicians but also veryunreliable and late for every rehearsal, the managing director could then see them as aliability to the record label. The managing director must update the other departments in thelabel on hat&s happening, this re)uires the managing director to be focused and on the ball.The managing director is constantly receiving updates and press releases about bands underhis labels control. 'e stays in contact ith the band manager to also %eep them updated, anddiscuss courses of action that ould benefit the band.

Record company CEO

The -;$ s at the top of the record company, he oversees all departments in the company. 'estays in the public&s eye, as he also serves as a representation of the company, therefore the-;$ may parta%e in community and fund raising activities, to give the label more positiverecognition. -;$&s ma%e a salary based ontop of ho much profit is made by the recordlabel, most of them also get a guaranteed money payment if they decide to leave thecompany. ue to the high level of public visibility re)uired for the role of -;$, they must beell presented and ell spo%en as previously stated, they serve as a representation toardho the company or%s and functions. The -;$ may also serve as a spo%es person for thelabel. A -;$ must also be a good manager, as they are ta%ing the reins of the label: thisre)uires them to have management s%ills and planning or%ed out don to the bone. Theymust also be business savvy and have an e*tensive %noledge on the ays in hich theindustry and business or%s, in order for him to be able to correctly ta%e control of and

facilitate for the many internal departments in the company.

A&R scouts

They go out to find talent and ne artists. They must %eep up ith hat&s hot in the industryand %eep their eyes open for fresh talent, they can find talent through things such as concerts,clubs and online media outlets such as youtube and also social netor%ing ebsites. Theyrecommend artists to the record label. They ill listen to a lot of music, but the majority ofthe time they on&t listen to much of the demos people send in because they have so littletime and are )uite busy. They or% long hours, and the pay often depends on ho ell theydo as an A!R scout hich could be both good and bad, depending on ho ell you do atyour job, usually most A!R scouts ill be re)uired to or% to jobs because the pay can be

)uite bad.


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Producer

3roducers are paid by the record labels to oversee and projects recording projects for songsand albums. 3roducers control everyone or%ing in the studio such as the engineer, session

players etc. It is his job to ensure a )uality project is produced and compiled, ith decentsound )uality. The producer can also help ith getting concepts and ideas for the music and

other more technological stuff li%e mi*ing and mastering. They ta%e control of the budget forthe project, given to them by the record labels they use this to pay everyone involved in therecording of the project.

Documents

Music Industry Assignment 1.Docx 1