Universal Music Group

Martin Watts

Associated Labels

Interscope Records

Island Records

Mercury Nashville

Verve Records

Artists

Interscope Records

Black Eyed Peas Blink 1-8-2 G-Unit Jimmy Eat World N.E.R.D Wolfmother

Island Records

Justin Bieber Mariah Carey The Feeling Jennifer Lopez Elton John Mumford & Sons

These two labels feature some huge names. They are

definitely more main stream Labels,

found much higher up on the “long tail”

This gives the audience a sense of security,

using a well known label lets them know these

are official and respectable artists –

possibly “safe” music?

Artists #2

Mercury Nashville

Shania Twain Julie Roberts Easton Corbin Sugarland Billy Currington Jamey Johnson

Verve Records

Cannonball Adderley Nat Adderley Curtis Amy Roy Ayers Jimmy Giuffre Gigi Gryce

These artists are very niché compared to the above

names. These types of artists will rarely, if ever, feature in charts or music channels.

They will feature much further down the “long tail”

These types of artists are all signed to similar labels to keep with this independent feel.

Audiences do not recognise their label, and therefore feel as if they are supporting real, relatable artists. It might not be “safe official”

music, but buying their music gives a sense of supporting real people, as appose to huge

industries.

Production Interscope + Island Records:

Being a more main stream label, with famous chart topping artists, Interscope produce the majority of their music on physical CD’s.

Merchandise:

Having the more popular artists signed allows Interscope and Island to jump on the band wagon, and produce as much merchandise as they can. A wagon much less accessible by niché artists.

Marketing Interscope + Island Records:

Constantly being in the charts means a large percentage of their advertising comes from word of mouth. If a song does well, the label itself does much less advertising, as music channels and radio stations promote it for them.

These two major These two major labels own facebook labels own facebook accounts, reaching accounts, reaching almost 16,000 fans almost 16,000 fans

in totalin total

Justin Bieber was founded completely through Youtube

by Justin Timberlake and Usher. Without the

contribution of his own Media affiliation, he would have never been signed to their

label.

Production Mercury Nashville + Verve Records:

These two labels support very niche artists, not often heard of outside of their fixed fan base. Although CD’s are produced, they are no where near as massed produced as other mainstream artists. For this reason, the majority of their music released is produced through online mp3 files. These types of artists build the foundations of the long tail, found on Amazon.com and Itunes.com

Merchandise:

A very very small amount, if any, merchandise are produced for these types of bands. T-shirts may be supplied during concerts, but outside of live performances there is none.

Marketing Mercury Nashville + Verve Records:

When searching online for artists, often sites like “last FM” offer a supply of similar suggestions. Many artists such as Easton Corbin and Jimmy Giuffre rely heavily on these types of sites to recommend their music to already fans of other artists.

This type of exchange relates to the “long tail”

Black Eyed PeasJennifer Lopez

Jimmy Eat WorldMumford & Sons

Jimmy Giuffre Easton Corbin

31,609,568 plays

4,158,003 plays

52,680 plays

Stocked? Black Eyed Pees + Mariah Carey;

Tesco

HMV

Amazon

ebay

itunes

WHSmith Easton Corbin + Curtis Amy;

Amazon

Major artists signed to Interscope Records and Island

Records, can be found on nearly every Music related site

However, niche artists signed to Mercury and Verve, are only

found on Amazon (who make 57% of their profits from selling

these smaller less popular songs/artists.)