"General Organization and Departments of Record Labels"
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Music Publishers |
All artists one goal is to land a major contract through a record label but it is crucial that you understand how those labels work. So, here is a basic look at how record labels are organized and what each department does for you.
To understand the organization of a record label it is important to understand that the majority of the record labels today are owned by parent companies. An example of this is that Warner Brothers Records owns Maverick Records and Reprise Records. Most of the large record companies are actually huge conglomerates that own many different subsidiary record labels that are mini-companies that are operating under the umbrella of that larger corporation.
The organization of the company starts at the top with the record company president. On the next level there is the legal department and business affairs. Below that there is the executive vice president. Below all of that there are 6 departments, the A&R, promotion, artist development, marketing, publicity department, and new media. Some of those departments have their own sub-departments such as promotion has the record label liaison and marketing has sales and the art department below them.
The first department is the A&R department. This is the most glamorous department at the record label because they are in charge of discovering new talent. The A&R works hands-on with the artists they sign. They do everything from helping with song selection to choosing the people that will produce the album to ultimately deciding where that album will be recorded. This department will help you by getting you signed.
The art department is the department that is in charge of all the artwork that is involved with producing an album. The cover art, advertisements and displays are all on the shoulders of this department. This department will help by making you the nice artwork.
The business affairs department does pretty much what the name says. They handle all the business side of things. They take care of bookkeeping, payroll, and all the general finances. This department will get you your money.
The legal department handles all the contracts made between the company and the artist and the contracts between the record label and other companies. Any lawsuit that arises between an artist and the company will go through this department.
The marketing department coordinates the plans of the promotion, sales and publicity departments to get the word out on your new album.
The promotion department's main goal is to get your songs on the radio. The record company relies on this department because if their songs do not get on the radio people will not hear the music and they will not buy the CDs.
That is the general organization of the record label and what each department does for you. Knowing this information will help you to better your music career.
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Brian Cook is a freelance writer whose articles on music and songwriting have appeared on many websites.
You can find more of these at SongwritersGuide.com.
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