Terms

Convergence of Technology -

Convergence of Industrial Activity -

Synergy - The combination of two separate media texts or products that share similar characteristics so that one helps market the other.

Conglomerate - is a company that owns large numbers of companies in various mass media such as television, radio, publishing, movies, and the Internet.

Globalisation - the shift in media distribution

Analogue Music -

Digitalisation -  conversion of analog information into digital information.

Vertical Integration -  When a company expands its business into areas that are at different points of the same production path.

Horizontal Integration -  When a company expands its business into different products that are similar to current lines. (A hot dog vendor expanding into selling hamburgers would be an an example of horizontal integration.)

Major record label - A record label specializes in manufacturing, distributing and promoting audio and video recordings, on various formats.

subsidiary label -

Independent label -  is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels

niche audience - a small, select group of people that have a very unique interest.

mainstream audience

fans - people who have a particular interest for music

active audiences

Audiophiles - This is a person who is interested in high sound quality.

early adopters - A person who starts using a product or technology as soon as it becomes available.

consumption - The using up of a resource.

Web 2.0 - the second phase of the internet, where the focus shifts from people receiving information and services to people creating and sharing material.


Meta-tags/personalisation - is a special HTML tag that is used to store information about a web page


download - the practice and receiving digital information from an online source on a computer, as opposed to sending it by upload.


streaming - is when a multimedia file can be played back without being completely downloaded first.


peer to peer - The sharing of media material between two parties in an equal relationship.


piracy - distribution of media material that infringes copyright law.


portability/ miniaturisation - making the product more smaller so it's easier to transport.


multi-track - a method of sound recording


sampling - is a digital representation of an analog signal.


digital audio workstation - is a computer that is specially equipped with a high-quality sound card and programming for editing and processing digital audio at a professional level.


A&R –  is the division of a record label that is responsible for overseeing the artistic development of recording artists.


Record Deal – a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist 

 Distribution - the action of sharing music out among a number of people.


Plugging/marketing - set of institutions, and processes for creating

This is a case study of two record companies that target a british audience. One will be a major label and one will be a independant label.

The case study should look at the production, consumption, distribution/marketing and exchange.

Domestic expenditure on music in all forms totals almost £5 billion a year and music actitvites generate the equivalent of 126, 000 full-time jobs in the Uk.

The UK is the third largest market in the world for sales of music, behind only the USA and Japan. Sales in the UK amounted to 10.4% of all music sold globally in 2004. As a source of repertoire, the UK is second o the USA

Britain is a nation of music lovers and we buy more music than any other country. 3-2 CDs per person per year.

The way audiences listen to music has changed due to digitalisation. Purchasing music and sharing music for example bluetooth and the arctic monkeys shared their music via myspace.

Old Structure: Artist > record company > audience

New structure: the artist's music goes straight onto the internet for the audience to access.

More than 31,000 new album titles (including re-issues) were released in the UK last year, second only to the US - which demonstrates the commitment to investment from UK record companies.

UK record companies invest 17% of turnover in A&R. DTI data shows that other industries with traditions of heavy R&D expenditure such as  phramaceuticals actually spend a smaller proportion of revenues on developing new products than the UK  record industry invests in the development of new artists.


This insitution must be  located in the contempory music industry. The insitution must produce and/or distribute music in the UK. When researching your chosen record labels, you must focus on 4 key areas: production, distribution, consumption and exchange.


Production - the recording of music, where and how?

Distribution - How the music is promoted? How does it get to shops, played on the radio and made available for playable downloads.

Consumption - how do people consume the music made available? Buying CDs, downloading music, buying tickets for concerts, buying merchandise.

Exchange - how music is shared.

How things have changed from analogue to digital.

The big 4: Sony/BMG, Warner brothers, universal, EMI (bought out by universal)
Universal music group was 25.5% but now 38.9% because of EMI

Sony/BMG - A global record group founded on March 3rd 2004, Sony was a joint 50/50 company between Sony music entertainment and berteismann music group. It owned and distributed record labels such as Epic records, Columbia records and RCA. On August 5th 2008 Sony Corp agreed to buy BMG 50% stake for $1.2 billion to get full control. The music company was renamed Sony Music Entertainment Inc.

Sony labels and artists

Labels: RCA label group, sony CGM, Columbia, Syco

Current artists: Justin Timberlake, Foo Fighters, Kings Of Leon, Bruce Springsteen, Glasvegas, The View, The Script.

Warner Brothers
WMG is a global leader in national and international repertoir and home to some of the best known labels in the music industry. In addition, to it's US labels, WMG operates in numerous affiliates and licenses in more than 50 countries.

Their recorded music buisness includes growing artist service business which offers artist management, merchandising, touring, fan clubs, tickets sponsherships and brand endorsement and numerous third part solutions that facilitate the sale of music- based content directly to the consumers.

Warner/Chappell music is one of the world's leading music publishers with a catalogue of more than one million songs from more than 65, 000 songwriters. In recent years they've grown to become the world's third largest recorded music busines and third largest music publishing business, one of the music industry's most successful companies.

Universal Music Group
is the world's leading music company and is comprised of two core buisness recorded music and music publishing.

It develops, markets and distributes recorded music through a network of subsidaries, joint ventures and lincenses in 77 countries representing 98% of the music market,
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UMG sells and distributes music video and DVD products, and licenses recordings, encourging the legal distribution of music nline and over cellular, cable and satellite networks.

Universal Music Publishing Group is the world's leading publishing businesses, it owns and acquires rights to musical compositions and licenses them for use in recordings and related uses, such as films and advertisements.

Universal Music Distribution (UMD) handles distribution and sales for UMG's diverse roster of labels as well as a wide variety of associated labels, and UMGD digital manages and distributes all of Universal Music Group's digital assets including mobile.

Fontana: Fontana is the company's independant sales, marketing, and distribution arm

Vivdeni Entertainment (VE) VE is its theatrical and home entertainment distribution division.

UMGD digital: in some markets outside the U.S, UMG companies handle their own distribution and sales. In other markets UMG companies have sub-contracted services to third parties or entered into distribution joint ventures with other record companies.

My chosen record labels: Independant - Nuclear Blast Records and major - Sony BMG

http://www.nuclearblast.de/en/label/company/history/1998-2002.html