SHR4C007R~001 24102605 WITCI Research Essay

by

Oliver Deeley 24102605

Independent Record Label Owner

Record labels are a core part for managing artist, releasing and promoting their material and overall help push the artist further into their career. What’s important to understand about record labels is the difference between major and independent labels. The major labels are owned by multinational media outlets, with the biggest three record labels being Sony Music, Universal and Warner Music. (Raina Aniftos, 2023) Independent labels are similar to major labels, but operate under a smaller scope. They tend to ‘value artistic integrity’, which allows the artists to have full creative control, without being restricted by the confines that a major label would set for artists to act in a very safe and advertiser friendly manner. Independent record labels tend to produce influential and groundbreaking artists, while having limited resources. (Mogul, 2024) An example of an independent label that provided the public some groundbreaking artists was Factory Records, founded by radio and television presenter, Tony Wilson. A Label founded in the Manchester area, signing on notable acts, such as Joy Division/New Order and Happy Mondays. (Peter Silverton, 2000) Sub Pop are another successful independent label, that helped bring grunge music, an underground sub-genre of rock music, and have acts such as Nirvana, breakthrough into the mainstream and influencing modern music. (Mark Yarm, 2008) However, many of these independent labels are either bought out or shut down, due to a multitude of finical reasons. It’s best to grasp a better understanding the considerations of what goes into starting an independent record label, as it requires a large skill set in order to run a successful business.

It is highly recommended to have a degree in either music business, music management, business administration, or entertainment law. These qualifications aren’t a necessity, rather a way of gaining a better understanding of how you would operate under such business. (Music Jobs, 2024) However it is important that you have some prior experience within the music industry, by seeing how different practices are ran, which was the case for many founders of independent record labels. For example, DFA Records founders, James Murphy and Tim Goldsworthy gained experience in the studio, by working for Northern Irish DJ, David Holmes. After seeing what Holmes can accomplish, the two decided to form the label, where they signed artists they truly believed in. (Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern, 2021) Another example to mention is The Beatles’ two frontmen, Lennon and McCartney, starting up Apple Corps, a record label that they used to output their material, but was open for other artists. The company was founded as way to bring the opportunities they gained from being under EMI’s wings. McCartney remarked, “If you come and see me and say, ‘I’ve had such and such a dream’, I’ll say, ‘Here’s so much money. Go away and do it’. We’ve already bought all our dreams. So now we want to share that possibility with others.” (Tim Coffman, 2023)

It is important to have an understanding about the music industry and the standard practices that go into it. Having knowledge within the realm of music business allows you to understand the type of contracts you may encounter, as there are more than just artist contracts. There are distribution contracts, producer and mixer contracts, music licensing contract etc. (Martina, 2022) You should also consider understanding and marketing skills, allowing you to develop campaigns to promote your artist’s music, through traditional marketing (radio play, billboards, tv advertisements etc.) and through social media, appealing towards different demographics, who consume advertisements and marketing campaigns through different forms of media. (Yellowbrick, 2023) Most importantly, you should have personal qualities to help with your success in this profession, such as leadership skills, giving you confidence in decision making, communication skills, allowing to express ideas more clearly across your team and analytical skills to optimize systems and ensure compliance. (Neil Jacobson, 1999) 

Contracts are an important responsibility. Forming contracts are essential, especially for signing your artists to the label. With contracts in place, you have a legal binding between you and your artists. It prevents you from easily losing your artist and their back catalogue of material, if there is no official document in place. It would also allow you, the label, to set a boundary, between you and other labels, so other record labels can’t easily take your artists away, unless a deal has been formed between the two labels. It’s important if you are in the process of getting your record label, to scout for any artists that you see potential within, whether they’re up and coming or an artist that has been kicking around for a while. It’s important to consider the following when taking an artist under your wing. You should consider the target audience that your artist appeals to, the artist’s history and your personal interest towards the artist. It is vital that you have a keen interest in a future artist you want to sign, if the label’s A&R team and executives are on board. Once you’ve found your artists, contact them and make sure to have a contract ready for them to sign. (AWAL, 2025) You should also take focus on copyright and royalty registration With artists signed to your label, it’s important to collect royalties and sales from their artist’ music, making sure the royalites are split between the label and artists. It’s important to have royalties go to your artists, as they deserve to gain royalties from their product being sold to the public and you don’t want to have a bad relationship between you and your signed artists. (iMusician, 2024).

The costs of running a record label stems into different territories. Costs of recording, producing and releasing music can take a lot from your budget, with touring and promotion contributing to the amount of money spent. The amount you earn can be smaller from what you spent to create and start a campaign for your artist’s material. (Justin Grome, 2023) Licensing and copyright costs can come into play if you are ever caught in a legal battle, which could financially drain you. (Pete Callaghan, 2024) Royalties, rights and the challenging of managing multiple artists could affect you, especially as an independent label. With the issue of having too many artists to manage, you would have to make a decision to keep some of your artists or have them taken under another label’s wing, as long as you can come to a deal. (LawDonut, 2024) As for legal issues, it’s important that a label must be aware of the copyright law and obtaining permission to use music, including to pay royalties to the respected parties. (Royalty Exchange, 2024) You could also be faced with artists breaching contract, by going against the rights outlined within their contract. (Informi, 2025) This can come from artists releasing their material, whether it is single or a group of songs, without having the greenlight given from their record label. With artists breaching their contract, it can cause a distain on their relationship with your label, leading to any potential court cases, with executives choosing to take legal action towards their artist and could possibly have them dropped from their label.

It’s important to think about what kind of genres you specialize in and what kind of audience you appeal to. You should consider the different demographics and preferences to help tailor your efforts in marketing. Analysing data to refine marketing strategies should be kept in mind when creating campaigns to create advertisements for you artists, as you can take part with upcoming trends, to help bring attention towards your artists. (Desygner, 2024) A lot of record labels tend to use social media to advertise the artists on their own social pages, with their artists having their own social pages as well, to provide new information for the artist themselves, rather than having other artists appear in a collection together. (Luis M, 2022) Labels also use email as a marketing strategy, with online newsletters consumers can sign up to for free with their email. This builds a relationship with the audience, as they can provide updates on their artists and their upcoming music. (LabelGrid, 2023) Another marketing strategy some labels tend to do is run competitions, as a method to engage with their fans, such as having fans submit their own music videos for an artists’ latest single or album, or designs for merchandise. (Promoly, 2024) This is a good method to gain fans input on ideas for all kinds of promotional material to help market their artists. It helps with promotion, but also creates a stable and good relationship between the customer and the label.

You could face some challenges if you come across copyright infringement, with someone using your artist’s work without any legal permission given. There are other ways someone could breach copyright, whether it’s another artist/composer plagiarising one of your artist’s composition and people pirating your artist’s work through illegal methods. (LabelGrid, 2023) The best course of action would be to take legal actions, bringing the opposing party to court, to claim royalties from any money they have gathered from breaching copyright. Cultural lag could be a possible challenge you may come across, with your label not keeping up with the latest cultural moments that are happening today. Whether it’s latest trends and or any technological changes. (Tunes and Tales, 2023) It’s important to have your marketing team have or gain better knowledge of the latest happenings and current trends, that way you can appeal towards the mainstream audience, gaining more attention. You could experience issues having to manage multiple locations, with promoting your artists’ new material, to your audience that are live in different places. (Justin Grome, 2023) You should overcome this by figuring out which areas that your artists appeal to and pay more attention to them, by promoting them in those general areas that are paying the most attention to your artists.

Independent record labels have evolved since, most notably during the punk movement from the 1970’s and the alternative rock movement that emerged from the 1990’s. (Novecore Blogs, 2023) With your independent record label, there’s an opportunity to be acquired by the Association of Independent Music (AIM), a not-for-profit organization supporting independent UK record labels, offering help to the members with gaining commercial opportunities and getting heard by the government. (Justin Grome, 2023) You can gain Artist Development Deals, a contract to develop their skills and public profile. As an independent label, you can work closely with your artists during each stage of their career from mentoring them up to their skill-building and further their skill set as an artist. (Indie Music Academy, 2025) 

Starting an independent record label can be described as complex and financially draining, as it requires an array of skills and understanding of what practices go into running one and good amount of money placed down, in order to create a functioning label. You’ll need knowledge of the music industry as a whole, understanding business management and funding, with the last one being very important, with startup costs ranging ten-thousand pounds to over five hundred thousand. (Aubrey Whitfield, 2023) While it may seem expensive to start one, it is possible to start a label without having a significant amount of money. (Loopcloud, 2020) You can scout for future artists when starting up your record label, designing logos and uploading material to distribution services. With these features being easily accessible in current year, it gives you a boost for partially starting your record label, while on an extremely tight budget. Once you’ve gained a significant budget enough to begin and commit to your label, you’ll be able to start signing artists, selling and distributing their songs and bring a profit, for both your label and your signed artists. It is a career that starts off as a passion project and will eventually, if given enough time and effort, become a full time career, helping those small upcoming artists who want to make music for a living.

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