What is a record label?

• Record labels are the companies that provide support to artists from writing and recording music to distributing it to the masses.

Record labels for Majors vs. Indies:

Majors

• Large corporations own subsidiary companies that include music publishers, record labels, and other service providers. Some of the record labels specialize in certain genres or territories, under the umbrella of the larger music company.
• “The Big Three”
  • Sony Music Entertainment
  • Universal Music Group
  • Warner Music Group
• Pros to working with a Major Record Label
  • Big budgets for recording, artist development, and marketing 
  • Large distribution network
• Cons
  • Less creative freedom
  • Control some of the rights to your music for long periods of time, or forever
  • Try to take a cut from every revenue stream

Indies

• Indie labels operate without corporate backing or funding from major record labels.
• Pros
  • First to know about upcoming trends
  • Give chances to lesser known artists
  • More artist-friendly deals
• Cons
  • Smaller distribution network
  • Less money and time to spend on artist development, recording and marketing