Group: Institutional Context of Music Industry

Who owns the record labels?

Nowadays, many record companies are huge corporations that own a variety of record labels. These corporations usually consist of a parent company that owns more than one record label. For example, Warner Brothers Records owns Reprise Records and Maverick Records. In today's economy, most large record companies are actually huge conglomerates that own a variety of subsidiary record labels. Often, the subsidiary labels are each mini-companies operating under the wing of the larger corporation.
The CEO (chief executive officer) is in charge of the business of the whole company. In addition, each label also has its own president. Under the president of the individual label, there are vice presidents in charge of different departments such as the art department, new media, artist development and marketing.

What is involved in a record deal?

Before an artist can be signed, they have to be discovered by the A&R (artists and repertoire) of the record company, who are in charge of finding new talent and being the link between the recording artist and all the other departments of the record company. When the A&R are all in agreement, the artist will be signed. An album will then be planned, and the record company will give the artist a budget to be used for studio musicians, studio engineers and studio time. A budget is also allotted for advertising, art, publicity and promotion. Graphic artists, designers and copywriters begin their work, the A&R department, as well as publicity, marketing and sales; decide on a release date for the album. The artist development department (along with other departments) plans the live performances, promotional tour and radio and TV appearances. The record company must make sure that there is promotion for the artist on the national, regional and local level (depending on how much money the label is willing to spend).
Near the time that the album will be released, the label's departments secure press coverage and exposure for the artist to make sure that the album will sell many copies, ensuring the success of everyone involved, from the artist to the radio stations to the CD stores.

How are musicians promoted? Outline different types of marketing strategies/tools.

* News releases
* Interviews
* Reviews
* Events
* Live performances
* Charitable participation
* Social media – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube
* Promotional emails
* Official website
* Competitions/give aways
* Advertising
* Exposure
* Forums
* Blogs
* Endorsements
* Biography
* Newsletter
* Merchandise



Who is responsible for making branding/ marketing decisions?

The role of a Brand Manager or Product Manager working in the music industry is to help create and implement marketing campaigns to maximize the sales of music from a particular record label, artist, online music service, radio station or other music product. They will usually be employed by a large or well established record label or music company and are likely to be responsible for managing the campaigns for a specific artist, product or group of artists. For example a large record company may have a range of different musical genres and they may appoint a Brand Manager to manage the campaign for their classical portfolio or for their jazz portfolio. They may also be employed by a marketing agency that specializes in marketing services to the music or creative industries. All sorts of events, products and artists may be defined as a brand. For example Top of the Pops is considered a major global music brand and has a Brand Manager who works across all media and markets, nationally and internationally.

Why is a music video so significant?

From the start music videos were a way of publicising artists that were perhaps not mainstream enough to receive radio play, as more music video channels were launched more music videos were shown as were a wider variety of genres. Yet they were not as important as they are today, people have expectations that if a single is released then there will be a video to accompany it. There are many people that start to like a song because they had seen the music video first, this is one reason why music videos are so important, if the audience can relate to either the song itself or the actions within the video then they are more likely to buy the song, creating money and publicity for the artist/band.

What is the production process of a music video?


Pre-Production
The first stage of a successful production is planning. It is important to plan thoroughly by identifying clearly your Production aims, style, key messages and target audience. This planning stage is a two way process between what you tell us about your market and aims and what we can suggest to you in order to formulate effective and creative video treatments.
At all stages 3rd eye are in dialogue with our clients and our client's market or key aims. This exchange of information and ideas combined with our Production experience enable us to tightly integrate the Production from the start.
Effective and entertaining Professional video speaks volumes about you, your organisation or your Company. A well-planned, well-researched Production delivering your key messages with the right image and style for you is the goal of this stage. Pre-production planning is thus vital to ensure your Production hits its target audience with maximum force and impact. Once we have discussed the project and done the research the final step is a treatment or storyboard made and presented for client approval.

Production
We have the means to produce stunning video and DVD. Working with a range of professional formats from broadcast standard kit to the sony dvcam range. 3rd eye use experienced crew to produce crisp, clean and creative video with superb content, and technical quality.
We can produce for Broadcast, Corporate clients and duplicate / encode peices for bulk vhs / dvd distribution and indeed for many formats or delivery systems in-between.
Our Production department is tightly integrated with post-production to ensure we retain throughout the pristine picture and audio quality. Digital integration at 3rd eye not only ensures high-end production values, but we reduce production costs too. This gives you quality video at competitive prices.

Post-Production
Our post-production facilities offer choices in both on & off line non-linear editing. Non-linear editing means that each and every aspect pf your Production from video scenes, audio, images, text, or graphics can be mixed, cropped, merged, changed or deleted as you wish, there and then.
Non-linear editing enables both faster and considerably more creative video. Our digital editing systems offer unlimited creative possibilities: special effects too: indeed everything that is necessary in order to produce stunning video productions. The second stage of post-production is the completion of a 'rough edit' for the client to see and discuss any changes. With digital non-linear editing changes to the piece can be done there and then with the client. Clients can then view the edit and take the chance to fine-tune the style, key messages and impact of the production: post production allows us to add, delete, polish off and mix all our source material creatively into a final or 'master' edit. When we have client approval this final cut can then be recorded to the format or media of your choice such as video, cd, dvd or even video for the web. 3rd eye broadcast can supply bulk-run copies in designed and printed sleeves and also archive your edit for future reference.