TASK 3
- 1. THE JOB ROLES OF A TYPICAL RECORD LABEL
- 2. CEO/PRESIDENT/OWNER OF A RECORD LABEL A CEO, President or Owner of a Record Label’s main duty is to concentrate on the general direction/ genre of the entirety of the label, the politics of the business, the artists signed and the different methods of marketing. The CEO is in control of final approvals of each departments work. An owner of a small label is also involved with day-to-day jobs such as marketing and networking. Many CEOs come from a business background. However, regardless of their background, CEOs must have skills in business management and financial analysis. CEOs must understand the different kinds of music distribution methods, they also recruit and hire management staff members. CEOs are currently dealing with an industry experiencing rapid changes in digital music distribution and illegal copying issues.
- 3. VICE PRESIDENT The Vice President is directly responsible for delivering the strategy of the Record Label as finalised by the CEO. They will hold meetings to plan future aspirations and targets with different department heads. Key tasks include negotiating with distributors, the purchase of media and just generally keeping the business running etc. Depending on the size of the label, there may be up to 10 or more vice presidents.
- 4. BUSINESS AFFAIRS/ACCOUNTING They advise and work with musicians and music industry companies on different financial matters. Average salary $65,080 Their job includes support for forecasting and budgeting, and monthly financial reporting. To be able to do this job, the employees must have knowledge and experience of working with music industry clients.
- 5. LEGAL Each Record Label will have a group of lawyers to handle all of its legal affairs. They mainly concentrate on contract negotiations with artists. They also work with vendors, and manage all other contractual needs of the Record Label. The Legal department is often one of the bigger departments of a record label. The label’s team of attorneys will draft the recording contracts and do the final negotiations with the artist’s manager or lawyer.
- 6. A&R A&R (artists and repertoire) is often considered the partying department of the Record Label. These people are in charge of finding new artists and setting up a production team to work with them. This department is often what keeps the artist and Record Label communicating together, A&R help to choose song selection for sets and albums, sign producers to produce the artists album and negotiate prices. They negotiate with recording studios as well and video houses. This is a very sought after job however it is highly pressured. If artists produce badly selling albums or are not popular, blame is often given to A&R as well as the artists.
- 7. ARTIST DEVELOPMENT Most Record Labels have stopped providing ‘Artist Development’ as they now try to sign artists that are already fully developed into their own genre. This means it is unlikely that work is needed to get the artist into the market. However, this job is used to set up promotional opportunities for an artist and helps determine the best way to market a new album or artist to reach the target audience. They are concerned with making artists that have been signed hit as quickly as possible in order to make a profit,
- 8. MARKETING They are responsible for helping to come up with new marketing concepts, working with the creative department on images and advertisements, develop marketing strategies and plans, and present findings to company executives. They are involved in arranging promotion, publicity and sales campaigns.
- 9. ONLINE/NEW MEDIA Social Networking staff promote bands in the label creating and using websites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Tumblr. These social media sites are used to keep fans up to date on the latest news and releases. Other online work is creating banner ads through sites such as YouTube and Vevo, and creating/updating artists websites.
- 10. ART DEPARTMENT The art department handles all artwork that is involved in creating an album and its video. A music video must be exciting and present a good atmosphere for the target audience to enjoy it. The artwork is generally the first thing the target audience see when purchasing an album and so it must be produced to intrigue the audience and present the artist well.
- 11. PUBLICITY/PROMOTIONS A publicist is responsible for getting their artists coverage in the media whether it be on the radio, TV, online or in print. They attempt to put a positive spin on any bad press and try to get the most out of all the good news/events coverage that has been reported. Publicists want to get their artists invited to parties, events and news worthy situations which will increase media coverage for that artist.
- 12. SALES The sales team must ensure that the retailers & wholesalers buy enough stock to cover the anticipated demand of albums. The sales team must build a good relationship with its buyers as it is a crucial part in the success of a new album. It usually consists of telephone sales staff. They sell new releases direct to the independent record shops and key accounts salespeople who liaise with the head officers of the large retail chains and supermarkets.