Cases Studies

Justin Bieber from universal music group( Island Records)
- Specific target audience: young teenagers aged  8-16 year olds
-Recent tour

A surevy to collect information on music audiences?

Domino Records

1. What differences do you notice between Domino and Universal in terms of artists and genres?
The difference between Domino and Universal are that they sign not well-known bands which means targetting a more of a niche market to a specific group of people.
2. a.) How would you describe Domino’s target audience(s)?
I would say their target audience would be aged around 18-35 and are more into the actual music than the materialistic side of the industry.

b.) How does the label address and appeal to its audience?

The modern layout appeals to it's younger audience. It also gives the opportunity to learn about the diffeerent artists and new releases, as well as actually buy tickets and merchandise.
3. a) Have you heard of any artists on their roster? Which ones?
Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys

b) Why do you think a high profile artist might sign to Domino?

to gain more interest into the label, or because they would like to sign to a label to make important decisions however do not want to feel like they are being taken over. They would still want their music to be the main focal point so signing up to a more independant label would probably acheive this better.

record labels

Record Labels

1a) Record labels are companies that invest in and develop musical talent in the around the world, they pay for the recording and mixing of albums (with this money being recouped through the sale and a wider exploitation of the recordings) from this they often underwrite new acts to help raise their profiles and sales of tours. They also provide an essential promotion and marketing role, which includes developing, executing and marketing campaigns aswell as promoting acts to the media. Record labels can find other ways of exploiting their recordings such as being used in movies and adverts.

b) The services that a record label provides for an artist is a; 

•    promotion and marketing role
• advertising
•  manufacturing and distributing the recordings
•  exploitation

c) An artist would want to be signed to a record label because it will enable the artists, through advances and marketing/sales support, to treat their music making as a full-time career. They exploit the artists recordings commercially and collect snf psy the resulting royalties on their behalf.

Universal Music Groups
Who owns the company? Founded:
1934 (as Decca Records USA)
1989 (MCA Music Entertainment Group formed)
1996 (first UMG incarnation)
1998 (second UMG incarnation)

The present organization was formed when its parent company Seagram purchased PolyGram and merged it with Universal Music Group in 1998. However, the name first appeared in 1996 when MCA Music Entertainment Group was renamed Universal Music Group.

Where is it based and what companies are a part of it? It has licensees in 77 countries. UMG has offices in 72 countries. UMG’s corporate headquarters are located at 2220 Colorado Avenue, Santa Monica, CA 90404 and 1755 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.
Companies also a part of UMG:

• 
  Universal Music Publishing Group: publishes the music. This company owns the artists, songwriters, producers and recording studios based in Los Angeles, MIAMI and Nashville. With 51 offices in 43 territories, Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) is the industry's largest global music publishing operation. UMPG represents music in every genre from some of the world’s hottest songwriters and catalogs. It's artists are based in the following places: North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific.

• Universal Music Group Distribution: distributes the music. It has been the industry market share leader for the past ten years and consists of four major divisions: Universal Music Distribution (UMD), Fontana, Vivendi Entertainment (VE), and UMGD Digital. UMD handles distribution and sales for UMG’s diverse roster of labels as well as a wide variety of associated labels. Fontana is the company’s independent sales, marketing and distribution arm, VE is its theatrical and home entertainment distribution division, and UMGD Digital manages and distributes all of Universal Music Group’s digital assets including mobile.
  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.

• VEVO: film/television studio. VEVO is the leading innovative online premium music and entertainment service for consumers, advertisers and content owners that blends the very best in musical content with cutting-edge video technology and a thriving user community powered by YouTube. The content is made available on YouTube through a VEVO-branded channel, on VEVO.com, the service’s marquee destination site, and through a VEVO-branded embedded player. The service also serves as a syndication platform for additional internet destination sites, expanding the reach of the VEVO brand across the worldwide web. VEVO was created in partnership with Sony Music Entertainment (SME) and the Abu Dhabi Media Company. It features the most extensive catalog of premium music content found anywhere on the web. Universal Music group also has Universal Film & Television Music a part of their company.

• To access music from the company, UMG encourage you to visit your local record store or visit http://www.musicunited.org/6_legalsites.aspx (in the U.S.) or http://www.pro-music.org/Content/GetMusicOnline/OnlineStores.php (outside the U.S.). These sites provide a complete listing of legitimate music services and websites.

Section B:Institutions and Audiences

AS Media Studies Unit G323 - exam

For Section B, we shall be studying the music industry. We shall focus on case studies of two record labels within the contemporary music industry which target British audiences, including their patterns of production, distribution, marketing and consumption by audiences. This will be accompanied by study of the strategies used by record labels to counter the practice of file sharing and their impact on music production, marketing and consumption.

Candidates should be prepared to understand and discuss the processes of production, distribution, marketing and exchange as they relate to contemporary media institutions, as well as, the nature of audience consumption and the relationship between audiences and institutions. In addition candidates should be familiar with:

·         the issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice;

·         the importance of cross media convergence and synergy, in production, distribution and marketing;

·         the technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production, marketing and exchange;

·         the significance of proliferation in hardware and content for institutions and audiences;

·         the importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences;

·         the issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences (specifically, British) by international and global institutions;

·         the ways in which the candidates’ own experiences of media consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends of audience behaviour.