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Writer's pictureBasil Faisal Qureshi

Record Labels

While we are still working on finalizing a concept for our music video, we were informed of the syllabus requirement that our fictitious singer needs to have a fictitious record label. Before we could create a record label for our singer, we need to know something about a record label and hence this post is dedicated to its research.

The retail of recorded music dates back to the late 1889, with the advent of the ‘phonograph parlor’. Edison’s phonograph, widely considered the first device capable of playing back recorded music (although Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville, Charles Cros, Chichester Bell, Charles Tainter and Emile Berliner all contributed towards creating the finalized form of the machine), would be placed in a listening center, and audiences would pay a small amount of money to hear a selection of recorded music. There was a sudden and rapid increase in the number of phonograph companies creating recordings for consumption, across all major American cities. In 1894, Columbia introduced a $40 alternative to Edison’s phonograph, and it became popular in homes. The same year, Billboard Advertising began as a magazine which reported on popular music.

Edison’s phonograph was soon overtaken by Berliner’s gramophones, which played music in disc format. Columbia Records and Victor Talking Machine Company overtook Edison Records. Billboard began publishing charts in 1913, and in 1914, ASCAP was formed to protect the rights of songwriters and recording artists. Other major record labels formed around this time were Emerson Records and OKed Record Company. Multiple smaller record companies had popped up by 1917, mostly publishing blues music, which had become very popular at the turn of the century. General Electric and AT&T formed the RCA to manufacture the first commercial radios. RCA later acquired Victor to form the label RCA Victor. Brunswick, EMI, ARC, Decca all came into being. Records were made of shellac and cost far less in the 20’s. For the next 20 years, new labels came and went, radio became further proliferated and in effect, the music industry was established.

The soundtrack to Disney’s Fantasia marked the first massively well-selling record, and by 1948, Columbia pioneered the vinyl record (although Victor had attempted this in 1931). By the 50’s, as is inevitable, an oligopoly was established, with the “Big Five” being Columbia, RCA Victor, Decca, Mercury and Capitol. In this decade, Epic Records, Warner Brothers Records and Atlantic Records were established. Sony introduced its first portable, pocket-sized radio.

In the 60’s, The Beatles. So…all of that.

The 70’s, 80’s and 90’s were largely uneventful and followed the same pattern as the earlier decades; new labels came and went, records became household necessities, everyone owned radios. Labels controlled the music industry. Cassette tapes were introduced in the 70’s, and Philips and Sony unveiled CDs in 1982. Then came the 2000’s, and with the 2000’s came MP3s, and everything was upended. MP3s were quick, easy and widely disseminated. Napster and MP3.com were shut down by the labels, who wanted to conquer the internet themselves. BMG and Warner started MusicNet, Sony and Universal started Pressplay and Vivendi bought out MP3.com. In 2003 came iTunes.

And then, in the blink of an eye, labels lost their oligopoly. In 2009, more independent artists won Grammys than label artists.

For a long time, record labels have served many functions. To name a few, they scout talent, they give said talent a star image and signature sound, they provide songwriters and producers, they commission artwork, photographs and music videos, and they distribute and market the music. But the primary purpose of a traditional record company was the manufacture of physical records.

In the internet age, however, physical copies of recordings do not exist; music exists in the cloud. People’s lives exist online; there can be no more industry plants because it’s becoming more and more difficult to pass a constructed star image as authentic; an artist no longer has to sustain their invented identity for the course of a public appearance, they need to sustain it through every Snapchat story, so only the people with naturally star-like personalities survive. Labels do not need to provide producers because anyone with a laptop and a mic can produce a hit with one of any of the multitudes of commercially available DAWs. Labels do not need to commission artwork or photographs or music videos. A DSLR, an NLE, or an iPad with an Apple Pencil is all one needs. Labels do not even need to distribute or market anymore. One can simply pay $20-30 to CDBaby or Routenote or any other aggregator and get their music on Apple Music, Spotify or 150 other streaming services. Or one can create social media profiles for their music and then pay a small amount of money to have them appear as ads on users’ feeds. There are no services unique to labels anymore.

But that being said, while the vast majority of artists today are independent, all the big names are label signees. There are exceptions of course, like Chance the Rapper. But all the Biebers and Gagas and Katys and Mileys and Nickis are all signed to Interscope, or RCA, or Republic etc. So, in a future post, we will create a fictitious record label that our artist will be signed to.

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