Label research for my A2 Media Coursework.

1. Choosing a record label
Independent Major

2. XL are an independent record label, who are owned by
Richard Russell. This label began as part of the Beggars
Banquet Records and now is part of the Beggars Group of
labels. This label operates across a wide variety of genres
and this is illustrated in the artists that are signed to it.
Well-known artists signed to the label:
M.I.A.
Adele
FKA Twigs
Jungle
Radiohead
The XX
Tyler, The Creator
Vampire Weekend
Dizzee Rascal
The Prodigy
The White Stripes

3. Videos from these artists.
• In the videos for these artists, they really reflect the lyrics of the song and also
reflect the genre of the particular song.
• For example, in FKA Twigs’ video for ‘Pendulum’, she is seen to be suspended by
ropes; illustrating herself as a pendulum which clearly reflects the song title and
therefore shows how she is focused on the music and the visual of what she is
trying to say rather than thinking about the money side of the industry.
• Another example is in M.I.A’s video for ‘Paper Planes’. In the opening of the video,
there is a simple shot of a paper plane flying towards a city landscape which I
interpret as representing how the people in the city care too much about money
and need to think more about the society they live in. This is also supported by the
use of a repeated cash register noise in the song.

4. • After deciding what I thought the song was about and what it was used to
represent, I researched the song’s meaning and what I found was really
interesting so I thought I’d include it into this presentation.
• I had no idea the song was actually intended to be received as a message
about stereotyping. I think this illustrates how people on independent labels
such as XL Recordings have much more freedom and say what they think
about things that are happening in the news or their views on society. This
song was a hit in 2008 but some radio stations thought that it was too
controversial to play, particularly because it contained gun shot noises and
children singing about shooting and stealing.

5. Positives and negatives.
• XL would be mainly focused on the
music and not making a profit, which
would be a great thing for my new
artist as she would have to make a
name for herself before trying to
make lots of money from being an
artist.
• They work with a wide range of
artists from all different genres so the
artist wouldn’t be made to fit any
particular mould and so would be
able to do the music they like and
want to do.
• Freedom to be who they want and
mix with other artists.
• The label wouldn’t have a lot of
money to produce the album and the
music video so this would mean that
it could possibly end up looking really
basic.
• May not be very easy for artist to
make an album, so may end up
having to upload to cheaper places
like iTunes (although this isn’t
necessarily bad because this is still a
global company so would reach
millions upon millions of potential
consumers).
• May be too unorganised due to them
being an informal label.
• Less influence on the music industry
because of size.

6. Sony Music Entertainment is a major record label (and
are part of the ‘Big 3’ – Sony, Universal and Warner).
Because of how big it is, it also has lots of subsidiary
labels including Columbia Records, RCA Records and Epic
Records.
Well-known artists signed to Sony Music
Entertainment:
Fifth Harmony
Meghan Trainor
One Direction
Sia
T.I
Whitney Houston
AC/DC
Bob Dylan
Carrie Underwood
Calvin Harris

7. Videos from these artists.
• Because these artists share the same ideology from the institution they are signed
to, the music videos and songs that these artists release are quite generic and
similar to those that are in the charts alongside their competition.
• A prime example of this is Meghan Trainor’s video for ‘All About That Bass’, as this
is a song all about how people that are on the larger side are still beautiful and
shouldn’t be judged by others. I don’t think the lyrics for this song are very ‘pro all
body types’ though as she says ‘go ahead and tell them skinny bitches die…nah im
just playing’, which is saying that larger women are more attractive than women
that aren’t.
• I also think this song is used by the record label Sony to suggest that they think
everyone is beautiful and that they don’t discriminate against anyone so that
people believe the song and therefore want to buy their products and consume
their music.
• The video for ‘Bo$$’ by Fifth Harmony is one that tries to focus on women
empowerment and this is again used to portray Sony as a really positive label,
trying to make people consume their products and in return make money from it.

8. Positives and negatives.
• Major record label; will have lots of
money to spend on production and
promotion for artist’s products.
Products may look better because they
could be done more professionally and
more time could be taken on creating
them to make them more appealing.
• Artist would be more likely to get
noticed because more people know of
Sony and therefore would be more
likely to hear about new artists from
them.
• Could create products in all different
forms; for example a CD, an online mp3
and iTunes.
• Main focus is the money that they
receive from their artist’s music and/or
merchandise, not the music itself. This
wouldn’t be good for the artist I have
created because I want the music to be
the main focus and then if the money
happened to increase and she became
more popular, I would want that to
happen through her being herself and
not being moulded by a major company
to conform to be someone who they
need in their company.
• Label focuses a lot on pop music, which
isn’t the genre I am looking at as my
artist is specifically indie-pop.
• Less freedom to be who they want and
create something they like, as a lot of
the decisions would be made by the
label.

9. Which label?
• I think the best choice for the artist that is going to be in my music video
and that I am going to create an album and advert for would be the
independent label XL Recordings.
• This is because they are more focused on the music that the artist creates
and this would be the ideology I would like my artist to have so that
people in the music industry would take her seriously. I think that putting
the artist straight into a major record label would possibly cause her to be
moulded into something she wasn’t to fit a specific model of something
the label needs.
• I also would choose XL Recordings because they will have more experience
with dealing with a variety of genres and not just the pop genre which is
the main genre in Sony Music Entertainment.

10. Parental Advisory Label (PAL)
• This is a sticker that appears on a lot of albums in the music industry, due to the taboo
language that the artist uses.
• This is more of a convention within the rap genre, as artists like Nicki Minaj and Eminem
are well-known for their use of explicit language in their songs.
• This allows the person searching for albums to know that what they will hear on the album
will be explicit, and that if this is something that they don’t want to hear or is something
that will offend them then they shouldn’t buy it. It works as more of a warning than
anything else, as the album can be sold to anyone and the artist or institution can’t be
blamed for their products being consumed by minors as they have had the warning they
need.
• This isn’t something that my product will need to have because my artist isn’t going to be
explicit due to her audience being quite young and I want her music to represent her
ideology.