Record Label Research

Record Label Research
Sony BMG is the most appropriate label for our chosen artist (Kid Cudi). Naturally, Sony BMG targets artists that are expected to be successful and so will target a wider audience, producing a very profitable record deal contract. Kid Cudi is popular in both the UK and US, and is therefore expected to have a huge fan base.
Sony BMG is a major global record label, and is controlled by Sony Corporation of America. It was formed in March 2004 after Sony Music Entertainment converged with the Bertelsmann Music Group. It is one of the four largest music companies and includes ownership of Columbia Records, Epic Records and Jive Records. It is a large organization consisting of several different companies that have joined together, making it an International Conglomerate with huge financial resources.
Its huge financial resources equip artists with a variety of excellent promotional techniques to help sell their music. Lots of money is invested in website design, making videos and designing album cover art as consumers are more likely to purchase music that is well promoted and aesthetically pleasing. Sony BMG aims to create a large market share for each new product they release. More money is advantageous as it enables them to put more artists out there and make them more known by the public. Music must be marketed effectively so it can be discovered by new fans. Sony has lots of market penetration techniques to help them do this; mostly digital- for full exposure, and through the use of horizontal and vertical integration.
Vertical integration is when a single company controls both the production and supply of a product. As Sony has ownership in all areas, including marketing and distributing it will be more efficient for them to produce new music products.
Horizontal integration is when a media company owns several businesses in the same sector of industry. It is important to Sony as it creates synergies more effectively because the relationship between media products that cross-promote each other is produced easily. For example, if Sony were to produce a film, they would also need an artist from one of their record labels to provide the soundtrack. This soundtrack will be sold later on when the film is released. During the film production, a related game using the soundtrack could be created to help promote the movie. It would be advertised in magazines or on the TV, which would be promoting their PS3 console at the same time, maximising the profit Sony receives.
Sony picks artists they know will appeal to a mass market. However, this means the majority of music they sign record deals with will be Mainstream. This can often be generic, but catchy and popular, and will have the ability to sell quickly. Some artists Sony has signed onto their record labels include: Britney Spears, Chipmunk, Chris Brown, JLS, Justin Timberlake, Kasabian, Ke$ha, Mark Ronson, Shakira, and Susan Boyle. Mainstream music rules out many genres the majority of the public will not have a taste for, so Sony will only have a few genres of music, compared to indie labels which cater for various genres. Some people argue that major record labels are controlling the music we listen to as they can promote their music all around the world, whereas others can’t; and popular music products are being characterised by standardisation. Currently labels like Sony are our ‘Gatekeepers of Taste’, and they will always know what we’re going to be listening to in the next few months. Sony BMG has the ability to pick artists and strategically turn them into global superstars.