The music industry or music business sells compositions, recordings and performances of music. Among the many individuals and organizations that operate within the industry are the musicians who compose and perform the music; the companies and professionals who create and sell recorded music (e.g., music publishers, producers, studios, engineers, record labels, retail and online music stores, performance rights organizations); those that present live music performances (booking agents, promoters, music venues, road crew); professionals who assist musicians with their careers (talent managers, business managers, entertainment lawyers); those who broadcast music (satellite and broadcast radio); journalists; educators; musical instrument manufacturers; as well as many others. The Free Encyclopedia
After reading through this information i came to the conclusion that there are some steps which would result in a music video or a concert etc. The bold text directly above shows these industries.
This is my understanding of the music video after my research;
It all starts with a songwriter, and then the songs of the songwriter will be signed and marketed by a music publisher. The music publisher will then provide songs to the rest of the industry:
1.) The recording labels
2.) Film production companies
3.) TV production companies
Once the recording label gets the song from the music publisher; they will hire a recording producer to create quality recordings for a certain artist. The overall product of the recording label is an album.
It will then be released either as an album/single to record stores which fans can buy. Alternatively, it will be released in iTunes as a digital album or single. Radio stations and music television also gets songs from the record labels for promotions.
The structure of record labels
Accounting
In some record labels this is actually titled business affairs, or the Business Department. This is the department within a record label directly responsible for accounting, banking, taxes, and the handling of all artist royalties. Accounting reports directly to the CEO.
Legal
This department is pretty straight forward. Each record label will have a team of attorneys to handle all of its legal affairs - to include: contract negotiations with artists, vendors, and all other contractual obligations of the record label. In many cases, CEO's are attorneys themselves. However, record labels still have a huge legal department to handle day-to-day legal obligations of the corporation.
A&R
The A&R (artists and repertoire) department is often considered the partying department at a record label. A&R is in charge of finding talent, setting up a production team to work with the new artist, and is the label's liaison between the artist and record label. Main duties include: assisting with song selection, signing a producer to produce the artist's album, and negotiations with recording studios, video houses, etc.; that will ultimately record the artists' creativity. As you can imagine, going to clubs, scouting new talent, chatting it up with recording studios, superstar producers, and the such, makes this one of the most sought after jobs in the recording industry.
JR A&R
A Jr A&R rep is a street savvy person with a keen ability to get into the coolest parties, hottest clubs, and basically knows the who's who of the city they reside in. An A&R department might have 100 Jr. A&R guys stationed around the country, or world, finding the talent. They report directly to the A&R head and are the folks on the street making things happen.
Production
This person is responsible for any audio/video production of the record label. They are to make sure artists are at studios on time, studios have the proper files to work with, masters are delivered to A&R, etc. They report and work directly with the A&R department to ensure the production aspect of making an artist are handled in a timely manner.
Artist Development
Major record labels have basically stopped funding Artist Development - Rather, they are now searching out artists that already have a total package - so little investment is needed to get the artist to market. Many Industry Analysts have made it very clear that this is the wrong direction for any record label to take. In the past, an artist was developed over a number of years. And, in most cases, an artist's 2nd or 3rd album would finally be seen as a success. Then through artist development an artist's career would ultimately go up and up. Typically, an artist development department would be responsible for turning an everyday person into their own music marketing machine. Interviewing skills, stage presence, image, and choreography are only a few of the roles an Artist Development Department would handle for a record label.
Marketing
Music Marketing Departments of the past were pretty straight forward. They would handle all print, broadcast, and in-store marketing duties. There would be several departments specializing in each of these sections. Today, however, marketing must take on a whole new approach altogether. Marketing includes: Street Teams, Online SEO Experts, Social Networking Staff, and Traditional Broadcasting and Online Broadcasting. The Marketing Department is also in charge of art. This includes anything made for the Marketing Department to use as promotional matierial: CD covers, posters, flats, in-store banners, etc.
Street Teams
The Street Team Department is directly responsible for the "Word on the Street." They work cities. They hang posters, pass out fliers, talk with folks at malls, call radio stations to request songs, get local clubs to host parties for artists, obtain guest appearance slots on local radio, and a whole lot more. They ARE the word on the street.
Online
This department is responsible for an Artist's online image. This is accomplished through custom music websites, search engine optimizations, banner ads, site reskinning, and basic music marketing on the web. In today's record label this is most likely the single most important department after A&R. An active online department will have many workers and sub-departments including design, seo, ppc managers, social networking, and programming.
Art
The Art Department handles all marketing materials and graphic design for a Record Label to include: Graphics, Audio Clips, Video Promos, Flats, Fliers, Posters, One Sheets, etc. This is the department that "Creates the Image." An Art Department takes direction directly form the Marketing Department Head.
Publicity
A lot of folks confuse Marketing with Publicity, or think it's the same machine. It is not. Marketing is basically paid advertising. Whether it be paying a street team to pass out fliers, or buying an in-store listening station at a retail record store. Publicity, on the other hand, is taking advantage of "earned" press. A Publicist's job is to get you coverage in the media - No matter if it's, radio, print, or news agencies. In addition, a Publicist is responsible for putting a positive spin on bad press received and getting the most out of a good news event being reported. A Publicist's job is to get artists invited to parties, events, and news worthy situations, to then get media coverage for that artist being at that party, event or news worthy location.
Publicity Video
This department works directly with Publicity. It is this department's job to locate all video recorded of the artist. I am not talking about music videos. Rather, I am talking about news or media coverage. This department is responsible for locating any media that has quality video clips included, to further exploit through internal publicity measures.
Publicity Radio
As we have all heard, Radio DJs love to gossip and talk about Artists. The Publicity Radio Department's main function is to find out what radio is saying about Artist to further exploit, or curb anything being talked about.
Sales
The Sales Department is responsible for just that, Sales of an Artist's offerings. This can include: duplicated CDs, DVD videos, Mechandise, or Appearances. The sales department is who brokers deals with manufacturers, distributors, and vendors. Sales is also the department who takes orders from marketing to obtain in-store listening stations, light board buys, billboard buys, etc. The sales Department may have upto 100 employees in a Major Label Operation.
Sales Distribution
This Department is responsible for making sure sales outlets get the product they are to sale. They work one on one with distributors to ensure Marketing matierials are in store at the time CD arrives, works with retail to ensure front self support, and basically is the labor force behind the Sales Department.
This has made it more clear where my product would fall into a department within record labels.
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