AOB 5 (Music Video) Distribution and Ownership

Artists on Minor Labels:

Joy Division - Factory Records
Gary Numan - Cooking Vinyl
Marilyn Manson - Cooking Vinyl
Friendly Fires - XL Recordings



Major Labels

Pros:

- Major labels have much more money than any of the indie labels and therefore they will be able to promote an artist and their album well

- Major Labels will have a wide range of connections within the industry that can help an artist to reach their goals

- A major label will be able to secure good deals on manufacturing and advertising

Cons:

- As a major label will have a large number of artists signed to them, a newly signed artist would find themselves fighting for the attention of the record label and may have an album that is not being promoted well and a record label that won't return their calls.

- An artist will have little creative control over their music

- Many people who work for a major label are only in the business for the money and don't actually care about the music, some artists will not like this sort of attitude.

Independent Labels

Pros:

- An indie label will sign an artist because they like their music and will work hard for the artist because they are passionate about what the artist is doing. There won't be the pressure to 'sell out' for chart success that there would be at a bigger label

- An artist is more likely to have a close relationship with the label.

- An artist is more likely to have creative control over their music

Cons:

-  There will not be as big of a budget available as there would be at a major label
- The informal nature of an indie label means that things can get confusing
- Althought the small size of an idie label means the close relationship and reative control for the artist, it also means that the label does not have much purchasing power and can't pull as many strings with the press.