Running Head: Frontier Labels as Illusions
Frontier Labels as Illusions
Reyna Nagam Souki
American University of Beirut
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Frontier Labels as Illusions
Abstract
This paper discusses the three major parent companies that own more than half of the music
industry and its artists. Thus, causing a limited variety of genres and originality among hit
songs and beats. Moreover, it speculates the emergence of independent record labels, and
their differences among the parent companies’ record labels. It highlights the setbacks that
the parent companies enforce on the industry, and how consumers are being categorized
under similar tastes and preferences.
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Frontier Labels as Illusions
Frontier Labels as Illusions
The music industry consists of many labels that appear to the public consumers as the
main players behind the success or failure of artists’ albums. As a tremendous twist of events,
those labels fall under only three parent companies, Universal Music Group, Sony Music
Entertainment, and Warner Music Group. The countless number of labels are just names, sub
names actually, of the more important, powerful, big shot companies that own them.
Independent record labels however work far from those parent companies’ mechanisms.
Where my money goes: According to the Rolling Stone’s article, each album purchase is
15.99$, and since I have 10 albums under study here, they would have cost me 159.9$.
However, instead of profiting the labels by buying the albums, I illegal downloaded them for
free. Hence, the labels lost a totally of 159.9$ due to my illegal downloading of music
albums. The losses were distributed among the below distributors.
15.99$*10(# of CD’s) = 159.9$
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$0.17 Musicians' unions = 1.7$
$0.82 Publishing royalties= 8.2$
$0.80 Packaging/manufacturing= 8$
$0.80 Retail profit= 8$
$0.90 Distribution= 9$
$1.60 Artists' royalties= 16$
$1.70 Label profit= 17$
$2.40 Marketing/promotion= 24$
$2.91 Label overhead= 29.1$
$3.89 Retail overhead"= 38.9$
TOTAL= 159.9$ (Loss, since I have not paid for those albums)
According to my 10 favorite music albums there emerged a lack of diversity of the
companies of which my albums fell under. However, at first there seemed to be a diverse
number of names and neither one was similar to the other. Consequently, further into the
research the diversity suddenly disappeared and there were four albums that fell under the
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Frontier Labels as Illusions
same mother company which was according to my research “Sony Music Entertainment”. In
addition to that, two other albums fell under the company “Universal Music Group” and 4
albums fell under different independent companies. They are just a frontier to the public that
create an illusion, “What's interesting about the music business is that on the outside looking
in, it appears there are many record labels around the world” … “But in actuality, there are
only four record labels in the world, and the rest are merely subsidiaries”(Nelson, 2012).
Hence, artists cannot be supported without supporting the dominant music companies, since
they are behind the scenes controlling them and their albums. According to Forbes Magazine,
“everyone, from the producer to the publisher, gets paid before the artist does” (Busch, 2012).
They become sort of a package deal. You buy the album, your money goes to the label, the
marketing, advertising, mother company, and lastly to the artist that we love.
There developed multiple differences between independent label recordings and those
under the big parent companies. For independent labels, there was an evident diversity in
genres and portrayed a different taste and mood. The artists were more original in their music
and lyrics. Moreover, the songs seemed to be more personal and divergent such as the artist
Phillip Phillips’s song “Gone, Gone, Gone”, when compared to the typical and almost similar
the hit songs that we are used to. In addition to that, the independent labels did not seem to
include the all-time famous celebrities that almost everyone knows, rather than low profile
celebrities. Almost all of the albums that were under the same companies such as Adam
Lambert’s “For You Entertainment”, Miley Cyrus’s “Bangerz”, and One Direction’s
“Midnight Memories” included high profile celebrities and created hit songs that were quite
similar in content and targeted a similar audience. So to speak, there has become a more or
less, limited diversity of songs that target a certain aspect of the consumers, hence creating a
single taste for all consumers. As Wickham (2012) stated that pop music had a limited
diversity of sounds. Consequently, this proves that the companies feeding us as consumers,
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Frontier Labels as Illusions
music that they desire, rather than creating a diversity of tastes. “Historically, record labels
have been known to force annoying trends and musical perspectives onto the public” (Nelson,
2012). The new basic trend of music, being pop, RnB, or hip-hop has forced similar trends on
us, and left us with no other choice than to be exposed to them in our daily routines, be it
clubs, pubs, restaurants, TV, or radio. Indirectly they enter our minds and before we know it
they become a habit to sing along.
Love, sex, alcohol and drugs are the main dominant themes in my music collection. It
is not that I am only interested in this type of music that only revolves around the former
themes; but unfortunately it is the trend around us. Nonetheless, these themes completely
defy my culture and traditions that I have been raised upon. I find it odd that these lyrics and
themes bring to our attention many negative aspects of life that we should not be exposed to
or affected by in any way. Were it not for my strong belief in my parent’s moral and ethical
values, this type of music would have clouded my judgment and extended my ethical limits.
In contrast to the many people out there who lack strong moral or ethical values, their
weaknesses would make them susceptible to the lyrics of the song. “Today, there is too much
money to be made for labels to be solely interested in art for art's sake, which is why a lot of
the popular music you here today sounds similar to all the other popular music” (Nelson,
2012). Thus, record labels do not seem to care about the music content or its artistry rather
the profit from it being loud, and addictive.
“In the past decade, Wal-Mart has quietly emerged as the nation’s biggest record
store. Wal-Mart now sells an estimated one out of every five major-label albums. It has so
much power, industry insiders say, that what it chooses to stock can basically determine what
becomes a hit. “If you don’t have a Wal-Mart account, you probably won’t have a major pop
artist,” says one label executive” (Cohen, 2004). Wal-Mart which was known to be the
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Frontier Labels as Illusions
dominant leader in the music industry has now suddenly hit a wall. This sudden shift was
caused by its strategy at selling CD’s at a much lower price than the market in hope that
people would also grab a product from their store while buying the CD album. However, this
strategy did not hold up for long, and Apple’s iTunes climbed its way up the list taking WalMart’s place in the music sales industry. “According to The NPD Group, a leading market
research company, Apple’s iTunes store continued to lead all music retailers, with 28 percent
of all music purchased by U.S. consumers — gain of 4 percentage points since Q1 2009.
Amazon gained three percentage points to tie Walmart for second position at 12 percent”
(Port Washington New York, 2010).
As a final point, most of the unlimited record labels that produce the hit albums are
somewhat an illusion to us as consumers. We tend to believe that artists work independently
and put more emotions into their work, rather the artists’ songs, lyrics, and even beats include
a diversity of opinions. Nonetheless, independent record labels are now emerging more and
more due to this limited control in the music business attracting artists who aim to be
original.
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Frontier Labels as Illusions
Appendix
ARTIST NAME
ALBUM
LABEL
COMPANY
Adam Lambert
For Your Entertainment
RCA Records Label
Sony Music
Entertainment
Eminem
The Monster
WestLake Recording
Studios
Independent
Miley Cyrus
Bangerz
RCA Records
Sony Music
Entertainment
A Great Big World
Is Any One Out There?
Epic Records
Sony Music
Entertainment
Rissi Palmer
Best Day Ever
Rostrum Records
Independent
Phillip Phillips
The World From the Side of
the Moon
Interscope Records
Universal Music Group
One Direction
Midnight Memories
Columbia Records
Sony Music
Entertainment
Ed Sheeran
X
Asylum Records
Warner Music Group
Taylor Swift
1989
Republic Records
Universal Music Group
Selena Gomez
For You
Hollywood
Disney Music Group
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Frontier Labels as Illusions
References
NPD Group (2010, May 26). Digital music continued to gain on CDs in the first quarter, as
iTunes increased its lead in overall U.S. music sales.
Retrieved from https://www.npd.com/wps/portal/npd/us/news/pressreleases/pr_100526/
Nelson, D. (2012, June 15). Big Four Records Companies May Become the Big Three.
Retrieved from http://www.consumeraffairs.com/music-industry
Nelson, D. (2012, June 15). Big Four Records Companies May Become the Big Three.
Retrieved from http://www.consumeraffairs.com/music-industry
Busch, R. (2012, March 27). Major Record Labels As Dinosaurs? Forbes.
Wickham, C. (2012, July 26). Pop music too loud and all sounds the same: Official. Reuters.
Cohen, W. (2004, October 12). Wal-Mart Wants $10 CDs. Rolling Stone.