Major and Independent Record Labels

The Main Differences Between Major and Independent Record Labels

One of the biggest differences between the two is that firstly the major labels will make their client (artist) give them the rights for their music as part of their contract. Therefore, leaving all the work to the label company. The Independent Record Label company's however will reach to an agreement with the artist through a contract to supply their funds and support them but wont actually get the rights for their music. With the rights, the artist is then free to sell any music in any amount he/she likes. For example; Radio, Soundtracks, Films, and TV. The major labels will offer a lot more money more often than not to have this extra power with their client which is why so many prefer to sign in a Major Label because it will make them "rich and famous".

Artists that sign with Major Record Labels earn around 15% royalty on their own music however artist that sign with Independent Labels earn between 40% - 75%.


The Big 3
The main 3 record labels are Universal Muisc Group, Sony Musis Entertainment, EMI and Warner music group. All 3 are USA based and take roughly 25% of the music industry market. EMI is a subsidary of the Universal Music Group.

Independent Labels

M.A.S Records, Mad Decent and XL Recordings are all independant compamies, these 4 companies control much smaller amounts of artists but the buisness itself still works in a similar way to the Big 3.

Standardization

Standardization:

-Adorno and Horkeimer argued that all products produced by the culture industry exhibited standardised features.

-The argument here is that there is nothing spontaneous about the process of cultural production, it has become a routine operation that can be carried out in an office by the application of specific formulae.

-Adorno noted that songs which became successful often over time were referred to as 'standards' a category that clearly drew attention to their formulaic character. From the 'plan' to the details, songs were based around repetitive sequences and frequently recurring refrains. This was done for quite calculated commercial reasons, so that the song would imprint itself on the mind of the listener and then provoke a purchase for Adorno, the production of brit songs had become a mechanical and manipulative operation motivated purely by commercial gain.

Pop songs usually follow standardization in the sense that they repeat a lot of the lyrics and make the product very catchy to ensure it will be consumed again and by more people through word of mouth. An example of this would be Justin Bieber's 'Baby'. This is because the word Baby is constantly used and repeated and although many people hate this song they still know the lyrics which is exactly what the song's producers want.

Adorno and Horkeimer's Culture Industry Theory

Adorno and Horkeimer's Culture Industry Theory

The culture industry:

Adorno and Horkeimer adopted the term 'culture industry' to argue that the way in which cultural items were being produced was analogous to how the industries manufactured vast quantities of consumer goods.
Adorno and Horkheimer argued that the culture industry exhibited an 'assembly line' character which could be observed in the synthetic planned method of turning out its products.

- Adorno and Horkeimer's view of cultural production has often been portrayed as the pessimistic lament of 'cultural' lists who were dismayed at what they perceived to be the homogeneity and vulgarity of 'mass' taste, and who were concerned that the potential for artistic creativity in music literature and painting had been co-opted and corrupted by the production methods and administrative regimes of the industrial capitalism.

-The capitalist corporation seems to enjoy an almost omnipotent form of domination and both the consumers and the creative artists are not separate from but are directly connected to this system of production.
-Adorno and Horkheimer stressed the structures of economic ownership and control of the means through which cultural products are produced and argued that this directly shapes the activities of creative artists and consumers.

-They argued that the 'culture industry' operated in the same way as other manufacturing industries.
The metaphor of the 'assembly line; was used to stress the repetitive and routine character of cultural production. All work had become formalised and products were made according to rationalised organisational procedures that were established for the sole purpose of making money.


Pseudo individuality-

Adorno and Horkheimer were also critical of what they referred to as pseudo individuality. By this they meant the way that the culture industry assembled products that made claims to 'originality' but which when examined more critically exhibited little more than superficial differences.
- Adorno and Horkeimer evoked the image of the lock and key - an item that is mass produced in millions, whose uniqueness lies in only very minor modification.


The X-Factor machine:

-Adorno and Horkeimer linked the idea of the 'culture industry' to a model of 'mass culture' in which cultural production had become a routine , standardised repetitive operation that produced undemanding cultural commodities which in turn resulted in a type of consumption that was also standardised, distracted and passive.

Goodwins theory applied

The Chainsmokers- Closer is a music video consisting of a couple in a relationship, it starts off with the two of them sitting down looking at pictures they have taken in the past. Each new photo they look at brings up a new memory in which then plays what happened in that photo. For example on of the pictures was taken of them at the beach so the shot changes to the video of them at the beach and what they did.

The first  Goodwin theory is what do the lyrics mean to you in your head. In this music video the all the lyrics are coming from either the man or the women and they are signing them to each other as if they were speaking to them. Basically they are both describing how they feel about each other. It talks a lot about their memories together which makes me feel there is a lot of love and passion for each other.

The second theory is how do the visuals mix with the lyrics. for this music video there are a few aspects of the video which link to the lyrics. Such as "In the back seat of your rover" a shot of them driving a range rover and another shot of them inside it is shown. The most obvious one is the link between them expressing their love through words and then reflecting those feelings on screen as well.

The third theory is Narrative and performance. So how does the performance tell the story throughout the song. In the music video we are constantly shown scenes of the two characters spending time together, traveling to different places and creating memories there.

The fourth theory is how do the micro features come together to create the final piece? For cinematography there are a lot of close ups of the two characters close to each other which tells us about the relationship between the two. For mice-en-scene  there isn't much to say about their costumes, pretty much it just consists of holiday clothing, for example, bikinis vests and shorts etc. For the setting of the music video, it changes throughout the song, moving to the different destinations that they supposedly made memories in. For example one of them would be the beach and another could be when they are both sitting on a sofa in a house looking through pictures. To describe the editing in the music video, i would say it starts of at a steady pace matching the pace of the soundtrack. Once the chorus starts to play, the pace of the editing begins to increase and the cuts start to match the beats of the song.

The fifth theory is star image. So who is the main focus of attention? For this music video the main focus of it would mainly be the female however they both get roughly an equal amount of screen time. There really isn't anyone else in the music video so it isn't difficult at all for the viewer to know who the main focus is on.

Done by Max Rowlands and Tommy Devaux