Sony BMG

Sony BMG began as a 50/50 venture between Sony Music Entertainment and Bertelsmann Music Group. It is one of the four big music companies and includes ownership and distribution of recording labels such as Arista Records, Columbia Records, Epic Records, J Records, Jive Records, Legacy Recordings and many more..

Sony Music has a range of different local artists and international superstars.

They have 3 frontline music companies, RCA, Epic and Columbia.

Some of the Artists on their books include; Leona Lewis, Will Young, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Dido, Foo Fighters, Kings of Leon, The Hoosiers, The Script, Bob Dylan and Pink.

Sony Music Entertainment is 100% owned by Sony corporation of America.

Rough Trade 21st Century

How has Rough Trade evolved in the 21st century?

- They have entered an equal partnership with Sanctuary and the Beggars group, this ensured stability on a worldwide basis - financially. Rough Trade now has a bigger US presence, one which will continue to grow.

How are their working practises different to the music produced through programmes such as X Factor?

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What successes have they had at this time?

- In 2008 the artist 'Duffy' released the 1st number one single for Rough Trade with 'Mercy'.

How has Rough Trade's ideology developed for the company in the present day?

- They are progressing to find themselves global stars and wanting to create important releases for the future.

Rough Trade 1990's

What problems did Rough Trade incur at the start of the 1990's?

- In March 1991 2/3 of the staff had been axed due to loss of money and not being able to fund the business, on June 1st 1991 Rough Trade stopped trading.

What effect did this have on the record label and distribution?

- It had to stop trading and releasing new material for artists as record deals were put on hold as they just didn't have the money to fund or run the business.

How did major record labels branch out into the independent music scene?

- They began to record with artists of different genres rather than just one category, enabling them to have a wider audience.

What actions were taken to revive Rough Trade?

- In late 1991 Geoff (The original founder) and his new business partner re-invented Rough Trade.

What new music industry areas did Rough Trade begin to work in and with which artists?

- They began to expand their company to the US, and old artists ended up coming back like 'Scritti Polliti' as they claimed they had never been away and made it all the way to the Mercury shortlist. Whilst they also released by other artist including; The Libertines, British Sea Power, arcade fire and many more..

Rough Trade 1980's

How did contracts effect the development of Rough Trade?

- Artists wanted contracts with Rough Trade as they split profit equally, which was a much better deal than they would receive with a mainstream label such as Sony BMG. Although this was helping Rough Trade create a name for themselves with these big acts, behind the scenes money became tight, as they weren't taking enough credit for their work.

What issues occurred between the record label and distribution?

- As mainstream label's were able to promote their music on a much bigger scale, many acts such as the 'Stiff Little Fingers' dropped Rough Trade as their label to sign to a mainstream label, when their music was becoming known, but only through using Rough Trade to promote themselves.

What changes did this lead to within the business structure of Rough Trade?

- For the business structure this took a big knock as they found out in 1982 when Rough Trade bought in their 1st accountant, showing they owed money they didn't have as they weren't making a big enough profit, and artists were dropping them to sign to mainstream.

What has been Rough Trade's ideology and how was this effected by the change in structure?

- The ideology of Rough Trade has always been to promote a 'challenging' type of music, and giving artists a fair chance. This changed as they realised if they wanted to stay in business they had to start signing contracts where they received more profit for their work.

Which artists led to success for Rough Trade?

- An successful group for them was 'The Smiths' (Who started Indie music), they became a well know group in the 80's internationally and big companies were interested but they decided to stay faithful to Rough Trade, and show they respected what they had done for them.

What music trend emerged at the end of the 1980's?

- Indie music became mainstream, but at the end of the 1980's the rave scene exploded.

What differences were there at this time between Rough Trade and other independent music labels?

- At this time when the rave scene became big, Rough Trade still stuck to what they believed and didn't want to promote mainstream culture in their label, therefore missing out on the type of music which was overtaking indie etc..

Rough Trade 1970's

How did rough trade start?

-Rough Trade began when Geoff Travis opened the one record shop 30 years ago.

Which music trends were popular?

-In the summer of 76' the punk rock era had exploded.

What was the ethos of Rough Trade?

- At this time punks were revolting against all mainstream music, and they wanted to support this by selling a different genre of music to mainstream.

How was rough trades different to large corporations?

- Instead of matching their music to what was popular at the time, they went against the norm by selling 'challenging' records (e.g punk) so they didn't coincide with mainstream culture.

What techniques were used to expand the Independent music scene?

- Rough Trade created an alliance between punk and reggae music, which was seen as a "unique/alternative spirit".

How did this lead to Rough Trade's expansion?

- This created a new type of music and showed independent artists that you don't have to be part of mainstream music culture, to become popular. This led to artists sending in their recordings and approaching Rough Trade as an Independent music label.

What type of business structure existed in the 1970's?

- Rough Trade was given a record by a french band - this prompted them to start their record label. When they signed artists they weren't interested in building an empire or just making money, so they shared profit equally with the artist. This type of contract by independent labels were dominating over mainstream labels as it was more relaxed.

Explain the successes of the distribution department and record label..

- In the 70's record distribution was controlled mainly by big companies, so Rough Trade started mail orders to other companies to sell independent records, giving independent artists a chance to get the music across. Where the profit was cut exactly by half more artists began to contact Rough Trade, this is when Independent labels started to affect the big companies as the artists began to abandon mainstream labels. In 1978 Daniel Miller set up 'Mute Records' and used Rough Trade as a distribution service, allowing Rough Trade to start using new records to sell.

Journal 28th September 2010

Today we chose our groups, I am working with Kirstie, Kathryn and Jade. Our artist is called Lucy Star and is using the song 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun' by Cyndi Lauper.

Andrew Goodwin's Video Analysis

1) Music video's demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g Stage performance in a rock video, dance routine.)

2) There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals.

3) There is a relationship between music and visuals. ( Amplifies, illustrates, contradicts.)

4) The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style.)

5) There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

6) There is often intertextual reference to films, TV programmes and other music video's etc.

Intertextuality - There are different ways of bringing intertextuality to a music video.

- Stylistically - By imitating the style of a film or television genre, video game, cartoon etc.

- Theme/ Narrative - George Micheal's 'Outside' uses intertextuality both stylistically in parts and through its narrative.

- Content - Some video's contain more subtle intertextual references within their content, a nod to a person or a character, political comment or current news item.

Purpose Of Intertextual Referencing

Intertextual references can add another dimension of meaning to a text, as well as fulfilling an important role for audiences. They work on different levels so people understand. Those who do get it feel 'privileged' as though they are in on a secret.