RECORD LABEL ROLES

1. RECORD LABEL ROLES

2. CEO/PRESIDENT/OWNER
 The CEO (chief executive officer) is in charge of the business of the whole
company. In addition, each label also has its own president. Under the president
of the individual label, there are vice presidents in charge of different
departments.
 CEOs recruit and hire management staff members.These employees must not
only be good at their specific jobs, but be able to effectively communicate with
the CEO. Some of these key staff members include the heads of the legal,
marketing and distribution divisions.
 They are essentially the head of the company.

3. VICE PRESIDENT
 Rather than a single vice president, most record labels have several.There are
different vice presidents for each department at the record label who manage
their departments. Depending on the size of the label, there may be up to 10 or
more vice presidents for a single record label.
 The vice president is there to support the CEO
 They are hired sometimes with a very specific skill set like marketing or finance or
sales, or sometimes as a surrogate for the CEO in his absence, so the president or
VP may run the day to day operations while the CEO meets with important clients
personally.

4. BUSINESS AFFAIRS/ACCOUNTING
 This department deals with the business side of things. It takes care of
bookkeeping, payroll and general finances
 They help musicians and music industry companies with their tax returns and
other financial statements.They review royalty statements, help with applications
for financing, analyse contracts, and review business plans.

5. LEGAL
 This department is responsible for all the contracts that are made between the
company and the artist, as well as contracts between the record label and other
companies. Any legal issues that arise (such as lawsuits between an artist and the
company) go through this department.
 They deal with any legal areas of the label.

6. ARTIST DEVELOPMENT
 This department is responsible for planning the careers of the artists who are
signed to the record label. It promotes and publicizes the artists over the course of
their career.
 Originally the role of artist development was to nurture and grow the creative side
of a musician (i.e. song writing, singing).
 The name has changed to Product Development recently to reflect the emphasis
changing from nurturing the growth of an artist and their music, to high-pressure
sales development tactics and strategies

7. A&R (ARTISTS AND REPERTOIRE)
 The A&R (artists and repertoire) department is in charge of discovering new
talent. A&R people work with the artists that they "sign." (When a record label
"signs" an artist, it simply means that the artist makes an exclusive contract with
that record label.)They do everything from assisting with song selection to
choosing the people that will produce the album to deciding where the album will
be recorded.The people in this department work as the link between the
recording artist and all the other departments of the record company.
 They have a very important reputation as if they sign someone they're putting
their name on the line, so the artist must be good.

8. ONLINE/NEW MEDIA
 This department is in charge of dealing with the newer aspects of the music
business, including producing and promoting music videos for the artist. In
addition, this department is often responsible for helping an artist create a
presence on the Internet. It deals with the new technologies in which artists can
stream music and music videos through the Internet.
 Online promotion is very important nowadays as social media is a critical part of
promoting an artist.

9. MARKETING
 This department creates the overall marketing plan for every album that the
record company will release. It helps coordinate the plans of the promotion, sales
and publicity departments.
 Their overall job is to market and sell.They target specific demographics to appeal
to all kind of markets.
 Locally, a Marketing Representative will oversee specific territorial markets (like a
specific city), while a Regional Representative will oversee an entire region (like a
part of the country).

10. ART DEPARTMENT
 This department is in charge of all the artwork that goes along with producing an
album.This includes CD cover art, advertisements and displays at music stores.
 They help develop artists develop all art related sides of their work i.e.:
i. Album covers
ii. Websites
iii. Promotional posters or artwork
iv. Merchandise

11. PUBLICITY AND PROMOTIONS
 This group is responsible for getting the word out about a new or established
artist. It arranges for articles to be written in newspapers and magazines.They
also deal with radio and television coverage of an artist. Many artists also have
their own independent publicists who help coordinate publicity with this
department as well.
 Their job is to push the artist as much as possible to therefore increase sales and
popularity of the artist.

12. SALES
 This department oversees the retail aspect of the record business. It works with
the record store chains and other music stores to get new albums onto retailers'
shelves.The sales department often coordinates these efforts with the promotion
and publicity departments.
 Once the cd has been recorded and the marketing campaign is in place, the sales
team will need to ensure that the retailers and wholesalers buy enough stock to
cover the anticipated demand.
 They're sold to distributors who do most of the work (telephone sales,
warehousing)