Record labels perform several important duties in the music industry including producing and marketing music for their artists. They are responsible for creating music, promoting artists globally through various marketing strategies, and enforcing copyright laws to protect their artists' work. An independent record label like Glassnote would be a good fit for our artist since it allows more flexibility and focuses on a single music genre like pop music that our artist produces. Glassnote has found success signing artists like Phoenix, Mumford & Sons, and Foy Vance. As an independent label founded in 2007, Glassnote is still growing its roster of artists and recognition in the industry.

1. Record Labels
By Kienan Howlett-Smart

2. What is a record Label?
Record labels perform a variety of duties in today's modern world of the music
industry. First of all their job is to create music for artists that sign for their label
therefore showing they have to be good producing music that will attract their
audiences. Furthermore, one of their main priorities is the success of marketing their
artists to audiences around the globe, depending on their target audiences. This could
consist of how they make the music videos for their artists, how they handle promotion
(in magazines, adverts, billboards etc) and how they are able to allow their artist to
reach the vast majority of their target audiences. In addition they have to handle the
copyright of their products by enforcing copyright laws against their artists singles.

3. Which type of record label would your artist be signed
to and why?
Our artist would be signed to an independent record label for a few reasons. Firstly due
to the fact our artist would like to have more flexibility and freedom in regards to his
contract conditions, the type of music he would make, what he wants to include in his
music videos and how he wants to be promoted and marketed. Therefore due to the
fact many independent record companies focus on mainly on genre of music and our
artist would most likely perform one genre of music shows a reason for him wanting to
sign with an independent label.
In this day and age I believe our artist would be signed to a label such as Glassnote. This
is due to the fact Glassnote focus on pop music and our artist will focus on making
popular pop music therefore fitting the genre of the label.

4. Glassnote
Glassnote have being a record label since 2007 and were formed by music
executive Daniel Glass. This label is an independent record label which is
most likely to have someone like my artist signed to them. Furthermore,
Glassnote soon reached success with their group Phoenix as they earned a
Grammy Award nomination for Best Alternative Music Album. The record
has also signed artists such as Mumford and Sons and Foy Vance.
In addition Glassnote was named the best indie label in 2011 in an issue of
‘Rolling Stone’. This shows that even with the label’s short existence it is
rising in popularity. Which is shown by being in popular magazines such as
‘Rolling Stone’. Furthermore it is becoming a more recognised label as it’s
roster of artists is increasing year by year.

5. Copyright and how labels are responsible for this
Copyright, stated in the Oxford Dictionary, is ‘The exclusive and assignable legal right,
given to the originator for a fixed number of years, to print, publish, perform, film, or
record literary, artistic, or musical material.’ This means that once something is created
usually institutions put a copyright with the content that was created. This leaves the
created product protected from anyone else using it illegally. For example, when a song
is put within a youtube video it is the company’s right, or whomever owns the copyright
of that song, to have that video removed due to it breaking copyright laws by using the
institutions content.

6. My considerations into the copyrighted song
Due to the fact I will be using Bruno Mars’ song ‘When I Was Your Man’ I will need to request permission to his
label, Atlantic Records, in order to use his song for my music video. Additionally I will make it clear in the
description of wherever my music video is uploaded that I do not own the rights to the song and that the song
was originally performed by Bruno Mars.
Moreover, as this is not my song I will make sure the viewing platforms will show my music video free of charge,
otherwise I would be gaining money for someone else’s product, which is totally unacceptable. There will also
be no intended promotional content within the video whatsoever.
Finally, the ideas that have come up with the music video I have created were not intentionally inspired by the
original video of ‘When I Was Your Man’. Otherwise I would be showing copying of the original content, which is
not my aim.