One Direction is signed to two major record labels, Syco Entertainment and Columbia Records, and became famous after appearing on the X-Factor in 2010. Their target audience is females ages 18-29 living in urban areas. They sell various merchandise including CDs, t-shirts, and tour tickets. Lanterns on the Lake is signed to the independent label Bella Union and became known for their EPs and single before signing. Their target audience is similar to One Direction's. They sell CDs, posters, and vinyl. Independent labels have more artistic control but less resources, while mainstream labels provide broader marketing but take a larger cut of sales. Merchandise and ancillary products are important for engaging

1. Mainstream vs Indie

2. One Direction
• One direction are signed to two record labels. One in the UK called Syco
Entertainment which is owned by Simon Cowell. An another in the US called
Columbia which is owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Both record labels
specialise in various genres of artists.
• The target audience for one direction are females ages 18 – 29 that live in urban
areas.
• The merchandise sold by One Direction are: CDs, t-Shirts, perfume, necklaces,
bracelets, mugs, keyring, vinyl discs, digital album, DVDs and tour tickets.
• Music is purchased through CDs, Vinyl and Digital (Spotify, ITunes and sound
cloud).
• The band become famous through the X-Factor in 2010, when they entered the
competition as solo artists. The band was put together by Simon Cowell and
Nicole Scherzinger when they failed to pass the round for the boys category but
qualified for the groups category during judges houses. The came third place in
the competition.

3. Lanterns on the lake
• Lanterns on the lake are signed to a UK company called Bella Union which is
owned by Simon Raymonde and Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins. The record label
specialise in: indie rock, alternative rock, folk, experimental and psychedelic
genres.
• The target audience for Lanterns on the lake is females ages 18 – 30 that live in
suburban areas.
• The merchandise sold by Lanterns on the lake: CDs, posters, prints, art, t-shirts,
bang and vinyl.
• Music is purchased through CDs, vinyl and ITunes.
• The band become famous through two self released EPs and a single before being
signed to Bella Union record label. The song ‘I Love You Sleepyhead’ was used in
the film ‘Where Soldiers Come From’.

4. Advantages
Independent
• As a result of the widespread use of home studios, consumer recording
technology, and the Internet, independent labels began to become more
commonplace. Independent labels are often artist-owned with a stated intent
often being to control the quality of the artist's output.
Mainstream
• Recording artists have traditionally been reliant upon record labels to broaden
their consumer base, market their albums, and be both promoted and heard on
music streaming services, radio, and television. Record labels provide publicists
assist performers in gaining positive media coverage, and arrange for their
merchandise to be available via stores and other media outlets.

5. Disadvantages
Independent
• Independent labels usually do not enjoy the resources available to the "big three"
and as such will often lag behind them in market shares. Often independent artists
manage a return by recording for a much smaller production cost of a typical big
label release. Sometimes they are able to recoup their initial advance even with
much lower sales numbers.
Mainstream
• An increasing number of artists have sought to avoid costs and gain new audiences
via the Internet, often with the help of videos. Combined with the decline in
album sales and rapid growth in free content available online, this has changed the
way industry works dramatically since the beginning of the 21st century. It has
caused record labels to seek new sources of profit.

6. Merchandise and ancillary products are quite important to the success of the band
and to the audience because it helps to engage the audience to the band and to
make the physical connection between band and audience. Additionally, by
releasing products for the audience to purchase it provides the audience with
satisfaction and a goal to collect those items while supporting the bands income.
Fans can found out about the bands through social media such as Twitter, Facebook,
Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, Vevo, Spotify, Sound Cloud, E News, etc but also TV,
Magazines and Radio. There are many was that the band connects and
communicated with their audience.
In my opinion I would rather be signed to a mainstream label as you are exposed to a
much larger platform with a high frequency viewing. This then allows you to have
more options when creating and releasing content.