Drake is a highly successful Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter and actor. He is signed to several labels including OVO Sound, Young Money Entertainment, and Cash Money Records. OVO Sound, his own label, is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Records. Drake utilizes various promotion and distribution strategies. He promotes albums through radio shows, social media, and by previewing songs on tours. His music is available on most major streaming platforms. Drake has achieved significant commercial success, earning numerous awards and breaking sales records with hit albums and songs.

1. Major Label Case study
By Callum McDonnell

2. 1. Name & Genre
• The name of the artist that I have chosen as my major label case
study is the Canadian born rapper, songwriter, record producer and
actor Drake (Aubrey Drake Graham).
• The style and genre of his music would mostly be hiphop but will also
include some R&B and also some mainstream pop songs.

3. 2. Signed to…
• Drake is signed to many different labels, from Aspire Music Group to
Boy Better Know Records, but is mostly signed and produces most of
his albums with his company that he founded being, OVO sound. His
main labels that he is signed to and produces albums with are OVO
Sound, Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records and
Republic Records
• He most recently brought out his new album on the 17th of March,
called More Life, which was by OVO Sound, Young Money
Entertainment, Cash Money Records and Republic Records.

4. 3. Subsidiaries and Conglomerates
• His main company that he is signed to and co-founded would be OVO
records. This company is actually and subsidiary of the larger
company and conglomerate Warner Bros. records.
• Some of the other records that he is signed to are also subsidiaries of
conglomerates, such as Epic Records, who are subsaidaries of the
conglomerate Sony Music, and also Universal Republic records, who
are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group.
• This means that the artist is signed to all conglomerates and is signed
to all three groups in the “Big three”.

5. 4. Integration - Vertical
• We can identify that the record label OVO music has integrated
vertically in some examples. This is because OVO music produces the
songs at first and then they have integrated and joined with the
conglomerate Warner Bros. Records in order for them to distribute
the albums and the songs better and easier.
• This is because the conglomerate Warner Bros. Records is a well
known recognised company meaning they will be able to sell and
distribute albums better than a independent might be able to.

6. 4. Integration - Horizontal
• An example of horizontal integration for the business OVO music
might’ve been when their aren’t company Warner Bros. took over a
similar company similar to OVO music.
• This could’ve been when the parent company took over valiant
records in a similar way in to which it took over OVO music. This
shows horizontal integration as the business is taking over another
company at the same stage of production as themselves, in the same
industry.

7. 5. Promotion
• Cross media convergence is when something is promoted over different media
platforms to gain more attention and draw in a bigger audience.
• This was carried out when the album was promoted by releasing 3 songs from
the album on the record labels radio, OVO Sound Radio. This then drew the
audiences in and then made them excite for his new album from listening to
these songs. Because of the radio doing this, this gives a sneak preview into what
the album might entail, meaning his fans will be waiting for the release of this
and will anticipating the drop if this album. This is good as if fans are anticipating
the release of this new album and waiting for it to drop, then they are more likely
to buy the album as well as pre-order and such and such.
• Similarly synergy was also carried out when the two separate businesses worked
together to promote the album. The two businesses that promoted this included
the business Spotify as well as the business OVO Music which used its radio show
to promote it even more. Spotify promoted this album by posting the
promotional video on the album on its Twitter as well as its Instagram.

8. 5. Promotion
Here we Can see the example when Spotify promoted the album
and the promotional video for the album on twitter. This then
shows an example of synergy as the is two separate businesses
promoting the same album. This has been done for the reason to
draw in even more fans and get the album even more attention
than before as it is using the audiences from two separate
businesses.
Another way in which Drakes alum was promoted was by
previewing some of his new songs on his Boy meets the world Tour

9. 6. Promotion
One way in which Drakes new album was slowly started to get
promoted is when Drake informed his fans over social Media, using
Instagram, that he is working on a new album, or project as he calls it,
and sets a release date. This gives an insight to his fans when the album
is going to be released and shows his fans the album cover.
From doing some research I found out that Drake actually harnesses the
power of social media to promote is albums. For one of his albums he
made the his album artwork mock that of Chick-Fil-A’s font, and made a
meme creation tool so that any and every troll out there with an
opinion could generate their own memes, all of which he was
controlling. This meant that people on social media would create
memes and funny pictures of drakes album cover. From this they would
actually be promoting his album without knowing what they was doing.
We Can see this on the right where his original album cover was
converted into this meme on the far right.
This was also similarly done for his Views album. This is because he
promoted the album and the front cover which was then turned into
many memes and funny pictures hours later, all controlled by Drake
himself. This means that he uses social media including Instagram,
Twitter and other Social media platforms including Facebook to
promote his album without doing anything.

10. 7. Availability on His music
• Drake often changes and mixes up where his next new album is going to be
promoted and doesn’t always stick to the same streaming ore music site.
Drakes most recent album More Life, was set to be an apple music
exclusive, meaning that, that would be the only place which you could
listen and download to his songs. This was recently changed so that it was
available on many music platforms even though Drake signed a contract to
release his next 3 albums exclusively with apple music, he broke the
contract and released his album on many platforms. The most recent
album is available on Apple Music, Spotify and many other major
streaming sites. On most of these streaming sites, including Apple music
and Spotify, his album is only available to download and listen to offline
when you pay a monthly subscription fee to the company.

11. 8. Successfulness of the artist
• I can assess that this artist that I have chosen is very successful and might be seen
as one of the most successful artist in the world today.
• His most recent album more life is still currently at the top of the charts and the
top of the Billboard 200 list for the third week running since its release. From
streaming it is on average around 167 million song streams per week for Drake.
• Since starting his career as a teenager in the show Degrassi, he quickly rose up in
the music career. He got his first Grammy award in 2012 for best Rap album. In
the same year the rapper bought a seven bedroom, 9 bath mansion in Los
Angeles. From there his music life escalated with many platinum albums and
songs and being at the top of the charts for many different songs. The rapper now
even owns a few private jets. In 2014 he earned $40 million.
• On twitter he currently has 35million followers, having the 24th most followers on
twitter overall.