Travis Scott is a hip hop artist who signed with Epic Records in 2012. Some of his notable achievements include being nominated for Best Mixtape in 2015 and winning People's Champ Award at the 2016 BET Hip Hop Awards. Epic Records was founded in 1953 focusing on classical and jazz but now includes genres like pop, rock, R&B and hip hop. It is one of the largest record labels in the world and is a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment. Key jobs at a record label include CEO, vice presidents for different departments, accounting, legal, A&R, artist development, marketing, publicity, promotion and sales.

1. Music Industry Research
BY JAMES PUGH

2. Task 1 - Artist

3. Travis Scott
 Birth name - Jacques Webster, Jr.
 Born- April 30, 1992 (age 25) in Houston, Texas, United States
 Genre – Hip Hop
 Image – Branded clothes, chains, fashion orientated
 Target Audience – Hip hop fans, American and British

4. Background
 Record label – Epic Records
In 2012, Scott signed his first major-label deal with Epic Records.
At the age of 16, Scott embarked on his musical career as a record producer. Scott
and OG Chess, one of Travis's schoolmates, formed the group The Classmates. The
Classmates released two projects, with Buddy Rich in 2009 and Cruis'n USA in 2010.
The duo remained together until late 2012, when personal conflicts and financial
disputes led to the disbandment of the group.

5. Awards & Achievements
 Nominated for 2015 Best Mixtape Days Before Rodeo
 Won the 2016 BET Hip Hop Awards People's Champ Award "Antidote"
 Nominated as 2017 Grammy Awards Album of the Year Purpose (as a featured
artist)
 Won the Teen Choice Awards Choice Electronic/Dance Song "Know No Better"
(with Major Lazer, Camila Cabello and Quavo)

6. Task 2 – Record Label

7. Epic Records
 Epic records was established in 1953 and was predominantly a classical and jazz
music label when it was first founded. However it has now expanded to include a
wider scope of genres such as pop, rock, R&B and Hip-Hop.
 They have many globally popular artists such as DJ Khaled, Travis Scott, 21 Savage,
Future and Zara Larsson.

8. Information
 The founder of Epic Records was Columbia record label, whose CEO is Rob
Stringer
 Their Parent organisation is Sony Music Entertainment.
 in the '80s and '90s, when artists such as Michael Jackson, George Michael, Pearl
Jam and Rage Against the Machine were racking up combined sales in the
hundreds of millions worldwide.
 The record labels’ headquarters are in the United States in New York. It is one of
the biggest record labels in the world.

9. Task 3 – Jobs in a record label

10. CEO
CEO - Record label CEOs manage their companies with a mix of business skills and
skills particular to the music industry. The CEO determines the general direction of the
marketing, the music distribution and other matters. The CEO must also improve
financial situations and other areas of the record label.
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.

11. 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 the
daily oversight of their departments. Depending on the size of the label.
 Examples of departments that have vice presidents include business affairs, legal,
art, artist and repertoire, publicity, marketing, sales and label liaison.

12. Business Affairs/ Accounting
Accounting for a record label involves you to do jobs such as:
 Upload royalty statements from any store or distributor in txt, csv or excel format, in any currency
 Create and save your own templates to process statements in seconds - set up pre-allocations or
approve matches based on past actions
 Assign royalties to clients based on individual contracts or keep an ongoing balance.
 Separate royalties by store, country or by media type
 Handle YouTube Ad-Revenue statements and correlate with asset files
 Record label sales and expenses
 Pay artists advances and fees
 Send professional and detailed statements to your clients

13. Legal
 A record company’s legal department is responsible for all the contracts that are
made between the company and the artist. The label’s team of attorneys will draft
the recording contracts and do the final negotiations with the artist’s manager or
lawyer. Any legal actions, such as lawsuits between musicians and the label, go
through this department.

14. A&R (Artists & Repetoire)
 The A&R (artists and repertoire) department is often considered the most
glamorous department at a record label. This is because A&R is in charge of
discovering new talent. It can be very important with helping the progress of a
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.

15. 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.
 As record labels have come to see artists as products in recent years, some artist
development departments have been renamed "Product Development.

16. 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.
 It helps the artist breakthrough with a new album or single

17. New Media
 This department is in charge of dealing with the newer aspects of the music
business, including promoting music videos for the artist. This department is also
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.

18. Art Department
 This department is very important for displaying the artwork on the front of a CD
for a new album to catch the eye of the target audience.
 This also includes displaying large advertisements and artwork at music stores to
promote their artists.

19. Publicity & Promotion
 Publicity - This group is responsible for getting the word out for a new or
established artist to help get them noticed. It arranges for articles to be written in
newspapers and magazines. They also deal with radio and television coverage of
an artist.
 Promotion - This department's main aim is to make sure that an artist is being
played on the radio frequently to get them noticed. It must get an artist's new
songs on the radio in order to ensure the future success of the record company.
This department makes sure that all the other departments are communicating
about the best way to sell the artist to the public

20. Sales
 A Record Company Salesperson is responsible for completing sales of the label’s
CDs, DVDs, and videos. To make a sale, the Salesperson visits accounts, makes
phone calls, and mails out letters and other collateral.
 Selling things are crucial for artists winning awards such as getting 1 million sales
on an album worldwide