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1. By Luke du Preez
Roles within a record label
CEO- Recordlabel CEOsmanage theircompanieswithamix of businessskillsandskillsparticularto
the musicindustry.The CEO determinesthe general directionof the marketing,the music
distributionandothermatters. He isthe one that hasoverall saywithinthe label aswell.
Vice President- The truthisthat,rather thana single vice president,mostrecordlabelshave several.
There are differentvice presidentsforeachdepartmentatthe recordlabel whomanage the daily
oversightof theirdepartments.Dependingonthe size of the label,there maybe upto 10 or more
vice presidentsforasingle recordlabel.Examplesof departmentsthathave vice presidentsinclude
businessaffairs,legal,art,artistand repertoire,publicity,marketing,salesandlabel liaison.Eachof
these departmentshasadifferentfunctionthatworkstobuildthe label.
Businessaffairs/accounting- Thisdepartmentisdirectlyresponsibleforaccounting,banking,taxes
and the royaltiesof all the artistssignedtothe label.Accountingusuallyreportsdirectlytothe CEO
as it isvital forthe survival of the business,thatincome exceedsexpenditure.
Legal- Each Recordlabel will have agroupof lawyerstohandle all of itslegal affairs.Theymainly
concentrate oncontract negotiationswithartists.Theyalsoworkwithvendors,andmanage all
othercontractual needsof the Record Label.The legal departmentisoftenone of the bigger
departmentsof arecord label.
A&R- A&R (artistsandrepertoire) isoftenconsideredthe partyingdepartmentof the RecordLabel.
These people are incharge of findingnew artistsandsettingupa productionteamtowork with
them.Thisdepartmentisoftenwhatkeepsthe artistandRecordLabel communicatingtogether.
A&R helpchoose songselectionforsetsandalbums,signproducerstoproduce the artist'salbum
and negotiate prices.Theynegotiatewithrecordingstudiosaswell andvideohouses. Theyare often
youngpeople astheyknowthe trendsandwhere the musicmarketisgoing.
Artistdevelopment- MostRecordLabelshave stoppedproviding‘ArtistDevelopment’astheynow
try to signartiststhat are alreadyfullydevelopedintotheirowngenre.Thismeansitisunlikelythat
workis neededtogetthe artist intothe market.Through the yearslabelshave learnedthat
developingartistsisoftenthe wrongthingtodo.Programssuch as XFactor andAmericanIdol are all
aboutthis,changingan everydaypersonintoacelebritywhocanattract large audiencesandsell lots
of CDs.
Marketing- The marketingdepartmentof mostrecordlabelsnowadaystendtofocusonStreet
Teams,Art and Design/theimage of the artistsandonline promotion.Streetteamsgive outflyers,
put uppostersand sell ticketstoyoungergroups of people.The streetteamsalsoringintoradio
stationsrequestingsongs.
Online/new media- SocialNetworkingStaff promote bandsinthe label creatingandusingwebsites
such as Facebook,Instagram,TumblrandTwitter.These social mediasitesare used tokeepfansup
to date on the latestnewsandreleases.Otheronline workiscreatingbanneradsthroughsiteslike
VevoonYouTube and creating/updatingbandwebsites.The onlinedepartmentalsohassmallersub-
departmentssuchasSEO (SearchEngine Optimisation),programmingandPPC(payperclick)
managers.

2. By Luke du Preez
Art Department- Thisdepartmentisincharge of all the artworkthat goesalongwithproducingan
album.ThisincludesCDcoverart, advertisementsanddisplaysatmusicstores.
Publicity/Promotions- A Publicistisresponsibleforgettingtheirartistscoverage inthe media
whetheritbe on the radio,TV,online orinprint.Theyattemptto put a positive spinonanybad
pressand try to getthe most outof all the good news/eventscoverage thathas beenreported.
Publicistswanttogettheirartistsinvitedtoparties,events,andnewsworthysituationswhichwill
increase mediacoverage forthatartist.
Sales- The SalesDepartmentisincontrol of basicallyeverythingthe labelsartistsare selling. Thisis
mainlyCD’s,DVDs,Merchandise andsignature instrumentsetc.The salesdepartmentisalarge
departmentwithinthe label,theymake the dealswiththe differentmanufacturinganddistribution
businesses.