Introduction to the music industry

In today’s world there are many record labels, some larger and better known than others. Within the music industry, most recording artists have become increasingly reliant upon record labels to broaden their audience, market their albums, and be both promoted and heard on radio, television, with publicists that assist performers in positive media reports to market their merchandise, and make it available via stores and other media outlets. The Internet has increasingly been a way that some artists avoid costs and gain new audiences, as well as the use of videos in some cases, to sell their products. For this task I will look at a very large record label called Def Jam records, Def Jam Recordings is an American hip-hop record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operates as a part of The Island Def Jam Music Group. In the UK, the label takes on the name Def Jam UK and is operated through Mercury Music Group, They have managed a huge amount of artists since founded in 1984 by Rick Rubbin and Russel Simmons. Def Jam is a predominantly hip hop and R and B record label, having signed Rhianna and Mariah Carey. The benefits to joining such a vast label is huge, giving the artists lots of advice and experience in that field. There are however smaller record labels who sign more organic bands, an example of this is Bad Sekta and Bella Union. Smaller record labels usually sign artists on he basis of raw talent and are unable to create a mass audience for the artist like larger ones can.