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The Current And Future Structure Of The Music Industry

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Report critically discussing the current and future structure of the music industry in the United Kingdom.

In this written report I shall be critically discussing the current and future structure of the music industry in the United Kingdom.

The current structure can be laid out in the following manner:
Source: (Dustry, 2015)

PART 1 - Labels, publishers and the Live Sector.
Labels
Firstly the focus of this report will be on the roles and the position of music labels. There are two types of music label; a “major” label and an “indie” (independent label). A music label is a separate entity which will supply an agreement between the artist and the label for a certain number of tracks to be recorded, manufactured …show more content…

Following on further from this, the label then pays the artist royalties from sales. In more recent times, both indie and major labels are including what is known as “Ancillary Rights”. Essentially, this is a clause that labels add into a contract that states that they receive a cut of artist’s earnings which aren’t directly related to the recording and release process. For example, should the artist sell out and perform a huge capacity venue, the label would then expect a percentage of that live income.
Writing about “indie” labels in “The Music Industry handbook”, Rutter states “Historically, many ‘indies’ have grown to become larger corporate structures, whereby their artists have become successful through healthy consumer interest. Major music companies also work with successful independents to ‘upscale’ their operations; the major’s powerful promotion and distributions mechanisms facilitate greater product exposure for a percentage of the proceedings” (Rutter, 2011)
Publishers
Publishers, or the act of publishing, entails an organisations acquirement of the copyrights to an artist’s material. We can look at the role of a publisher for both a songwriter, a performer, and an artist who both writes their music and goes out to perform. Publishers will dedicate time, money, energy and passion into an artist’s career and help them to develop their songs into the industry.
Once a writer has completed a piece of music, there are

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