What impact does media ownership have upon the range of products available to audiences in the the music industry? Research

a major company, such as Sony owns side companies such as Columbia/Epic, RCA, Sony Music Nashville, Sony Masterworks, Syco (joint ownership)-

 these are all horizontally integrated. Horizontal  integration is when companies create side companies that are alike, which is either complimentary or creates competition.

 Sony owns recording studios, distribution companies and retail stores, these are all vertically integrated. Vertical integration is when a company expands its business into areas that are at different points on the same production paths, it helps to increase efficiently and decreases transportation costs and turn around time.

An independent company will usually not have vertical integration whens means more cost in production, distribution and sales, and it takes longer for the music to be made as it takes more than one company

 there is an independent record label such as 4AD records, an independent artist, an independent distributor such as kudos and usually an independent online store such as rise music.

successful indie artists include- Macklemore and Ryan Lewis (only have distribution company)
Mac Miller and arctic monkeys

a major company will:

1 sign an artist
2 write an album and record it
3 give a free track
4 set up a social media profile to get to the first Google search
5 set up facebook
6 set up website
7 get radio air time
8 release on itunes
9 release in stores


an independent company will;

1 find artists through events and gigs
2 make deals between label and artist
3 write and record tracks
4 social media promtion
5 play gigs for free
6 start distribution, shops and itunes
7 have a launch party
8 offer free tracks and continue promotion

Independent media is generally cheaper and means that concerts for the artists are usually cheaper.

Huge companies such as sony are quicker in distributions one company cn basically do everything that is needed as opposed to independent labels that rely on many other companies to finish and distribute their content.

Companies content-
Album
Free Track
Social media
Online release

Independent content-
Events and gigs (free and frequent)
free tracks and promotions
distribution in shops and itunes at the same time


resources for esssay