Recording Companies

Recording companies, more commonly referred to as record labels, are considered by many to be the cornerstone of the music industry and they are responsible for signing artists, distributing and promoting their material. Recording companies make money through the sale of records, a percentage of which they will pay to the musicians as royalties.

 

Many artists have had well publicised fallings out with various recording companies. There are numerous examples of recording companies being taken to court by artists for a number of different reasons, although unpaid royalties is one of the most common reasons.  There have also been cases of recording companies taking artist to court who have failed to fulfil contractual obligations.

 

The rise of the internet and downloadable music has changed the face of the recording industry drastically in recent years and recording companies have had to change tactics in order to remain profitable. The number of people buying CDs and other recorded media has dropped drastically, so recording companies have had to make digital downloads of their artist’s music available. Many recording companies make material available through the Itunes store, which is a very popular source of downloadable media. Recording companies are also having to combat the problem they face from illegal downloads. Illegal downloads cost recording companies millions every year and they are frequently implementing techniques such as copy protection on CDs and cheaper legal downloads in attempt to deter people from using illegal downloads.