Record label company roles

1. Will Hallowell
RECORD LABEL COMPANY ROLES
PRESIDENT
Their role varies greatly but in essence, they can oversee one, or many, aspects of a
record label, including A&R, contracts, management, publishing, production,
manufacture, marketing/promotion, distribution, copyright, and touring.
VICE PRESIDENT
The Role of a Vice President at a Record Label. Exactly what the role of a vice
president at a record label is may be a little mysterious. Examples of departments
that have vice presidents include business affairs, legal, art, artist and repertoire,
publicity, marketing, sales and label liaison.
ACCOUNTANT
This is a financial accountant with financial expertise within a music industry
organisation, record label or related music company. Some accountants specialise in
copyright, royalties and licensing. A specialist music accountant’s job may involve
taking audits of record companies on behalf of copyright societies.
LAWYER
Music lawyers handle clients’ contracts and assist them in making sure they do not
violate any laws. They are entertainment lawyers who represent different individuals
within the music industry.
A&R
A&R are in charge of finding new artists and setting up a production team to work
with them. This department is often what keeps the new artist and record label
communicating. They chose which songs go with which albums, sing producers to
produce the album and negotiate prices, they negotiate with recording studios too.
ARTIST DEVELOPMENT
They are crucial to the development of the artist and are in charge of planning the
careers of the artists who are signed to the record label. It publicizes and advertises
the artists over the advancement of their career. Most record labels have now done
away with artist development as they now want to sign artists who are already fully
developed in the genre.
MARKETING
The marketing team focuses on Street Teams, Art and Design and the image of the
artist and online promotion. Street teams hand out flyers, put up posters and sell
tickets to younger groups of people. They may also ring radio stations to request
songs. They design the flyers and posters too.
ONLINE/NEW MEDIA
Social Networking staff set up social media accounts for the bands to promote them,
especially to appeal to younger people. These sites are used to keep fans up to date
with the latest news on the band, for example a new album being released or
upcoming tour dates.

2. Will Hallowell
ART DEPARTMENT
The art department are in charge of all the artwork released, promoting the band that
go with the production on the single/album. Producing CD covers, advertisements
and displays are examples of the types of jobs that this department does. They are
also in charge of creating in store displays in music stores are supermarkets.
PUBLICITY/PROMOTIONS
A publicist is responsible for getting their artist coverage in the media, whether it’s on
the radio, television, magazine etc. They attempt to put a good spin on any negative
press in the media and try and get the most out of the good press. They want to get
their artist invited to parties, events and news worthy situations that will increase
media coverage for the band. They also arrange things such as photoshoots and
news articles to be written about them.
SALES
The sales team is in charge of what the label sells under the artists’ name. This is
mainly things such as CDs, DVDs, merchandise and signature instruments. They
make deals with the big manufacturing and distribution companies and that
everything is released on time. They would work with big chain music stores to make
sure their artist’s merchandise is on the shelves.