Record labels

Within the music industry; most recording artists have become increasingly reliant upon record labels to broaden their consumer base, market their albums, and be both promoted and heard on mp3, radio, etc. and of course television also, 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.

A record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion, and enforcement of copyright protection of sound recordings and music videos; conducts talent scouting and development of new artists ("artists and repertoire" or "A&R"); and maintains contracts with recording artists and their managers. The term "record label" derives from the circular label in the center of a vinyl record which prominently displays the manufacturer's name, along with other information.

EMI

The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a British multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and was one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major publishing arm, EMI Music Publishing – also based in London with offices globally. The company was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but since February 2011 it has been wholly owned by Citigroup (which took the then financially troubled company over because of more than $4 billion in debt it held).

Warner music group

Warner Music Group (WMG) is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies. For three decades the conglomerate was known as WEA, which stood for Warner Bros.-Elektra-Atlantic Records; three major record companies that signed and developed musical acts and, in turn, distributed product for subsidiaries and other record labels.

Sony music entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment (SME or Sony Music) is the second-largest global recorded music company of the "big four" record companies and is controlled by Sony Corporation of America, the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation. The company, which evolved into Sony Music, was founded in 1929 as the American Record Corporation (ARC) through the merger of several smaller record companies.

History and Development of the music video

1929 - Blues singer Bessie smith appeared in a 2 reel short film "Saint louis blues". It was shown in theaters untill 1932.

1940  - Walt disney released Fantasia, an animated film based around famous classical music.

1956 - Tony bennet was filmed walking along the serpentine in hyde park, london as his recording of "Stranger in paradise" played. This film was distirbuted and played by UK and US tv stations, Leading him to claim he had made the worlds first music video.

1967 - The beatles took the music video to new heights when they released music videos for Penny lane and Strawberry fields forever. These videos used techniques from films such as dramatic lighting, unusal camera angles and rhythmic editing. These two videos were the first of concept videos to try and illustrate the song and its lyrics in an artful manner.

1970 - Around this time Top of the pops helped music videos to progress rapidly. It created a lot of competition between bands and artists as the limited space on the show meant it could only showcase as number of videos per show. This encouraged bands/ artists to make the best videos possible.

1981 - MTV (The worlds first music channel) was launched. It was devoted to showing bands/artists videos. This also encouraged people in the industry to make the best possible videos. At this time videos were more focused on narative than just the artist performing.

Modern day - Today music videos are even more important to artists. The budget for videos has increased, along with the technology available to artists to make videos. Nowadays music videos are heavily featured on narative.