~ Jade Doy ~
9070
A2 Media
G324
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Thursday 10th September
Record Label Research
Today in class we discussed having to design our own record label logo, this is a necessary task for us to complete due to copyright laws.
We have decided in order to cater our logo to our target audience more easily we will research and analyse several existing record label companies to gain a greater knowledge of the subject.
A record label is a type of brand or trademark associated with the marketing of pop stars, music recording and also music videos, they're often focused on one genre or type of artist and generally have an image that supports and represents those artists.
1. EMI is a popular well-known music company that has signed many artists of different genres. Some well-known artist who have/are signed with them are; Queen, Iron Maiden and Kylie Minogue.
The EMI logo is very simplistic, it had no images or graphics of any kind on or around the logo, this makes the writing the main focus of the logo, meaning more people are going to pay attention to the name of the company. The label name is in a sans serif front, written in capitals making it look quite modern and simple as a design.
The large font takes up almost all of the space meaning the logo and company name can easily be seen and read even if it it miniaturised to put on the back of CDs or on the bottom of magazine adverts, this is something we should make sure it possible for us to do with our logo as we want it to be seen to advertise our label.
The bright white text on a red background would also make the logo stand out more on the back of a digipak, we plan to use more subdued monochromatic colours as we feel this would suit our genre better and help represent our artist.
The label features no genre specificity in the logo presumably due to the fact they sign artist of several different genres, we will need to specify our logo for our genre.
2. Sub-Pop is an independant record label that started as a fanzine in the early 80s and is now one of the leading producers and distrivutors for independant rock. Known signed artist include Nirvana, The Postal Service and Flight of the Conchords.
The Sub-Pop logo is black and white, there are no other colours featured in the logo, this makes it look simplistic and professional as it's not too busy or complex as a label. This also represents the kind of music genres they specialise in, Indie and Rock are both genres that tend to focus on a more simplistic look and aren't conventionally colourful as music styles or in terms of the artists 'look'. I think we should use a darker colour scheme in order to represent our genre better.
The text is a sans serif font, written in capitals this reinforces the simplicity of the label and makes it look professional and gives it a modern kind of style. The word 'Sub' is written in white on a black background and then the word 'Pop' is written in the opposite coloured, the reversal of the text colour/background makes the logo look more interesting and is a simple way to make it stand out amongst other possible labels. This is also done by the use of small arrows in-between the letters of the label name, this makes it more interesting without making it look busy as a logo.
I think in general this logo reflects the genre of music their artists play as both are very simplistic in their image but effective in what they want to do, the logo is interesting despite having a very minimalistic design. I think this is a good example of a logo we wish to use as inspiration for our own record label logo
3. Partisan Records
Folk/Alternative/Country
Another independent record label, relatively new in the music industry being only four years old as a record label. Artist they've signed include; Deer Tick, Dolorean and Holy Sons.
This record label logo also uses a black/white colour scheme, again keeping it simple representing the genre of the artist they sign. This is effective and clearly a popular choice among labels who sign artists of the same genre that our artist is. This particular label doesn't look very modern however due to the serif font and the faded/not neatly drawn box around the text; this is also due to the strange graphic breaking through both sides of the box.
The old style text makes the design seem more complex without actually doing anything; this is also done by the drawing that resembles the shape of a sword. This image could mean several things including that old style music is better and that they have a need for raw image and sound kind of how the label looks.
I think this is a good record label to look at for simplicity using graphics since I think we will want to use some kind of graphic in our logo to make it stand out more and to convey the messages we want to present in our artist.
4. Hopeless Records
Alternative, Punk, Pop, Rock, Metal
Hopeless records is primarily known for their punk rock artist, the label was created in the early 90s and since has signed many well-known artist. Artist they've signed include; All Time Low, Avenged Sevenfold and Yellowcard.
This record label has a yellow, white and grey colour scheme instead of just black and white which makes it look more interesting and eye catching. The light grey connotes a roughness to the genre of music they specialise in (rock/punk) and suggests an imperfectness about the muci that some might find refreshing. The introduction of yellow into the quite plain grey and white scheme gives the logo a twist and connotes a very happy feel to the logo suggesting they're welcoming and the artists are happy and enjoy their work.
The text is in a sans serif font with the record label name written in all capitals making it look very bold, this represents the genre of music they specialise in as punk/rock music is all very bold and brash and loud like the artists they sign. I think we're going to put text for our record label in all capitals because we feel it would look much bolder and stand out more, I think this style would also fit our genre as it's very plain and clearly shows what it offers as music/an artist.
This logo has a graphic of an actual record with a H in (for Hopeless) the picture has a retro style and suggests that it's worn and experienced with artists, its suggests that many artists have loved it and used it to produce music. This connotes an experienced professional record label and gives the idea that they are professional and know what they're doing.
5. Island Records
Island Records is a popular British record label founded Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall and Leslie Kong in Jamaica. It has signed artists such as Bon Jovi, Fall Out Boy and Jessie J.
They don't have a particular type of genre they specialise in.
The colour scheme of this logo is black and white making it look very plain and professional and is very simplistic. This connotes the idea they're a simple producer and don't find it difficult to do anything including signing artists, making people famous and making good music. The text is sans-serif and looks more relaxed and casual that a serif font would, this connotes they're a 'cool' brand.
The logo has a graphic of a palm tree something associated with exotic locations and islands, this not only related to the record label name but also represents an image of tranquility and luxury. This means people seeing the logo would associate the brand with these things as well, connoting island records as a brand name of luxury and peace with people making music and making a career in life out of what they enjoy.
6. Universal Music Group
Universal music group was founded in 1934 as Decca records and is now the largest music corporation in the world. They sign artists of several different genres and owns/has shares in several music companies including Island Records and Def Jam records
The Universal Music Group has a black/white colour scheme like the other logos making it look very simple but still professional. The text is a serif font making it look more sophisticated and less casual as a brand, this could be because it's the biggest music corporation in the world and means it would be more likely to set trends in music and with their logo than to follow them.
The Universal Music Group has a graphic of the world, a well-known logo because they're one of the big six media corporations and it would be a familiar brand to see. This means immediately people associate the logo with the professionalism and popularity of the Universal company as a whole, this represents them as positive and popular because of this.