The Record Label Crisis

By Patrick Clifton

This article is the first in a series of linked articles. If you want to read more, read The Record label Recovery part I: Purpose, Part II: Analysis ; Part III: Artist Development, and Part IV: Deals and keep an eye for more articles in the series by subscribing to get articles on email here.

British record labels are in a crisis. They can’t “break” emerging artists and this is creating a problem that will impact every part of the music industry in the years to come. A new generation of artists is not building fanbases that will buy gig and festival tickets in two, five-, or ten-years’ time, and is not popularising songs that will have ubiquity in our culture once this generation of music fans reaches old age. Independent artist services companies have had success bringing artists to the mainstream but lack the scale and market power that major labels can deploy to turn popular artists into global superstars.

This is what I hear from many senior people working in the recorded music business. To analyse the problem they describe I have talked to a number of industry contacts to get their opinion. Based on these conversations, I take the problem at face value and suggest why it’s happening; I also propose a few possible solutions.

The funnel is a bucket. Before streaming, record labels managed newly-signed artists through a funnel. They’d sign a bunch of acts getting buzz among the A&R community; these would be presented to music journalists and radio producers for support…