Institutions
Sony Music Entertainment (SME) is the second largest record company in the word, after Universal Music Group. It is a subsidiary of the conglomerate Sony Corporation. Some of its labels include:
Columbia Records
RCA Records
Epic Records
Some examples of famous artists signed to Sony include Adele, Britney Spears and Katy Perry.
Adele
Adele was originally signed to XL Recordings in 2006, and joined Columbia Records in 2008 to help widen her audience to America. In October of 2008, she appeared on Saturday Night Live with the then US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, and was the highest viewing figures in 14 years, at 17 million. The next day, her album 19 topped the iTunes charts. In March 2012, Adele became the first solo female artist to have three singles in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time. In my analysis for her song ‘Someone Like You’ I found that the video was very focused on her, and that she was always in frame almost the entire time.
Katy Perry
Katy Perry first got on the radar for her single ‘I kissed a Girl’ and ‘Hot n Cold’ from her second album. She became the first artist with multiple videos to reach one billion views on Vevo (‘Roar’ and ‘Dark Horse.’) She stresses themes of self-empowerment and self-esteem in her songs, and is known for being up-beat, bright and having exotic costumes.
For a more in depth analysis of the design of their Digipaks and others, go to my 'Digipak' page.
OWSLA
OWSLA is an EDM (Electronic dance music) ‘vanity record label’ founded by Sonny Moore (Skrillex). A vanity label is one owned (or partially) by a larger, well established label, making it seem as if it is independent, while all the production, distribution, budgeting etc. is handled by the parent. The vanity label’s brand an identity is usually foregrounded, with the founder being signed to the parent company, but releasing under the vanity.
Popular artists include:
Skrillex
On June 7th, 2011 he released “First of the Year” from his third EP “More Monsters and Sprites” which peaked the charts in many different countries, reaching ‘Platinum Record status’ The music video was directed by Tony Truand and produced by HK Corp, releasing on August 10th, 2011. It was nominated at the 54th Grammy Awards for ‘Best Short Form Music Video,’ the MTV Video Music Award for ‘Best Electronic Dance Music Video’ and won the award for ‘Best Visual Effects in a Video’ at 2012 MTV Video Music Awards. It was released on Skrillex’s YouTube channel, and has more than 230 million views. Although OWSLA was not formed at the time, and Skrillex, with his iconic hair style, was not in the video, it helped bring Skrillex further into the mainstream, and promote his label, showing that having your brand’s logo or iconic figure in music videos is not always a deciding factor in their success. Just having his name in the title is enough to get people to want to listen and watch.
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Jack Ü
Made up of Skrillex (Sonny Moore) and Diplo, (Thomas Pentz, founder of Mad Decent) formed in 2013, housed under the OWLSA and Mad Decent labels. The Jack Ü brand is very heavily emphasized during their performances, music videos and album / single releases. The yellow, hand written Ü appears very regularly, along with the OWSLA and Mad Decent logos, although usually more subtly.
Both Jack Ü and Skrillex rely heavily on the internet to promote themselves and their brands. They have dedicated YouTube channels for their acts and their labels. On the OWSLA YouTube channel, their logo is featured in every video that is just the song, along with audio reactive bars fitting to the shape of the logo.
Talk about YouTube channel, how their logo is included in a lot of them.
 Jack Ü Website 1 |  Jack Ü Website 2 |  Jack Ü Facebook |
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 Jack Ü - Where Are Ü Now (2) |  Jack Ü - Where Are Ü Now (3) |  Jack Ü - Where Are Ü Now (1) |
As you can see, in their video for 'Where are Ü Now" their Ü appears constantly,
Monstercat
Monstercat is a Canadian label that was formed in mid-2011, and is promotes, electronic music such as EDM, drum and bass, dubstep etc… It signs artists for singles only, instead of exclusivity deals (being stuck on one label) allowing them to keep the rights to their songs, and release on other labels if they choose to. Artists mainly consist of males aged
They are solely internet based, selling their songs on services such as iTunes, SoundCloud, Bandcamp, Spotify, Google Play Music and so on. The also frequently upload videos to their YouTube channel and livestream on Twitch 24/7. Without these services, Monstercat wouldn’t be as popular as it is, or even exist.
Anywhere you find their music, you will see their logo. Every album or single released by every artist has it as the central figure. (Picture example) There is so much focus on their branding and identity, even during their weekly 1 hour music mix, you are reminded “you’re listening to Monstercat.” On YouTube, non-music video releases have the Monsercat logo coupled with audio reactive bars, with different colours depending on the genre of the song.
 Monstercat Logo |  Monstercat Video (1) |  Monstercat Video (2) |
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 Monstercat Video (3) |  Monstercat Video (4) |  Monstercat Twitter.jpg |
 Monstercat Soundcloud.jpg |  Monstercat Facebook.jpg |
I feel that Monstercat's use of their logo is almost too frequent, making their album art too similar.
I have found that there are ‘vanity record labels’ which are subsidiaries owned by huge conglomerates, but managed by popular artists that are recognisable. These are made to attract audience to the main figure of the label, but then also garner interest in other releases. These tend to include their logos on album covers, as well as on their websites / in videos. For example, Jack Ü have their distinctive logo on their albums, as well as their record labels (OWLSA and Mad Decent) but smaller and in the corners, not being the central focus.
Larger labels, such as Sony Music Group, tend not to have their logo on album releases. Instead, they focus on the musicians themselves. This is mainly in order to popularise them as a person, as to increase sales for shows. Although we have chosen James Bay, and he is signed to EMI Virgin and Republic, (both part of Universal Music Group) I feel that his style much better suits being ‘indie’ or signed to a vanity record label and therefore not including one of the big three’s logo on the digipak. However, on his own digipaks, he does appear frequently, conforming to the idea of his image wanting to be popularised. For more in-depth analysis of how this will affect my digipak, go to my ‘Digipak’ section under research. (Or click the white text)