Branding/record label research

A record label is a brand that is associated with the marketing of music artists, music records and music videos.

Def Jam Recordings

Def Jam recordings is renowned as one of the largest and most successful record labels around. It focusses on the genres of hip-hop and the urban side of music.

Def Jam recordings is owned by 'Universal Music Group.'

Def Jam was founded Russel Simmons, Rick Rubin and LL Cool J who is a hip-hop artist himself so has a large amount of knowledge about the industry from his own experiences.

Jay-Z was signed to this record label and then became part of the running of the record label where he introduced new artists such as Kanye West, Big Sean, Rihanna and Ne-Yo.

The Def Jam recordings logo is a basic black and white, sans serif logo where the capital 'D' and 'J' stand out. As the record label is the hip-hop genre most artists will have their own DJ's so this is relevant if the DJ is the boldest part of the logo. 

Def Jam recordings are a large brand where they have signed some of the greatest hip hop artists in the industry which have made them a large and well respected brand. Similarly, the artists signed also help Def Jam recordings to be the big brand that it is today. 

As Jay-Z and Kanye West are both part of Def Jam records, this genre of music will be the basis of our music video.

Young Money Entertainment

Young Money Entertainment is a record label that was founded by the rapper Lil Wayne. He runs this record label with the help of one of his friends who has a lot of knowledge about the music industry. The record label expanded from Cash Money Records and is distributed by Republic Records. The genre of music revolves around the genre of rap and hip hop. This is shown by the artists that are signed to the record label, these include Nicki Minaj, Tyga, Drake, Lil Twist and DJ Khaled.

The Young Money Entertainment logo consists of a larger image accompanied with the record labels name situated at the bottom. The main logo that is larger and in bold has the letters 'Y' and 'M' merged into one which represents Young Money. This logo is similar to that of the New York Logo which is in the same font but merged 'N' and 'Y' together, these two logos are very similar. At the bottom of the Young Money logo is a serif, decorative font reads 'Young Money' and beneath that reads 'Entertainment' in a sans serif font which is more serious and looks like more of a statement.

Young Money Entertainment is a similar brand and music genre to our music video and is also a similar genre to Def Jam Recordings. The rap and hip-hop genre is what our music video and song choice is based around.

Victory Records

Victory Records is a record label founded by Tony Brummel in Chicago. Victory Records works with other major music distributors such as Amazon, Best Buy and Hot Topic, music by the artists associated with Victory Records can find their albums and singles on iTunes. Victory Records varies in the genres of the music their artists produce, this makes the distribution of music to an even wider audience where there are more genres of music available.

Streetlight Manifesto, Thursday, Hawthorne Heights and A Day to Remember are all artists that are signed to Victory Records.

The Victory Records logo is quite retro where it seems quite oldfashioned in the layout and colour scheme used. The use of a bulldog also seems quite aggressive where the record label may be showing that they're not scared to compete in the market and that they're record label should be taken seriously. All the text is in sans serif writing and the colour scheme only consists of the colours blue, white and black.

Unlike Def Jam recordings and Young Money Entertainment, Victory Records are not a well established brand where they do not have any major artists signed to their record label. This means they are less known in the music industry and as a result no major artists would sign with this record label.

Island Records

Island Records are a record label founded by Chris Blackwell and Graeme Goodall in Jamaica. It was situated in the UK for a number of years before being taken over by Universal Music Group in 1998. Island Records has various genres from the artists that are signed to the record label, but the genres are mainly rock and pop.

Iggy Azaela, Akon, Fall Out Boy, Rizzle Kicks, Queen and Dizzee Rascal are all music artists that are currently signed to Island Records.

The Island Record logo relates to the name of the record label where the image is a simple black and white picture of a palm tree on an island, with 'ISLAND' written underneath in  simple, black, sans serif text. Overall, the logo is not too complex.

Similarly to Def Jam recordings and Young Money Entertainment, Island Records are another well-known, well respected, established brand. Although Island Records focuses on a different genre of music, it is still a big record label that major artists would sign with due to their reputation and brand and how they overall represent themselves in the music industry.