Rough Trade

1. Rough Trade and the 1970's

• Rough Trade Records is an independent record label, based in London, United Kingdom. It was started in 1976 by Geoff Travis.
• The music trends that were popular were post-punk, alternative rock, folk and 'obscure and challenging music' as a documentary called it. They then went on to sell reggae music as they had formed a relationship with the Caribbeans who lived local.
• At this time, the ethos of Rough Trade was that they were to remain independent and they had a 'Do it yourself' attitude.
• Rough Trade was different to large corporations because they were radical idealists who promoted independent artists without a record deal.
• The technique used to expand the independent music scene was that they too would make their own record label.
• This lead to Rough Trade's expansion because they got the made their and released tracks from a French band called Metal Urbain who soared to success.
• The distribution department made a success because of Richard Scott, he sent the music they promoted all over the world to various companies in order to secure an independent distribution deal. The label brought on success from the start as Scritti Politti was the most successful album for Rough Trade as it sold £100,000 copies.

2. The 1980's

• Contracts effected the development of Rough Trade because they didn't create a contract with band, Still Little Fingers, which gave the band a freeway to leave Rough Trade as they had no document to prove that the ban were theirs.
• The issues that occurred between the record label and distribution were that Geoff and Richard had a quarrel in which their relationship became antagonistic.
• The change it lead to was Rough Trade becoming more business focused and they changed their structure by mimicking major record labels.
• Rough Trade's ideology has been to be an independent label, but due to unforeseen circumstances, they needed a leg to stand on.
• The artists that led to the success of Rough Trade were: The Smiths, Scritti Politti and The Specials.
• At the end of the 1980's, the music trend to emerge was Black American Pop.
• The differences at this time between Rough Trade and other independent music labels were that they were in financial difficulty and were in constant disagreements.

3. The 1990's

• At the start of the 1990's, Rough Trade incurred some problems such as having a cash flow mismanagement which resulted in their cash flow stopping and their assets being frozen.
• This affected the label and distribution because they needed money to carry out certain things in order to have the label run smoothly and effectively. Eventually, it lead to the closure and selling of Rough Trade.
• In order to revive Rough Trade, Geoff Travis and Jeannette Lee sold albums and singles after a party the held. After this they met a group called Pulp who resurrected Rough Trade.
• Rough Trade began to work with Indie bands as they seemed to be the thing of the present. The Indie bands associated with Rough Trade at this time were Pulp, The Stokes and The Libertines.

4. 21st Century

• In the 21st century, Rough Trade had evolved as they were not new to the industry, nor were they as naive as when they'd first launched Rough Trade.
• Rough Trade's working practices are different from the music produced through TV programmes such as X Factor because Rough Trade lets their artists' develop into their own person and have their own identity, rather than telling them what to sing, what their image will be and what type of music to make.
• At this time, they've had successes such as The Stokes and The Libertines. They have also had Duffy, who has had a number one album on the UK Album Chart.
• Rough Trade's ideology has developed for the company in the present day as they now produce contracts for their artists so that their label is not only protected but to make sure the artists deliver.

Major vs. Minor

1. The subsidiary labels Sony BMG own are Sony Music Entertainment, Epic and Columbia, along with the following: Arista
   -Arista Nashville
   -BNA records
   -Zomba Label group
   -J records
   -Legacy recordings
   -U.S. Latin
   -Sony BMG Masterworks
   -Provident Label Group
   -Verity Records
   -Bluebird Jazz
   -Burgundy Records
   -Jive Records
   -LaFace Records
   -Windham Hill
   -1965 Recordings
   -Syco Entertainment
   -Phonogenic
2. Sony are vertically integrated as the music industry is transitioning from music retail to licensing, broadcasting, marketing and on-demand services. They profit from all these different ventures because they have money to invest and when these things sell out they get a cut. They own the rights to the music the artist has made, as long as they are signed with them. They also own many games and film so can easily play their music on them, widening the audience that hears the music.
3. Sony profit from media convergence as they released the PS2, but had the ability to write DVDs and a hard drive, allowing video recording and DVD burning functionality. It was to be a media convergence device to make use of the PlayStation brand to gain a place on a new market, however due to its high price it failed to gain any major market share. It was never released outside of Japan.