7/9/15
Record Label Logos
Most musicians have a record label backing them, helping them to produce music. These record labels all have a unique logo that represents them and makes them identifiable to audiences. As a rule, record labels will have a fondness for a certain genre of music, therefore some record labels may only be known to fans of a certain genre. For example Def Jam Recordings are an American record label and they are known to focus on artists from the 'Hip-Hop' genre. Other record labels focus on other artists and so on. Presented here are some very successful record labels that have signed well known artists.
Universal Music Group is an American record labe group that was founded in 1934 as "Decca Records". In recent years, the record label has signed such big names as Taylor Swift, Kanye west, Adele, Enrique Iglesias and Lady Gaga. They predominantly focus on music of the POP genre and sometimes extend into HipHop or rap. Their logo is shown to the right, it is a simple black and white logo which matches the entire Universal Group image. Due to the image being simple, it does not onfuse the viewer or cause them to have to concentrate very hard to take in the features. Instead, they made it minimalistic to ensure the image is not "Visually Noisy". It can easily be seen what company the record is part of as the word "Universal" is clearly shown at the centre and at the bottom of the logo. When a member of an audience or viewer of a music video sees this it is easily absorbed and sticks with them if they were to see the logo again.
Virgin Records is a British record label that is primarily focused in Europe, despite having their headquarters in Hollywood, California. Many notable artists they have signed include: Bastille, Seinabo Sey, Ella Eyre and Circa Waves. They are usually into POP/Indie music, this is seen from the range of artists that they have signed. The company was founded in 1973, making it rather young in terms of businesses. The logo can be seen to the right, it is very visible due to the contrast between the font and the background, the dark background makes the bright font stand out. This is also simple and a trend is starting to be seen in which I have realised that most record label company logos are made simple to make the general public find it eaisier to memorise it and recognise it, therefore increasing their exposure and potentially increasing their popularity and sales.
Atlantic Recording Corporation is an American record
label best known for its numerous recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, jazz, and hip hop. It was founded in 1947 in Los Angeles. Some of its notable signings include Ed Sheeran, Wiz Khalifa, Led Zeppelin, Bruno Mars, Skrillex, The Rolling Stones and Jess Glynne. Atlantic Records has a Black and White logo also, and this is also due to the earlier mentioned points that Black and White represents simplicity and ensures that the logo seems definite. The word "Atlantic" is written in Black at the bottom of the image in bold, this amplifies the writing and makes it seem more prominent, grabbing the attention of the viewer. The logo symbol of a circular twister is seen to the right of the image, this is associated with speed and precision, giving the impression that the company is ruthless but professional.
DefJam recordings are an American record label that was founded in 1984 by Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin, though young, it has grown rapidly and is now extremely popular espescially amongts fans of the HipHop/Rap and Urban music. Some notable artists that are signed with DefJAm ecordings include: Justin Bieber, Kanye West, Rihanna and Rick Ross. The logo of the company is to the right. It is very simple and plain, only having the colours Black and White. The name of the business is clearly displayed and there is no image to distract the viewer from the company's name itself. this leads to increased exposure for them.
Decca Records is a British record label company that was founded in 1929, by Edward Lewis. It is one of the oldest record label companies in the world. Over the years the company has signed some of the biggest artists of certain generations. It mainly focused on Rock, Blues, Classical and Jazz music. Some notable signings include: The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Bing Crosby, The Who, Tom Jones, Buddy Holly, Cliff Richard, Dolly Parton and Billie Holiday. The logo is shown to the right. It, like al the other logos on this page, is in Black and White, again, this highlights the simplicity of the company and does not make it out to be flashy. The name of the company is large and central to the picture, making it aesthetically pleasing to the viewer. The font matches the black background and brings out the contrast that makes the title stand out, thereby clearly promoting themselves.
16/9/15
Creating Our Own Record Label
Below is a record label logo that we created ourselves, it is a drawn picture of a Sloth wearing headphones. The name of our record label company is Rent Boi Records. The reason we chose this name is because everyone in our group is a male and the language used is slightly informal and modern, this appeals to a wider range of audience. The logo itself is in Black and White, this is due to the high number of record label logos that incorporated this that we encountered in our research, and so we took inspiration from this. The font is also slightly fancy with flicks and is san-serif, we did this due to the lack of colour. If the logo was just Black and White then it may have seemed plain, and therefore boring, we battled this by making the font more fun and less conventional to give it a nice contrast to the colour scheme. We chose a sloth because they are known to be lazy animals and we think that it gives the impression of relaxation and happiness when listening to our music. Another reason is because most record labels have a sense of conceptuality to them, creating an air of mystery. I believe our logo captures this perfectly due to the uniqueness of it and the impression that it gives the viewer. Due to the way it is a one of a kind, it will stick in the mind of the peopel who view it better than a more conventional logo.
