coursework 1: producer research

PRODUCTION: PRODUCER RESEARCH  

ALANTIC RECORDS

brief history of record company, links to other companies or labels:

- alantic records was formed in 1947 by Ahment Ertegun and Herb Abramson. They were both big music fans and record enthusiasts, mainly within jazz music. 

- they founded Alantic Records with the intention to bring black musicians, of mainly rhythm, blues and jazz also early rock and roll, to a wider audience. 

- the owners originally wanted to return to turkey however, they decided to stay in America and explore the american music scene, specifically African American music.

- during the first few months of Alantic Records being incorperated, they was immediately threatened with a recording ban strike, which meant that musicans and artists were unable to record and produce music. This put Alantic Records in a situation where they had to reach into their savings in order to survive the first year. However, by 1949, they was back producing music.

- in 1948, Alantic records issued their first recording and release which was a modern jazz song called 'that old black magic' by Tiny Grimes. Another first realease was 'the spider' by Joe Morris.

- in 1952, the label signed one of the most successful jazz artists of all time, Ray Charles. 

 

- in the first 20 years of operation, Alantic records earned itself a repuation of one of the most important American labels. 

- alantic records also formed strageic partnerships with other companies such as Stax Records. This allowed Alantic Records acsess to many other stars. However, this made the company a target for larger groups and by 1967, Alantic Records was acquired by Warner Brothers. 

- eventually Alantic Records began to sign artists from different genres than their preferred genres. This allowed groups like Genesis and Led Zeppelin to be signed.

summary of content : genres released ,examples of range of artists:

- at first the genres they specialised in was mainly rhythm, blues and jazz aswell as early rock and roll. Eventually, they began to expand their genres and began signing other style of artists.

- their passion of artist development made Alantic Records the home of choice for great artists such as Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett, Sam and Dave, Ruth Brown and Otis Redding. 

- alot of popular modern artists that are now signed by Alantic Records include: Lizzo, Sia, Ed sheeran,  Bruno Mars, Cardi B, Wiz Khalifa and many more.

most successful recent releases ( sales/critical success):

- leave the door open by Bruno mars, Anderso paak and Silk Sonic. (It achieved 27,000 downloads, 23.5 million streams aswell as 23.5 million radio impressions.)

artists/releases similar in style or genre to your initial ideas aimed at the required target audience:

- birdy, faouzia, kehlani, melanie martinez and others.

CAPITOL RECORDS

brief history of record company, links to other companies or labels.

- capitol records was first founded in 1942, by Johnny Mercer, Buddy DeSylva and Glenn Wallichs. This happened shortly after the United States entered world war 2. 

- all of them already had previous experience in the music industry before Capitol records. for example, Johnny Merecer was a song writer from New York who came to write songs for RKO studios, Buddy DeSylva was a sucsessful song writer and an executive producer at paramount pictures, and Glenn Wallichs was the founder and owner of music city (a popular record outlet located in hollywood.)

- it cost $25,000 to start up capitol, which was provided by Buddy DeSylva. The other two were assigned other roles for example, Johnny Mercer set about signing talent while Glenn Walliches ran the buisness. 

- in june 1942, capitol records issued its first release a 78-rpm shellac platter featuring Paul Whitemans New Yorker hotel orchestra. 

- two months later, the record company had two records on billboards top 10, 'cow cow boogie' by Ella Mae Morse and 'strip polka' written by Johnny Mercer. 

- the company grew rapidly and so did its fortunes, and by 1946, the company had sold 42 million records.

- this company soon became competition between big record industrys such as Columbia, Decca and RCA victor. 

summary of content : genres released , examples of range of artists 

- capitol records markets music in a wide range of popular genres. These include, rock, alternative, rhythm and blues (r&b), hip-hop and more.

- the most popular artists that is signed with Capitol Records are: Katy perry, Paul McCartney, Sam Smith, Halsey, Niall Horan, Lewis Capaldi, Tina Turner and many more. 

most successful recent releases ( sales/critical success .

- one of the most sucsessful releases was 'dark horse' by katy perry. The song had 13.2million sales overall. 

artists/releases similar in style or genre to your initial ideas aimed at the required target audience 

- similar artists: troye sivan, lewis capaldi and niall horan for genre and mabel for female inspiring artists.