Record label – A record label, in the traditional sense, is a company that finances the recording, mixing and mastering of musical works, or in other words, produces recordings. These might be then released, distributed and promoted as singles, EPs or albums. Record labels usually promote the artist and their music releases through marketing, media relations, and planning the releases and rollouts. Record labels also handle the digital and physical distribution of the album, single or EP by working together with music distributors.

When signing to a label, the artist will typically agree to the label owning the Master (Recording) Rights to all music released during the contractual period under the label. The contract will also outline the percentage of royalties the label is due to pay the artists. Label deals can differ greatly based on the size of the label, how much they are able and willing to invest and multiple other factors. The three largest record labels are referred to as “the majors” and include Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment.

In the past decades as the internet has lowered the barrier to releasing and promoting music online, there has been an increasing number of artists who produce their recordings on their own and only seek a record label deal later to release and promote the recording more effectively. In such cases, the artist/master owner might retain the rights to the recording and provide the label with an exclusive licence to distribute the recording in exchange for some fee arrangement, mostly revenue share. In such cases, the record label is no longer the investor, producer and, thus, master owner of the recording, but rather the distributor and/or promoter, thus providing artist/master owner label services.