What is the point of a music label? Is it just: “Promote music and share profit”?
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Music labels got started at a time when the only way to distribute music was to stamp it onto vinyl discs. Recording music (that sounded good) onto a master disc, then mass-producing that recording both required specialized and expensive equipment that no independent musician had access to. Music labels were the folks that had that equipment. They also had lots of connections that help to popularize and promote the music. They could get it played on the radio, reviewed in magazines, and advertised in the newspaper, etc.
Since the rise of digital music, labels have essentially lost control of the physical “means of production” in music but still provide a lot of the same promotion and distribution services. This has made them still useful – especially for artists who either already are or want to hit it truly big – but no longer essential.
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