Degree Type
Honors Capstone Project
Date of Submission
Spring 5-1-2011
Capstone Advisor
Dr. Ulf Oesterle
Honors Reader
Prof. William DiCosimo
Capstone Major
Music Industry
Capstone College
Visual and Performing Arts
Audio/Visual Component
no
Capstone Prize Winner
no
Won Capstone Funding
no
Honors Categories
Professional
Subject Categories
Business Administration, Management, and Operations
Abstract
In this thesis, I will investigate the work structures and day-to-day operational analysis of independent record labels (“indies”) from across the United States and UK. These findings will then be applied to my personal experiences running an independent record label in Syracuse, New York as a way to evaluate our own operations.
My research constitutes a combination of scholarly studies and personal interviews with 9 different labels, studying work hierarchies, communication methods, office layout, artist interaction, creative disputes, and customer interaction.
In general, indies embrace flexibility, a pragmatic approach to costs and strategy, and a relatively informal power structure, alongside placing a premium on creative freedom to engender work based on a passion for art. Indies can channel this passion through their relatively fluid organizational structures to achieve profits on a smaller scale than major labels, but can also scale larger as needed. Larger labels, especially label groups, are much closer to the major label approach, but maintain a practical economic stance alongside a less rigid approach to artistic output than the aforementioned majors. With regards to our operations in Syracuse, we failed to establish a strong communication methodology and work schedule to promote consistent output, and so could not keep up with the increased workload of running a label while still at university.
Recommended Citation
Creahan, Daniel, "An Organizational Analysis of Independent Record Labels" (2011). Honors Capstone Projects - All. 280.
https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/280
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
