Record Label

A record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Often, a record label is also a company that manages such brands and trademarks; coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing, promotion, and enforcement of copyright for sound recordings and music videos; conducts talent scouting and development of new artists ; and maintains contracts with recording artists and their managers. The term "record label" derives from the circular label in the center of a vinyl record which prominently displays the manufacturer's name, along with other information.

The record label of the track we've chosen is 'Polydor Records'. They are a UK based company which was founded after WWI in Germany. They are owned by Universal music UK, whic also owns 5 other labels.

In the early 1970s, the main source of income for the label was probably the enormously successful UK band Slade. Later, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the label was also home to The Who and The Jam. Though Polydor's American branch is defunct, in the United Kingdom Polydor remains one of the strongest labels in the country — with artists such as Esmée Denters, Take That, Girls Aloud, N-Dubz, La Roux, Cheryl Cole, Nicola Roberts, Duffy, Klaxons, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, The Saturdays, James Morrison, Kaiser Chiefs, Boyzone, Alphabeat,  S Club 7, Ellie Goulding and Lawson (band).

Polydor also has a strong indie roster through the Fiction imprint with acts such as Elbow (band), White Lies, Kate Nash and Snow Patrol.
It also acts as the UK label for American-based acts under Interscope-Geffen-A&M like Eminem, Limp Bizkit, Timbaland, The All-American Rejects, The Black Eyed Peas, Weezer, Marilyn Manson, Pussycat Dolls, Janet Jackson, Snoop Dogg, Gwen Stefani, Busta Rhymes, Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, Lana Del Rey and Lady Gaga.

In Spring 2006, Polydor launched Fascination Records, a music label dedicated to pop music. Both Girls Aloud and Sophie Ellis-Bextor transferred to the new label and created groups such as The Saturdays and Girls Can't Catch . Several teen pop acts from US label Hollywood Records, such as the Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez & the Scene were also signed to Fascination.
In 2008, Polydor obtained distribution of The Rolling Stones' back catalogue as well as new releases.

Major labels since 2012 (Big Three)

1. Universal Music Group
2. Sony Music Entertainment
3. Warner Music Group

Digipak Research -Nine Inch Nails-

Front Cover

This is the digipak for the Rock band 'Nine Inch Nails'. This is a special limited edition version of the album, since their albums are usually released digitally for free. The style of this digipak is vastly different form the Katy Perry one I analysed before, and righlty so since this band has a completley different style and a different genre.

The genre of this band is 'Industrial Rock' and their style is very new age and modern. This can be seen in the artwork, unlike Katy Perry's they do not have any pictures of the band, the artwork is very abstract, it makes people wonder about the meaning behind it. It represents itself as very serious and meaningful, and it is up to the fans to deciper its meaning.

Below is what the actual digipak looks like, the colours are consistent - Black and white and it overall looks very dark and it matches the image of the band.

Below is some of the artwork featured in the insert of the digipak, it seems to just be various different shapes in earthly colours, its very artsy and I like the colour palette used.

Digipaks Research -Katy Perry-

Digipaks are a great way to reinforce the artists image and style, as are any artworks related to the artist such as posters, album art, images on merchandise ect. Different genre artists will have different imagery on their artworks and digipaks, this post will look at Katy Perry's Digipak for her album 'Teenage Dream' which is her second released album. The genre is pop and the artwork is stylised to match her image at the time it was released. 

The front cover has the artwork used on the normal album, its very feminie and sweet and features the artist in the center of the image, this is to establish the artists importnace and draw the new customers in, familiarising them with the artist.                                                                 The cover is also simplistic as it has no text to announce what it is (like the title of the album or the artists name) as most people already have seen this image and this artist so many times before they don't need to be told, they have become accustomed to seeing the artist in magazines and TV/billboard advert. The only other thing on there apart from the artists image is the 'Parental Advisory' logo, this is a legal requriement for the recording company to announce the nature of the content of the album, so whether it has any violent or agressive lyrics or curse words or any sort of explicit material.

These next two images are of the inside of the Digipak. The images here are again simplistic and look very regal which might be because she Katy is meant to be representing a prom queen. Prom is a very important and special event in the lives of the american teenagers, especially girls since they have have a chance to be prom queen which might have been their own 'Teenage Dream' thus the images link back to the title and idea behind this album. The whole of Katy Perry's new album has an undercurrent theme of sweetnes which comes form the vrious candy elements in the artwork, for example as you can see the actual CD is striped red and white so it looks like candy (pictured right) and in the panelwhere the CD sits, is a piture of a cake.

This is the insert booklet that comes with the Digipak. These are essential in CD packaging as they are also used in standard jewel cases. They usually feature pictures of the artist and lyrics or song titles from the album, sometimes the pictures wont be of the artist but just artistic images that match the theme and or colours of the whole pack. In this case the images are of Katy Perry, they are similar to the other images used in this digipack, most likley from the sme shoot, they all feature Katy against a startling black background, which makes her stand out, and it also forces people to pay attention to her outfir and accessories which are candy themed again.

Here you can see the insert has text, which could be lyrics or messages from the artist or a list of people who worked on the album

Digipaks

An example of A 6-panel right-tray 

Digipaks have been used by artists for over a decade, they differ form the normal plastic 'Jewel Cases' as they typically consist of a gatefold (book-style) paperboard or card stock outer binding, with one or more plastic trays capable of holding a CD or DVD attached to the inside. This allows for the artists to have more space for artwork and pictures, whereas the normal plastic cases only have a limited area space (usually the front and back of the case).

Since Digipaks were among the first alternatives to jewel cases to be used by major record companies, and because there is no other common name for Digipak-style packaging made by other companies, the term digipak or Digi-Pak is often used generically.
Digipak-style packaging is often used for CD singles or special editions of CD albums and the tall DVD Digipak (DVDigipak) is used as a premium package for DVDs and DVD sets.

The most common CD Digipaks is the 4 panel Digipak which opens like a book. However 6 panel CD Dipipaks are also very popular, providing a larger canvas for CD artwork and text information about the CD. 8 panel and even 10 panel CD Digipaks are also available. In fact, being made from cardboard stock, the number of panels, CD trays and CD booklets mean that CD Digipak combinations almost infinite – such versatility makes it is easy to see how the CD DigiPak has become such a popular CD packaging solution.

Lyrical Analysis of Our Choosen Track

My first thoughts on the lyrics were that they were telling a story, about a normal person who goes through the motions of everyday life and working a meaningless job as the title suggests 'nine to five' referring to the average work hours.
The song was written by Louise Harman, Gabriel Olegavich, Sam Preston, William J. Brown * 
and performed originally by Lady Sovereign, the remix came later with The Ordinary Boys being added to the track and signing two verses and the chorus, it was then featured on the 'St Trinians' soundtrack.


Below is a poster our goup made on glogster, that briefly analyses the lyrics.