Kiya Persad
AS Media Production and Communication
XL Recordings
Founded 1989
Owned by Nick Halkes, Richard Russell, Tim Palmer
Country of Origin England, London
Website www.xlrecordings.com
10 artists: Alicia Keys, Giggs, Adele, The XX, M.I.A., F.K.A Twiggs, Basement Jaxx, Dizzie Rascal, Tyler the Creator, Jamie XX
The label ws founded to release rave and dance music in 1980's - 1990's.
"The Prodigy, Dizzee Rascal and MIA have all made music on XL, showcasing exactly what the label does best – taking innovative music into the mainstream. Whether it is Dizzee's success opening the doors for the current grime/pop success of Tinie Tempah et al, or Vampire Weekend heralding the indie scene's recent obsession with Afropop, XL likes to break new artists and build the foundation blocks of an emerging scene as it does so."
- http://www.theguardian.com/business/2011/feb/16/richard-russell-xl-recordings-dizzee-rascal-prodigy
(XL Recordings, the record label that's tearing up the rule book)
One artist from XL records is Alicia Keys. Her genre of music is a mixture of contemporary R&B and soul. Her target audience is black females aged 20 - 30 within UK and USA. Their media consumption and interests would include TV, internet and R&B music.
Evidence that supports this would be that Alicia Keys herself is an African American aged 35 and often a target audience is of people within roughly the same age and the same gender as it can be advertised as more relatable. As her genre of music is partially R&B, her target audience will listen to this genre with other artists as it is a genre that appeals to them. As her music is very mainstream it is often advertised on UK radio, even though she is an American artists, which would further her target audience from being predominantly just from USA but UK as well.
One way her target audience is marketed to is through the use of synergy with Levi's jeans. Her product of herself and her music was put incorporated into the Levi's advert to promote to Alicia Keys' fans and women watching the advert to buy the jeans. As it was an advert for women's jeans it works well with the target audience as it would appeal to them.
Another way her target audience has been marketed to is when she did a perfume advert for Givenchy. As her target audience is females, perfume adverts will be very affective as most females wear perfume. Givenchy is a designer brand and will thus appeal to her target audience mor. This is because often people prefer to have access to designer brands rather than just normal every day brands.
Another artist on XL records is Adele. Her genre is a mixture of Soul and Pop. Her target audience is predominantly females aged 25-35 from UK. Their media consumption and interests would include watching TV, reading magazines such as HEAT and going on the internet. Evidence that supports this would be that Adele herself is a female between 25-35 from UK, so her persona would relate better to this target audience. Her target audience would also also be likely to watch TV programmes such as X Factor or Britain's Got Talent. This is because this is something that has a mass appeal and Adele is an artist that has music similar to those performed on these shows. This would then mean that if her target audience liked this type of music, they would also be likely to like her music.
One way her target audience is marketed to is through the use of synergy when her music is used in the James Bond film 'Skyfall'. This promotes her music so that the audience remember her and her product. This also promotes her fans to go and watch the film, which markets something for the audience to go out and do. For example, they could go to the cinema to watch the film and hear her music.
Another artist on XL recordings is Giggs. His genre of music is UK hip hop/grime. His target audience is young males aged between 16-26 from UK, particularly London. The type of media that this target audience would consume would be going on the internet and listening to other grime/hip hop acts. Evidence to support this would be that Giggs is often on freestyling videos on youtube, and if his target audience were to watch these, it is also likely that they would also watch other similar artists. As he is from South London and raps about things that go on inmany of his target audience lives, it makes him and his music more relatable which means he is more likely to appeal to this particular audience.
One way his target audience is marketed to is through being interviewed by youtube channels such as SBTV that his target audience are likely to watch for similar artists to him. If his target audience is watching this channel then it makes it more appealing for them to watch hid videos as well. It also promotes his music and himself to an audience of people that may discover his music through watching these videos.
Giggs is often on Radio 1 doing a show called 'Fire In The Booth'. As radio 1 is such a popular show this makes his music popular as well and more known. This is another youtube show that his target audience would be likely to watch as it is artists in the same genre freestyling. This then markets his audience wisely as they are more likely to watch this type of show on youtube.
This independant label is different from major labels such as Universal. This is because they have a wider variety of artists, for example this label varies from grime to soul to R&B. In a major label like Universal, they have subsidaries for each different type of genre, this is to have similar types of artists on the same subsidary label. As independant lables aren't as big or well known as major labels, they have less money. This means that they have to find different ways to promote their artists and often cannot use advertisment methods such as horizontal intergration. However, depending on the size of the label or particular artist, they are often able to carry out synergy with other companies to cross promote each others products.