INSTITUTION AND OWNERSHIP OF

POLYDOR RECORDSABIGAIL FIRTH

OWNERSHIPPolydor was founded in 1946 as an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon label. The UK division of Polydor was not established until 10 years later. It is currently the second longest running label, owned by UMG, after Deutsche Grammophon.

Polydor Records is a subsidiary of Universal Music UK, along with Virgin EMI Records, Island Records Group, Decca Records, Geffen UK, Capitol UK and others.

Universal Music UK is owned by Universal Music Group, who also own Interscope Geffen A&M label, amongst several others. Universal Music Group is owned by French company Vivendi.

CONGLOMORATESPolydor is affiliated with Interscope Geffen A&M, who

distribute Polydor releases in the US and Polydor distributes IGA releases in the UK.

SUBSIDIARIES Polydor owns two smaller labels:• Fascination Records: launched in 2006, concentrates on a

small number of pop artists and handles similar artists signed to Hollywood Records in the US

• Fiction Records: formerly independent, founded in 1978, is the rock/indie imprint of Polydor

ARTISTS AND PROMOTION

LADY GAGA’S ARTPOP (released Nov 2013)- Promotion began a few months before the release of the album,

with photographs of Gaga being posted on social media as a sort of “teaser”

- She opened the MTV Movie Awards and iTunes Festival, performing singles from the album; she also performed at on UK X Factor

- She played 7 shows at the New YorkRoseland Ballroom a few months after thealbum’s release, before playing a 79-dateworld tour named “ArtRave: The Artpop Ball”

- ARTPOP sold 258,000 copies in it’s first week(reaching #1); by July 2014 it has sold 2.5million copies

ARTISTS AND PROMOTION

LANA DEL REY’S ULTRAVIOLENCE (released May 2014)- Premiered new track at Coachella Festival, followed by a string of

singles, releasing one around two weeks after another- A north American tour was announced, along with a series of

performances at European festivals- She took a “less is more” approach to the promotion of the album,

featuring no TV performances or interviews,and instead relied on social media andmusic videos.

- After the album’s release, she announced atour, co-headlining with Courtney Love

- Ultraviolence sold 182,000 in its first week(reaching #1); as of July 2014, it had sold 1million copies

ARTISTS AND PROMOTION

EVALUATIONDespite being promoted very differently, both albums still reached number 1. However, it is clear that the promotion of Artpop was more successful, as it sold almost 100,000 more copies; that said, Lady Gaga is a much more famous artist than Lana Del Rey, and the promotion of Ultraviolence was still effective, as it gave Lana her first number 1 album.

In terms of our own production, it is likely that a Lily Allen album would be promoted with a combination of both of these methods. The single we are creating a video for was Lily’s “comeback” so it would be important to promote it as much as possible, using both TV appearances and social media to do so.