Institutional Research

My chosen song ‘England’ by Jehst was released on a record label called YNR productions. The label was founded by Jehst himself in 2000.He is an icon among the underground British hip-hop scene, however although he has been releasing music for over a decade he lacks mainstream status. Therefore it is likely that the kind of record labels most suited to our artists would be YNR production, which has gained a significant amount of respect within the underground hip-hop community. Another possibility for a potential record label would be HighFocus Records. This record label formed in 2010 due to new surge of British underground hip-hop artists. The record label is quickly gaining respect among its target audience and is the most active of all UK hip-hop record labels with regular releases and shows all over the UK.

With the UK hip hop scene remaining fairly underground, my artist does not and has not in the past received any TV airtime. Therefore the platforms for promotion lie elsewhere. He has appeared on radio stations such as BBC radio 1xtra, which are known for pushing underground artists, especially within urban genres. He also received airtime on KaneFM, which is an online radio station. Due to the fact we are living in a digital age, the Internet has become a distinctive form of both promotion and distribution with 2011 sales soaring from £3.67 billion to £3.92 billion (source) http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/08/global_music_sales/. It offers convenience as it is viewable from all locations and can perform endless amount of functions. YouTube is a perfect form of promotion and distribution as it allows record labels to create channels upon which they place videos of there artists work, they are then able to gain subscribers who are notified of every new upload, allowing for thousands of views within hours of an upload, this is especially the case for HighFocus records who have gained an ever growing following of 1000 YouTube users (Link to there YouTube channel) http://www.youtube.com/user/HighFocusTV. The digital age also allows the online purchase of music meaning people can hear it on YouTube then get a direct link from the record label on where to purchase it. This is a clever system as it allows for the promotion and distribution to be handled at the same time.