In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion, and enforcement of copyright protection of sound recordings and music videos; conducts talent scouting and development of new artists ("artists and repertoire" or A&R); and maintains contracts with recording artists and their managers.
The term "record label" originally referred to the circular label in the center of a vinyl record that prominently displayed the manufacturer's name, along with other information.
A gramophone record (also known as phonograph record, vinyl record, or simply record) is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed modulated spiral groove usually starting near the periphery and ending near the centre of the disc. When made of polyvinyl chloride, such a disc is also known as a vinyl record. Gramophone records were the primary medium used for commercial music reproduction for most of the 20th century. They replaced the phonograph cylinder as the most popular recording medium in the 1900s. For the most part, they were supplanted in popularity in the late 1980s by digital media, leaving mainstream in 1991. However, they continue to be manufactured and sold in the 21st century. The vinyl reached new popularity in 2008, with nearly 2.9 million units shipped that year, the most in any year since 1998, they are used predominantly by DJs and audiophiles. As of 2009, vinyl records continue to be overwhelmingly successful format for distribution of independent and alternative music artists specifically, compared more mainstream or pop releases, which tend be mostly sold in digital or compact disc format.