Okuzeka
Music vocabulary · The Music Industry

Record label

Meaning in music, with examples

/ˈrekərd ˌleɪbəl/nounCore term

In music, record label means: A company that finances, releases, distributes and promotes recordings, usually in exchange for ownership of the recordings or a share of their income.

In Turkish: plak şirketi, müzik şirketi, label

How it is used

Artists 'sign to a label', 'get signed' or 'release on a label'. People distinguish the 'major labels' (Universal, Sony and Warner) from 'independent labels' or 'indies'. Often shortened to 'label': 'The label wants a single by spring'.

Example sentences

  1. After two self-released albums, the band signed to an independent record label.

  2. The record label owns the masters, but the band keeps the publishing rights.

Common collocations

  • sign to a record label
  • major label
  • independent label
  • label deal
  • release on a label
  • releaseTo make a song, album or video available to the public, for example on streaming platforms, in shops or on video sites.
  • royaltiesPayments made to songwriters, composers, performers and rights owners each time their music is sold, streamed, broadcast, performed in public or used in media.
  • music publishingThe business of managing songs as compositions: registering them, licensing them, collecting the royalties they earn and finding new uses for them, such as in films and adverts.
  • producerThe person who guides a recording project creatively and practically, shaping the sound, the arrangement and the performances, and often programming or engineering too.
  • copyrightThe legal right that protects original creative work and lets its owners decide how it is copied, performed, recorded, adapted or shared.

More terms: The Music Industry

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: