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A vanity label is a term given to a situation where a famous recording artist is allowed to run a "label within a label" and release music by other artists he or she admires. The parent label handles the production and distribution and funding of the vanity label, but the album is usually released with the vanity label brand name prominent.
Record labels generally do this for a few reasons:
- It pleases and retains the famous recording artist.
- It allows for potentially high amounts of sales for artists on the vanity label with relatively little promotional expense, since fans are attracted to those artists via the association with the famous artist.
Many music critics like vanity labels as they allow bands in niche genres or with experimental or unusual music to receive more distribution than would normally be present.
Examples of vanity labels are Nothing Records (founded by Trent Reznor). See the table below.
Status
In 2004, record companies have drastically cut funding to many vanity labels, as they are seen to have underperformed. The future of vanity labels is in question.
Vanity labels, along with genre specific subsidiary labels, mask the amount of concentration in the music industry. They create the illusion that there are far more record labels then there actually are. On the other hand though, many subsidiary labels and vanity labels are given a great deal of autonomy, so that the overall result is greater distribution and exposure of what can be labeled "independent music".
Prominent vanity labels
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"Vanity label"