Research on Mainstream and Indie bands.

I was looking at the similarities and differences between mainstream and independant bands, and found that in their own ways each outways one another in different fields, despite the popular view that mainstream bands and solo artists are the only kind of perforemers that benefit from the music industry financially. The bands i have been looking at are 'lanterns on the lake' and 'One direction'.

Lanterns on the lake- Independant Band.
Record label: Bella Union
Other artists signed to the label:Fleet foxes
                                                   Lone wolf
                                                   Explosions in the sky
Owners of Bella Union: Simon Raymond
                                       Robin Guthine
The label was foounded in 1997.
Backstory of the band:
There are five band members, each of which came from newcastle upon time. The band was formed in 2007 and during the begi9nning of their career the band self released two EP's and a single before getting signed by Bella Union in 2010. As a result of this they now perform at major festivals like Glastonbary.
Ancilary and merchandise products:
Merchandise for an independanrt band such as 'Lanterns on the lake' are really important as it helps increase their exposure and brings in more profit for the marketing of the band. Therefore they have crreated things such as: T-shirts, Vinyl records with their songs on them and fabricated bags.

The group has also made full use of social media, and have created accounts for the viewing of their fans on popular websites like instagram, twitter, vimeo and google. As well as this, they have created their own website, which can be found at http://lanternsonthelake.com/

Advantages of being in an independant Band:

• You have more creative freedom when choosing songs to write as well as record.
• You have control over the type of relationship you have with your audience.
• you are able to create your groups own image rather than it be given to you.

Disadvantages of being in an independant Band:

• Marketing methods will be scarce and of low inventory due to lack of funds.
• Majority of the Bands expenses have to be handled by themselves.
• There will be a decrease in the amount of music that can be made at one time due to lack of funding.
• The quality of music videos won't be as developed as if a mainsteream artist was to create one.

Earlier this year, the band had been on tour in various countries around the United Kingdom, America and Canada. concerts and gigs are proving to be the main  way that independant bands are marketing themselves and getting out there as  funds for mass marketing are usually scarce.
One Direction-mainstream Band.
Record label: Syco Records
Other artists signed to the label: Labrinth
                                                  Little Mix
                                                  Olly Murs
Owners of Syco Records: simon Cowell

 The label was founded in 2002, as a subsidiary of Syco Entertainment.

Backstory of the band: 
The band is made up of five young men of english-irish decent. They each applied to compete as solo acts on the 2010 season of the show the X-factor. However during the show they got put together as a group and since then their career has blossomed. ever since their band was formed all of their albums have gone to the top of the charts according to all major markets and have generated plenty hit singles.

Ancilary and merchandise products:
Being backed by an established record label the merchandising and marketing of this group is monumental as they are a universal hit there is constant production of their merchandise that is distributed world wide. Things such as T-shirts, bedding, perfumes etc are the types of things being created which in turn make a huge profit for the band and label.
they rate also huge on social media from twitter to Instagram and more you can buy their music ono,one through their website and iTunes as well as in store. Here are some screen shots from their website.
http://www.onedirectionmusic.com/gb/home/

Home page of their website. 

information and photos of the band are posted on the same page

Advertisements of their merchandise
Advantages of being in a mainstream Band

• the exposure you get is substantial 
• the proton of the band increases rapidly
• funding is provided for you to do music videos and get top editors

Disadvantages of being in a mainstream Band:

• The label you are signed to gets a large percentage of the money made by the band 
• there isn't a lot of creative freedom for the artists 
• you are given an image rather than being able to create one