Record Label Research

Def Jam Recordings:

Def Jam is an American record label. It is predominately focused on urban and hip hop music. Def Jam also have record labels in the UK and japan which are both known as Def Jam UK & Def Jam Japan. Def Jam was established in 1994 and has 3 founders; Rick Rubin, LL Cool J & Russell Simmons.

Def Jam is also under the parent company universal music group. They also have a distributor; Island Def Jam Motown music group. Some artists which have originated from the Def Jam franchise are LL Cool J, Ludacris, Bobby Valentino & Chingy. Def Jam also started establishing spin off groups such as Def Jam south which focused mainly on southern rappers and releasing there music. Another example would be Murder Inc who had artists such as Ja Rule, Ashanti & Lloyd.

Roc-A-Fella Records:

Roc-A-Fella is a record label founded by Hip Hop sensation Jay-Z in New York, America. At present it operates as a subsidiary group of universal music group and is also distributed by island Def Jam Motown music group. Roc-A-Fella was founded in 1995 and has 3 founders. Jay-Z as i stated above, Damon 'Dame' Dash & Kareem 'Biggs' Burke. 

Roc-A-Fella have had many famous rappers pass through them such as N.O.RE, Nas, R-Kelly& Kanye West. However, as of the last decade, Roc-A-Fella have moved onto different things such as their own films and clothing & even taking over the company Armadale who make vodka. They have made the following films; Paid In Full, Streets is watching & state of property 2. 

Universal Music Group:

Universal Music Group is one of the most infamous music groups there is. It is currently the largest in the music industry and have over 10 subsidiary other music groups (record labels).  It was established in 1934 however under the name of Decca records. It then underwent incarnation and ended up being called Universal music group (UMG). 

UMG have several different location, some being; London, New York, Paris & its global headquarters in Santa Monica. UMG also co-developed Vevo who inspire all major music videos. these music videos are shown in much better quality than any others on YouTube.

All In all i think all of these music labels would suit any hip hop artist. As they are very well known and organised well the artist would be in good stead. We have seen many good artists such as Ja Rule and others come from music labels lie this and be successful