Label services are the work a record label does around a release, offered to an artist or label that keeps its own recordings. Here is what is included, how it is paid for, and when it makes sense.
Label services are distribution plus the work a label team does around a release, sold as a service instead of bundled into a record deal. The artist or the artist's own label keeps the recordings. The services company gets the music into stores and streaming services and runs whichever parts of the campaign the client chooses: marketing, PR, radio, playlisting, content, A&R.
The UK Competition and Markets Authority described the model in its Sony and AWAL findings: the core offering is "typically distribution with marketing and A&R service options from which artists can select on an à la carte basis," and artists "typically independently create and retain full ownership of the copyrights."
Every company packages it differently, but the menu tends to look like this:
Music Week's guide to label service providers put the appeal in one line: label services let artists "release their music without giving away their master rights while still being able to tap in to the specialist skills of the marketplace."
It helps to think of distribution in tiers. Billboard's guide to picking a distributor describes three:
So label services are not a cheaper record deal or a fancier distributor. They are their own model, in between.
In general practice the client pays in one of three ways: a fee for each service, a share of the revenue from the recordings, or a mix of both. The CMA found that agreements "tend to be relatively short-term," that artists "typically pay a relatively small distribution fee," and that the provider's costs are often "directly recoupable from the artist's portion of earnings."
The trade-off is real. In a Hypebot piece, MIDiA Research's Mark Mulligan wrote that "a label services deal normally means trade-offs," with "smaller advances, lower royalty income, higher risk and bearing costs." The artist keeps more ownership and more control, and carries more of the risk.
Terms vary widely between companies. Any figure you see quoted is market practice from published sources, not a standard rate, and these are not LUSIVEX prices.
Label services suit artists and labels that already have something working and want to keep control of it:
That last group is where most of our work sits. A label in Seoul, Tokyo or Mumbai has a team at home. What it rarely has is a team in America that plans the U.S. release, works the radio single, briefs the press and answers for the numbers afterwards. Our distribution and label deals page lists the distribution partners we work with.
For an artist from outside the U.S., label services usually mean three things on top of distribution.
First, a U.S. release plan that fits the home calendar, so an American single does not collide with a comeback or a tour. Second, an American campaign: radio, press, television, playlists and collaborations, in the order that builds proof. Third, a path to a bigger deal later. A label deal or joint venture is easier to land once the U.S. numbers are moving, and label services are how many artists get there without giving up their rights first.
The record our team stands on, from BTS's first Top 40 radio campaign to Monsta X's No. 5 Billboard 200 debut with All About Luv, is on our about page. Each result belongs to the artist named.
Label services are distribution plus the work a record label team does around a release, such as marketing, PR, radio, playlisting and A&R, offered as a service to an artist or label that keeps ownership of its recordings.
No. A record label usually funds the project and owns or licenses the recordings. A label services company works for an artist or label that keeps its recordings, and is paid through fees, a revenue share, or both.
It depends on the company and the services chosen. Billboard reports that selective distributors typically take 7% to 15% of master royalties, and that full label services tiers take a much larger share. Every deal is set on its own terms.
International artists and labels can see how we run U.S. label services, or start on the U.S. launch page.