In music industry, a record label can be a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. It is more commonly the company that manages such brands and trademarks; coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, promotion, and enforcement of copyright protection of sound recordings and music videos; conducts A&R; and maintains contracts with recording artists and their managers.

Generally, recorded music needs a record label in order to be widely known, reviewed, heard on media outlets such as radio or television, and in order to be available to buy in stores, although the Internet has changed this to some extent.

Record labels may be small, localized, and "independent", or they may be part of a large international media group, or somewhere in between. The largest 4 record labels are called major labels.blank">http://top40.about.com/od/popmusic101/tp/majorlabels.htm A sublabel is a label that is part of, but trades under a different name from, a larger record company.

The term "record label" originally referred to the circular label in the center of a _vinyl record that prominently displayed the manufacturer's name, along with other information.