Eleven: A Music Company

Eleven: A Music Company is an Australian record label known for its small but successful roster, currently including Birds of Tokyo, Cold Chisel, Daniel Johns, Dustin Tebbutt, Gotye, Missy Higgins, Paul Mac, The Presets, and Silverchair. The company was founded on 11 November 2000 by artist manager, John Watson.

History

John Watson grew up in Townsville, Queensland. He worked in independent record stores there while still in high school, then left Townsville with local indie band The Spliffs in 1986. In the late 1980s Watson worked as a freelance music journalist while completing an honours degree in politics at the University of New South Wales. In 1991, he became the Sydney-based Artist and Repertoire manager for Sony Music Australia and later also became the company's Director of International Marketing.

In 1994, the young rock trio Silverchair came to Watson's attention. After being jointly responsible for signing the band to the new Murmur imprint he left Sony, and became Silverchair's manager via the newly founded John Watson Management. Under Watson's guidance, Silverchair had immediate worldwide commercial success and have since gone on to sell more than 6 million records, and achieve 5 x No. 1 albums in Australia.

Record label

A record label is a brand or trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Often, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing, promotion, and enforcement of copyright for sound recordings and music videos; conducts talent scouting and development of new artists ("artists and repertoire" or "A&R"); and maintains contracts with recording artists and their managers. The term "record label" derives from the circular label in the center of a vinyl record which prominently displays the manufacturer's name, along with other information.

Music industry

Within the music industry, most recording artists have become increasingly reliant upon record labels to broaden their consumer base, market their albums, and be both promoted and heard on MP3, radio, and television, with publicists that assist performers in positive media reports to market their merchandise, and make it available via stores and other media outlets. The Internet has increasingly been a way that some artists avoid costs and gain new audiences, as well as the use of videos in some cases, to sell their products.