FEATURE: SIGNS OF THE TIMES.

This year budgets are expected to shrink and fiscal pressures increase but record labels still need the lifeblood of new artists and the A&R community. Music Week looks at the hottest signings of 2008 who are set to become the new stars of 2009

By Stuart Clarke

With the global economic downturn taking hold of the record business, it is easy to find attention drifting from the creative to focus on the nuts and bolts of the business.

Labels are seeking ways to generate revenue from alternative income streams and trying to make and do more with less. But, important as budgets, fiscal plans and the bottom line are, this industry would be a futile - and dreary - one without the artists and the A&R community at the heart of it.

And in 2008, UK record labels proved once again that they remain at the forefront of global A&R, securing many of the big deals from the UK and abroad.

International artists including Hockey, Iglu & Hartly and The Hold Steady all inked deals with UK labels over the past 12 months while at home, the likes of White Lies, Glasvegas and Delphic confirmed that the hunger among British labels for homegrown talent has not diminished.

And while the frequency of the big record deal continues to decline, the big advance is far from a thing of the past. When an artist comes along that captures the imagination of the A&R community, the cheque books come out and there is no limit to the price labels will pay for a piece of the action.