GETTING YOUR DEMO SIGNED

As with all the articles in the studio section this is just one person's opinion so take on board as much or as little of it as you like. I don't claim to be an expert with a ten step program guaranteed to get your demo's signed or your money back, but hopefully I can pass on some things i've learned over the years that might help you along the way. I dread to think of how many demo's i've sent out since I started producing in the early 90's - I've certainly had plenty of "Thanks but no thanks", more than a few "almost but not quite's", and luckily one or two have said "yes please" as well (and of course let's not forget the wall of silence from countless others too!). It's not an enjoyable process that's for sure, and can be hugely frustrating - particularly if your an impatient git like me, but unfortunately it's a necessary evil.

Anyway, that's enough chit-chat, without further ado I give you my random notes that may or more than likely may not help you get your demo signed...

 

1) You Need Good Music

We may as well get the most obvious point out of the way first. The other advice on this page isn't worth a monkey's nut if you haven't got the music to back it up. A lesson that's worth learning as early in possible is life is that 'you can't polish a turd' so don't waste your time trying. Having a couple of 'ok' tracks probably won't be good enough, there's a lot of people out their that your competing with and you've got to do something pretty good to get an A&R man's attention. Also with the scene not being at its strongest right now label's are being more cautious about what they sign, and that makes it all the more difficult - particularly if your an 'unknown' artist.

a) You've got to be really honest with yourself as to the quality of your music before sending it out - something that's a lot easier said than done. It's easy to get overly absorbed in a track when writing it, to the point where you aren't in a fit state to judge it. Your average punter might just hear a bit of music, but you'll be hearing so much more...wondering whether that hihat should be a bit louder in the mix, admiring that great filter sweep you did and worrying whether the middle section of the track is dragging on for too long. A good idea after you've finished a track is to give yourself a few days away from it to 'cool off' before making a final judgment. When you do go back to it try comparing it to already releases music in a similar style and see how it stands up. Another tip is to try doing something else whilst listening to the track. Stick it in your car stereo and go for a drive or go on the internet and surf around -whatever distracts you from concentrating too hard on the music and can give you a different perspective on it.

Getting opinions from friends and families can be helpful but don't count on it - there's a good chance their just telling you they like it too spare your feelings, so if you do decide to do this then make sure your b*llshit detector is turned up to maximum! Also if you can find someone that'll give you an honest opinion then great - but make sure that they have an understanding and knowledge of your style of music or else their opinions can do more harm than good.

b) Another important point regarding the actual music is the overall quality of the production. In the good old days 'ideas' were considered the most important thing in a demo - the production wasn't as important...it could be sorted out later if the record was signed. I'd say though that in this day and age production this isn't the case. It's something that really always related more to rock music where labels would pay for the band to go into a studio to record the track properly. As for dance music, nowadays you can get excellent results using only your PC / Mac so there's no real excuses for poor production, and also there isn't enough money to be made from a single release to allow for going to a 'proper' studio.

 

2) Getting Your Demo Ready.

Ok, so you've decided that your music is good enough to send out, what next?

a) First you'll need to decide how many tracks your going to be putting on the demo. A general rule of thumb is no more than five, but preferably a little less. A&R people don't have the time to sit and listen through hours worth of material and you don't want to give away to much of yourself - it's always good to have something in reserve rather than showing all your cards at once. Your aiming to put your best tracks on the demo so don't clutter it with one's you think are 'ok' or 'might be good', less is more. Also make sure to put your best track first, you want to grab the A&R geezer's attention as soon as possible before he chucks your CD in the bin and moves along to the next one.

b) Make sure that you provide the full length, full quality WAV files on your CD. I've heard of some people worrying about whether to cut down the length of their tracks to make them more punchy and appeal more to the A&R men. This isn't a good idea, labels are looking for tracks that are good to go, complete with the DJ intro and outro, etc so keep them in.

I also know of people who are so concerned about getting ripped off that they'll reduce the quality of their tracks for the CD or only provide half the track. DON'T do this, it's hard enough to get a deal as it is without hampering your chances even further with these tactics. The chances of you getting ripped off are pretty slim as long as you've got your head screwed on and aren't just sending to any old Tom, Dick or Harry.

I will however say that posting over the internet should be considered a different matter altogether. The chances of your music getting ripped off is a lot higher on the Internet as anyone can get a hold of your music and share it with thousands of other users, which makes your tracks a much less valuable commodity to a record label. I'd advise against putting full length tracks up if you have any intention of getting them signed. If you check out the 'music' section of this site you'll see that I do a shortened fade in / fade out version to give people an idea of what it sounds like. The point of this is to give labels a flavour of the track and if their interested then they can contact me and get a full version sent in the post. This is the best solution I have found to date and it does work.

c) A question that's often asked is if you need to have artwork, etc on your CD to make it stand out. I'd say it's not absolutely essential but i've heard from more than one A&R guy that the most eye catching will often be placed higher up the queue so basically if you can manage it it's probably not a bad idea. I tend to look around the net for a decent picture/photo, etc that relates in some way to the music on the demo - nothing to complicated but if your the arty type then feel free to do a design of your own. Incidentally I use a package called Sure Thing (http://www.surething.com) to do my covers - I'll admit it's pretty basic but that's the way I like it - nice and simple, no unnecessary bullsh*t. You can get a free trial on their site and it's not that expensive to buy.

Whether you do or don't use graphics, the most important thing is to get all your contact details on the CD cover - that includes your name, address, telephone number, mobile, email and web site (if you've got one). If you are lucky enough to get a response it'll most likely be via either email or telephone. I'd advise against just writing this down, do it on the computer and print it out so that it's easy to read - there'd be nothing worse than having a label interested in your stuff but can't read your handwriting! Also it's a good idea to write some contact details on the actual CD itself (i just tend to use a marker pen) just in case, I've heard of labels losing CD box's before and not being able to sign the music as a result.

d) Some people will feel the need to include a covering letter, perhaps with a bio, etc in it. This won't hurt as long as you keep it cool and too the point. Don't give them your life story, don't go into details about how your music evokes memories of childhood summers, and don't beg, grovel and kiss their arse - let the music do the talking. Personally I don't bother with a covering letter any more, I squeeze a small bio into the CD cover along with my address, etc and leave it at that.

 

3) Targeting The Right Labels.

Assuming you've got some good tracks to send out then you should consider getting your demo to the right labels as THE most important step to getting your music signed.

a) The key here is too do your research - your aim is to find labels who might be interested in hearing your kind of music, and with many focusing on such specific, small niches amongst the vast array of dance music genres that's no easy task. If your a DJ in addition to being a producer then this side of things could prove to be a bit easier, otherwise consider the internet your best bet. A good plan of action is to hit a lot of the online vinyl stores (i've got a list of some of the cooler ones in the 'links' section of this site) and listen to a lot of music. When you find a record in a similar style to what your doing then take a note of the label name and go to a search engine (the best one being www.google.com) and search for the label. These days it's pretty common for labels to have a web site so hopefully you'll be successful. Check out the site, get a feel for whether your tracks would fit in with what they are doing. Generally there will be a 'contact' page so go here and find an address to send demos too. Make sure to take note of any instructions they might have regarding demo submissions too. Another great place to locate labels is www.discogs.com - it's a site primarily used to catalogue releases from labels but they often carry the labels web site address and sometimes their postal address so it's definitely worth a look.

If you don't fancy doing it by internet then head to your local record store with a pen and paper and get stuck in, most labels put their address on the sleeve of their releases.

If you can find a few knowledgeable people within your style of music to give you some label suggestions then that can be a big help but don't just take their word for it, check the labels out for yourself to make sure they are right.

b) Hopefully you'll be able to find a decent selection of labels that you think might be worth sending too. Be realistic - sending to Sony might not be a good idea, in fact it's probably a really bad idea. To the same extent if your list includes a lot of 'big' labels within the dance scene then bear in mind that your chances of getting a response is pretty slim unless you've got something special...and even then some of the bigger labels are very cautious about signing unknowns. My advice is that you should look to get a good balance between big, medium and small labels. It won't do any harm to send to a couple of big labels just as a control because you never know what might happen - but don't send 90% of your demo quota to them! Spread the rest out between the small and medium labels so that you've got a better chance of success. Be careful when sending to the small labels - those that have had a few releases under their belt, or are run by someone with previous experience are preferable, otherwise proceed with caution.

c) So how many should demos you send out? Again it's about getting a balance. It's not cheap sending out demo's particularly if you plan on doing it on a regular basis. You need to buy blank CD's, jiffy bags, stamps (remember if your sending abroad it's going to cost quite a bit more) and if your planning on having colour artwork then you could end up replacing your printer cartridge quite often too. The problem is that there's no guarantee that you'll see anything back in return so you don't want to go overboard but at the same time if you send too few then your really minimizing your chances of success. I'd say don't send out any fewer than 10, but beyond that i'm not to sure what other people do. Generally when i'm doing a mail out i'll do between 12-20 carefully selected labels...if I don't get any success the first time round then I will consider sending out a further (usually smaller) amount if i'm still convinced it's worth it.

It's entirely up to you though how many you want to send, depending on your budget, patience (I can't stand waiting for the printer / CD burner!) and belief in the music. Make sure you bear in mind the rules covered in Step 3 though (and if you've done so you should have a nice compact list, not pages and pages worth!) - don't just send to a hundred different labels on the off chance that they might be interested, you'll just be wasting your time and money.

 

4) Preparing To Send.

I should briefly mention a few obvious things to remember before sending out your demo :

a) Double check that each CD actually has music on it and isn't in fact just a blank (Can't say for sure whether i've definitely done this before but it wouldn't surprise me and I have heard labels saying that it does happen).

b) Make sure you put the CD back in it's box after checking to see it's got music on it (I've sent an empty CD box to Bellboy Records before which was a bit embarrassing).

c) Make sure that all your contact info is correct - vitally important! (I noticed not so long ago that one of the demo's I was about to send out had my email address all wrong...capital letters and spaces where there shouldn't have been any. Since email is the most likely route for any response I might get that's a pretty big mistake).

d) Check to make sure that the label address is spelt correctly. Also put your own address on the back of the jiffy bag so if it turns out the label no longer exists at that address (not to uncommon) then you might be lucky enough to get it sent back so that you'll know in future.

e) Finally check that you've actually put stamps on the jiffy bags before bunging them in the postbox!! (I say this because I forgot to put stamps on one package just the other week which ended up costing Mr Chris Harris from Tronicsole Records a grand total of 84p...D'OH! Thankfully he was cool about it but don't count on others doing likewise).

 

5) Waiting For A Response.

Now comes the agonising bit, the wait for responses. Here's a few things to remember...

a) Don't forget that it can take some time for labels to get in touch so try to be patient. They all have different ways of working, some might listen to your demo straight away, I know of a few that set a specific time each week to listen to demo's, and others might listen, decide if they like it and then wait a week or so just to be 100% sure. The quickest 'yes please' response i've had was about 3 days, the longest was probably verging close to a month and occasionally a 'no' has dropped through the door over a month later. If you've not heard anything within 6 weeks then it probably ain't going to happen.

b) It's best not to harass labels, it's more likely to damage your chances in future than anything else. A lot of labels work on a 'don't call us, we'll call you' basis so you have to respect that even if it can be frustrating. It's best to prepare yourself in advance for the fact that a lot of the labels (quite probably the majority) you send to won't give you a response - not even a standard 'thanks but no thanks'. If your really desperate to get in contact with them then an email's your best bet and make sure to keep it brief and to the point...don't demand a 3 page essay on why your music's not good enough and always respect their opinion whether you agree with it or not.

c) In the end don't get disheartened if you don't get signed, there's no doubt that it takes time and more than a little luck. The most important thing is to not give up - I put out a good few demos before I first got signed, but I didn't let it get me down. I won't lie, it's frustrating and rejection can really hurt but it only made me more determined to succeed and I knew I'd get their in the end. Don't get bitter and start blaming the record labels, accept that this time your music wasn't good enough and vow to do better the next time.

 

Of course the final thing to say is good luck! It's a great feeling when you finally get something signed and who knows what could happen from their...

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