Demos

Chris Crompton · Post by **Chris Crompton** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 6:17 pm

Atheory wrote:^^^

yeah, the focus should be more on getting the tracks to a certain level than just getting a release. if that means sending out a cd every three years or something until they are at that level, so be it.

I couldn't agree more. I'd much rather learn as much as possible about how to make a beautiful, creative song sound tight as f*ck, than just trying to get a release. Although a release is certainly part of the dream, that's just the icing on the musical cake.

The one thing I do need to focus more on, outside of producing, is building up the friend networks on MySpace and Facebook.

mood · Post by **mood** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 9:03 pm

daveashe wrote:If a label gets 100s of cds a month, you will have to do something extraordinary to get interest. There is some videos on youtube about packaging your demos with hand-written hand-made packages in funky covers, but in these times, i reckon you need to just get out there as much as possible, contact anyone who is running a label via pm in forums to ask if they are interested in your music - think differently, sending a cdr off (usually with a blank cover) rarely ever worked.

What you need to focus on is having your material release-ready.

* Good solid mixing and mastering
* Great artwork
* Really good descriptions and titles for tracks/releases
* A good online presence, even if its just a customized myspace page

(Also, music that doesn't sound like everything else.)

If you don't have the effort to do this for your music, why should a label release it?

(i'm not saying that you don't do these things, but in most cases this is the case!)

(ps. send me your demos if you have the above :-) )

interesting points dave, but I just can't understand two things:

- master a track doesn't mean putting a "pumpupthevolumetodeath" plugin on the master bus but, as you may know, getting out and pay a qualified engineer.
i can't believe i've got to spend money to do mastering for every demo i make. this is the label duty: believe in your music and make it ready for the distribution.

- the same story for the artwork.
ok, with a concept lp/ep the design of the artwork maybe part of the whole creative process, but my main role is the musician. isn't it?

...and i really can't understand why put you originality in background.

for me this is THE POINT: be original.

even if you enclosed your demo cd in a simple envelope with your mail!adress on it!

mood · Post by **mood** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 9:09 pm

oh, and i'm just curious about another thing.

dave said a label could receive 100 cd per month... i wonder how much demos does a small label usually receive on a month.

i'm asking this question to the labels owner on the board...

patrick bateman · Post by **patrick bateman** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 9:59 pm

mood wrote:oh, and i'm just curious about another thing.

dave said a label could receive 100 cd per month... i wonder how much demos does a small label usually receive on a month.

i'm asking this question to the labels owner on the board...

cd's for us is down to very very rare... 1 a month maximum...
But that's probably because we like to get it as links instead.

JonasEdenbrandt · Post by **JonasEdenbrandt** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 10:10 pm

I've been laying a bit low on demos now, just been giving my latest tracks to DJ's I go out to see.

I was thinking about something what do labels think about people with a kind of diverse style. Lately I've been really into more pure techno sound in production but i also have a few housier tracks in the works. Do people feel this is a problem with producers? I'm not going to change my style or anything I'm just wondering.

daveashe · Post by **daveashe** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 11:56 pm

You don't need to pay a qualified mastering engineer on smaller-scale releases, you can learn how to do this yourself. It will take time to learn, but you will get much better results with your music and it will drive you to create your own sound at the mastering stage which in turn will drive you to create better music.

With music creation, the concept is important, usually the artwork and music is intertwined on seminal releases, the artwork is a part of the music as well. If you cant do this on your own then you must know someone who can do it for you.

It sounds like you want the label to do everything for you apart from the fun stuff (creating the music)

If you really want to be signed to a label, you will eventually find the one that is right for your style of music, it just takes time to go out there and do some deep research - everything doesn't just come to you and do half the work for you - there is a real need to have that first.

There is no such thing as failure, its just a concept in your own mind, as long as you are persistent you will get there, continue learning new things - i had no idea how to create music videos about a month ago, but i learned through persistence how to do it, an hour a day learning, reading, watching everything i can find on a subject.

You will get nowhere fast by expecting everyone else to do everything for you.

victorgonzales · Post by **victorgonzales** » Wed Sep 30, 2009 9:54 pm

mood wrote:oh, and i'm just curious about another thing.

dave said a label could receive 100 cd per month... i wonder how much demos does a small label usually receive on a month.

i'm asking this question to the labels owner on the board...

I don't get any. I just network on sites like this and pick up stuff that i like. When I do post publically that Im looking I get about 10 a week.

::BLM:: · Post by **::BLM::** » Sat Aug 07, 2010 1:03 am

victorgonzales wrote:
mood wrote:oh, and i'm just curious about another thing.

dave said a label could receive 100 cd per month... i wonder how much demos does a small label usually receive on a month.

i'm asking this question to the labels owner on the board...
I don't get any. I just network on sites like this and pick up stuff that i like. When I do post publically that Im looking I get about 10 a week.

We get demos each day. Most of the time the music quality isnt good enough, so we pass on them. I think only Cally and Pawas sent us a demo, the rest have been from networking via Myspace.

As an artist I have always found it hard to get my music signed to the labels I want to be on. I have maybe 3 labels that I want to be on and I'm always corrasponding to them, but I have never been able to make anything they wanted to sign. I think now you have do put a little bit more effort into getting onto a label. With FOF I'm obivously first and foremost looking for quality music, but another friend is always a potential bonus. The people I speak to on a daily basis are first when it comes to releasing music.