How To Approach A Record Label – Part 2
This is the second part to How To Approach A Record Label.
Submitting an online demo (MP3)
- Ensure you email the correct department (a+r@recordlabel.com rather than press@recordlabel.com).
- It’s even better if you can get the name the relevent person to contact and their direct email address as they are more likely to read your email.
- If possible, avoid using a free email service such as Hotmail, Yahoo or Google. Instead use an email address from your own website as it looks more professional.
- Ensure your email is polite and professional. Get to the point rather than waffling on. Make sure all of your contact details are contained at the bottom of the email.
- Do not write in txt language or use too much slang.
- Do not attach large files to your email as they take time to download and clog up people’s inbox.
- Include a link to between 1 and 4 songs. Ensure they are good quality MP3s and that the site hosting them will stream music properly. Do not send people to free file hosting sites with pop-ups and adverts everywhere as it looks unprofessional.
- Let the label know where they can get more information about you if they like you. If you have a bio or photos online somewhere then include a link to them. It is also OK to attach a bio to your email. PDF is the best format but a Word Document is fine also.
Submitting a demo CD
- As mentioned above be sure to send your material to the right person / department.
- Put a maximum of 4 songs on your demo CD. Always put your strongest song first and preferably a song that doesn’t contain a long drawn out intro. Do not put any fillers (weak songs) on the CD; 2 great songs is much better than 6 rubbish ones.
- If you do not have professional pressed CDs then ensure you use high quality branded CDRs to record your material onto. Ensure the levels are good and the CD is finalised. Never send DAT or vinyl as it will cost you more money and it not as convenient as CDs for A&Rs to listen to.
- Write all your contact details on the CD and the case (as they often become separated). Make sure these details are clear: if your hand writing is poor then type your information and print it on sticky labels. Include your name, telephone number and email address. It is also useful to put the date so the label can see when it was received.
- Make sure all your tracks have names. It can get very confusing talking about “track 3″ when you are surrounded by loads of CDs.
- Do not send huge parcels full of tacky merchandise. However, if you already have a strong brand/identity established then communicate this by including a few photos, flyers etc.
One final tip…
Don’t get disheartened too soon. Most of the biggest artists in the world today were rejected by a range of labels before they finally found one that believed in them. You must be prepared to keep approaching A+Rs even when it feels like you are getting nowhere.
However, if you keep getting identical feedback from different people then you need to take that into account. It may well be your music or your presentation skills that are poor and not everyone else’s judgement!
———————————————————————————————————————-
All text Copyright 2009 Covert Recording Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Covert Recording is an independent UK label with in house production, digital distribution and marketing facilities.
3 Responses to “How To Approach A Record Label – Part 2”
Leave a Reply
Great stuff, we’re looking to get our newest project signed soon despite the labels seemingly being able to do less and less next to what we can do ourselves; we want some of that old marketing muscle.
Those seem like useful tips so I am going to try to get out their locally first. Thankyou for the tips.
If you are considering using Twitter as a marketing source you should do it, but you definitely must do it the right way, following all the rules. Twitter is without a doubt one of the greatest social media site today for online marketing.