Steps to commercial release

almost

Hi all,
Knowledge, experience and suggestions are welcome.

Looking for the best possible way to approach this.
I am singer/ songwriter of r'n'b/ soul/ blues type sound. Shall have a fantastic track produced by amazing producer completed in some weeks.
I will want to release this as commercial single - downloads/radio play/ chart (aim for the sky - reach the clouds mentality)..

I am doing this 100% myself. (more or less - help from some mates when i figure out how to do this) Suggestions to how i get this onto the radio, into charts and all that. Im 100% serious, dedicated and commited to this and will make it work just looking for suggestions of maybe best steps that i haven't thought of... cheers.

iamhunted

the material needs to be good - thats probably the most obvious, yet normally ignored point. Plus you'd be need to have more than one track, and ideally a live set. The days of studio projects and not playing live doesnt work anymore as money is made playing gigs and selling cds at those gigs. You'd need to make yourself up a decent database of DJs, reviewers, local radio stations, newspapers etc and then listen to them enough to work out who you are best sending your music to. then get intouch wiht them via email, say hullo, be interested in the person and get to know them a bit if possible - without being a nagging pain in the arse. Makes it more likely those people will listen to and play/review your songs.

The music industry is changing massively so I dont know if you should be concerned about charting. Thing is you wont get signed by a major for a fortunes and you will have to put in about 5-6 years hard slog.

Music-and-booze

Theres a lot of people out there with commitment and ambition... unless you're very lucky, you'll hafta start at the bottom like the rest of us.:D

almost

iamhunted wrote: »

the material needs to be good - thats probably the most obvious, yet normally ignored point. Plus you'd be need to have more than one track, and ideally a live set. The days of studio projects and not playing live doesnt work anymore as money is made playing gigs and selling cds at those gigs. You'd need to make yourself up a decent database of DJs, reviewers, local radio stations, newspapers etc and then listen to them enough to work out who you are best sending your music to. then get intouch wiht them via email, say hullo, be interested in the person and get to know them a bit if possible - without being a nagging pain in the arse. Makes it more likely those people will listen to and play/review your songs.

The music industry is changing massively so I dont know if you should be concerned about charting. Thing is you wont get signed by a major for a fortunes and you will have to put in about 5-6 years hard slog.

The material will indeed be good. However, would be difficult to have a live set as there would not be enough material as yet in order to do that. a few tracks indeed - but this would be to put out feelers ... all on for slogging, at that already.

Im basically changing direction and this will be a much better, more professional and sound far better standard than anything i have recorded thus far. Im not the singer with guitar so it becomes more difficult for me than if i were the acoustic musician. Getting signed - not really thinking that far ahead - just get to work and make great music, and get heard. good suggestions about the database - have already started thanks...

rachel_123

i think its all about the people you know in the industry, the more contacts you have, the better. i wouldnt be too gone on the whole charts thing. for me success is not getting music into the charts, success is a loyal fan base.

almost

rachel_123 wrote: »

i think its all about the people you know in the industry, the more contacts you have, the better. i wouldnt be too gone on the whole charts thing. for me success is not getting music into the charts, success is a loyal fan base.

Indeed, this is where my problem lies. Very few contacts for this type of thing. loyal fanbase absolutely your totally right

rachel_123

almost wrote: »

Indeed, this is where my problem lies. Very few contacts for this type of thing. loyal fanbase absolutely your totally right

to be honest, in this day and age i think its very difficult to find a loyal fan base. music is a fashion now for alot of kids.. and if its not in then its not cool to listen to. so stupid! but yeah, its incredibly hard to keep a loyal fan base...but in my heart, thats where the success lies.

in terms of getting contacts, its all about going to gigs, getting talking to people, not being afraid of taking your time to get to know them and their place in the business. you'd be surprised how far a couple of words can go!

iamhunted

almost wrote: »

Indeed, this is where my problem lies. Very few contacts for this type of thing. loyal fanbase absolutely your totally right

theres only one way to make contacts and thats to make contacts. Horribly enough, to make a living out of music you have to think of it as a product. research what kind of contacts you need - is it airplay, reviews, blogs etc - then use the web and find these resources, let them know who you are and send them some material. Everyone is human, so its important you deal with them on a decent, thoughtful and polite level rather than just 'heres my music, listen to it now' kind of way. A lot of this is luck, though they reckon everyone makes their own.