releasing tunes

BigDaddyCan

hey guys, just wondering if anybody has any advice about getting your stuff to labels and that aside from the usuail soundcloud/email/fb kinda channels?

I'm working on an EP at the moment and would love to release it

Neurojazz

BigDaddyCan wrote: »

hey guys, just wondering if anybody has any advice about getting your stuff to labels and that aside from the usuail soundcloud/email/fb kinda channels?

I'm working on an EP at the moment and would love to release it

Self release or looking for larger label?

seannash

Just snd it to labels that release similar tunes to the ones your making
If they like it they'll release it if not you'll probably not hear anything back from them

google the record labels contact details

job done

Logical Fallacy

http://www.dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=186232

Great thread there from DFRNT (the guy who runs Echodub) on contacting labels and the best approach. It's a consolidated opinion of about 5 or 6 different label owners and while it is on a Dubstep Forum the lessons taken from it could be applied no matter what genre you make.

BigDaddyCan

was hoping to release on a label! nice one for the tips lads!

eeloe

Aye just send the ep when it's done to
a suitable label

if sharing a track on soundcloud, DON'T share it with 3000 other people, nothing worse than seeing a producer share a track with thousands of people/labels/ at once. Takes the specialness out of a track for me.

krd

I'd like a project to light a fire under me to get my act up to producing release quality productions.

At the moment I don't go the extra mile - I just look at the extra mile and say fcuk it and hit upload track on Soundcloud.

electrogrimey

Wouldn't mind some advice from experienced people on this topic either.

Have 3 tunes I'm happy with, that I think are possibly of releasable standard, just wondering what the best way of getting labels to listen to them are.

Is putting the time and money into burning CDs and artwork and actually posting them worth it? Or is just a personal email equally as good? Should you send your tunes to DJs/blogs to get support first to try and get labels to actually listen to it after scanning the email?

eeloe

I find email better, and tracks that are blogged to death already really aren't that appealing, no point in investing in music that everyone's already heard, and to be honest if it's good enough, it'll be pirated in some way.

The way digital is at the minute, the music has a stupidly small shelf life, so it's gotta be fresh as ****.

Logical Fallacy

electrogrimey wrote: »

Wouldn't mind some advice from experienced people on this topic either.

Have 3 tunes I'm happy with, that I think are possibly of releasable standard, just wondering what the best way of getting labels to listen to them are.

Is putting the time and money into burning CDs and artwork and actually posting them worth it? Or is just a personal email equally as good? Should you send your tunes to DJs/blogs to get support first to try and get labels to actually listen to it after scanning the email?

Okay, i've got four releases with four different labels coming out later this year...each and everyone of them was achieved the same way.

All the tunes ended up on SC originally as a kind of filtering process...see what gets good reactions from the average listener, after that they were bundled together in groups as a pair that had a similar vibe but a different slant on things.

After this i chose my target labels as being labels that had a history of putting out music in a similar vein to the tracks in question. I ensured the best possible mixdown on each track and sat on them for about 2 months, making minor tweaks and changes until i was completely happy with the track...then i sent off the initial email with some brief information and a download link to the wavs and another to 320 MP3 versions...i found it helps to give people the option of what they want to listen to. Sometimes they downloaded the MP3's, checked the tunes and liked them, then grabbed the wavs and gave the tunes some airings in clubs and decided based off their own liking of the tune and the crowd reaction that yes....it's a releasable option.

Keep the waffle brief...in the main emails, include an assortment of contact details (I include my email address,aim and Skype) and generally people will get back to you pretty quick if they are feeling your stuff.

One label in particular liked some tunes, hit me up and offered me some really strong advice which i implemented, sent on some new tunes and blam...we were talking about a release.

I have personally found it best to keep **** brief, easy for the recipient and let the music do the talking. I've gotten great advice from people who didn't sign my tunes and have really good relationships with some big names in my area of music simply because i was always polite and patient.

gsparx

eeloe wrote: »

Aye just send the ep when it's done to
a suitable label

if sharing a track on soundcloud, DON'T share it with 3000 other people, nothing worse than seeing a producer share a track with thousands of people/labels/ at once. Takes the specialness out of a track for me.

I've got a question about that because I'm not fully sure how Soundcloud works in this regard.
Many labels now only accept demos through Soundcloud.
So you get a link to their soundcloud page and you select your track that's already there.
Then you go to another label (let's face it, it's not realistic to send to just one label) and alert them to your track and so on.
So eventually does each label see that you've sent it to, say 10 "people"? Or if you don't send it to them all at the same time does that not show up?
Another thing, how would you even send a track to 3000 people? Do you have to go and search for 3000 users or is there a feature to send it to all the people you follow?

Neurojazz

gsparx wrote: »

I've got a question about that because I'm not fully sure how Soundcloud works in this regard.
Many labels now only accept demos through Soundcloud.
So you get a link to their soundcloud page and you select your track that's already there.
Then you go to another label (let's face it, it's not realistic to send to just one label) and alert them to your track and so on.
So eventually does each label see that you've sent it to, say 10 "people"? Or if you don't send it to them all at the same time does that not show up?
Another thing, how would you even send a track to 3000 people? Do you have to go and search for 3000 users or is there a feature to send it to all the people you follow?

You can only see tracking stats on your own music.

I'm not sure about systems for spamming people with inbox messages, but can tell you that most get binned after a while - they are pretty annoying and impersonal. It's much better to go an interact directly with other soundclouders to get a better group of followers - Rockshamrover (from boards) is a fine example... he's highly active on detailed comments (not just 'cool music' or 'nice' comments) and reaps the rewards when posting his own music.

Good use of the groups is a must - lets say you post a techno track you'd join techno groups and comment on other techno music.... these people then come visit your soundcloud and hear your techno (as that was probably last posted)... after a few days then post your track in another group and do the same.

gsparx

Don't get me wrong, I've no desire whatsoever to spam people with tracks. My second question was how, just for interests sake, would someone even do that?
There's one guy on Soundcloud, who I'm not even following, the music is decent, not really my cupppa but it's well produced and gets released, I believe.
Anyway every now and again, I get (and I'm sure this sounds familiar to many on here). "

---

has sent a a track to you and 2,503 people"
So my main question is, if you privately send a track to a few labels, because they have specifically asked for demos, do they get a similar message?

electrogrimey

gsparx wrote: »

Don't get me wrong, I've no desire whatsoever to spam people with tracks. My second question was how, just for interests sake, would someone even do that?
There's one guy on Soundcloud, who I'm not even following, the music is decent, not really my cupppa but it's well produced and gets released, I believe.
Anyway every now and again, I get (and I'm sure this sounds familiar to many on here). "

---

has sent a a track to you and 2,503 people"
So my main question is, if you privately send a track to a few labels, because they have specifically asked for demos, do they get a similar message?

I think how you do it is set it to private when you're uploading it, and then you have the option of 'share to:', and you can select followers/following/contact lists/emails etc, then once they do that they make it public.

gsparx

electrogrimey wrote: »

I think how you do it is set it to private when you're uploading it, and then you have the option of 'share to:', and you can select followers/following/contact lists/emails etc, then once they do that they make it public.

Ahh, right. Thanks, man. Makes sense, not that I'll ever use this knowledge.
I am curious though how it shows up for them if you do it one by one.
I don't like Soundcloud for submitting demos. It's too easy, I'd say labels get mountains of ****e though it.
I'd say bigger labels listen to very few of them.

DarkJager

gsparx wrote: »

Ahh, right. Thanks, man. Makes sense, not that I'll ever use this knowledge.
I am curious though how it shows up for them if you do it one by one.
I don't like Soundcloud for submitting demos. It's too easy, I'd say labels get mountains of ****e though it.
I'd say bigger labels listen to very few of them.

When you share a track with someone, they get a notification via email and their SC dashboard that you have shared the track with them.

Personally, I find Soundcloud great to get in touch with labels. Its helped me secure the release of 2 tracks so far, and an E.P later in the summer with the same label. Further to that since the release of the tracks, I'm now being followed by a number of other labels that have expressed interest in hearing some stuff. One thing you do need to do is be fairly descriptive in your comments when sending it (saying something like "this is my track, please listen" will just get your work ignored).

krd

DarkJager, what was the process with the label and you tracks?

Did they like something you'd done and take it as is - or did they ask you to rework it, make changes?

DarkJager

krd wrote: »

DarkJager, what was the process with the label and you tracks?

Did they like something you'd done and take it as is - or did they ask you to rework it, make changes?

Yeah, they took the tracks in both of their original forms. Requested a 24 bit WAV (with levels set to -6 db) and unmastered. Got the contract about 3 days later from them. Got a second track signed with them about 2 months afterwards and currently sorting out a 3rd, which will go collectively as an E.P. The first 2 tracks were placed on 2 compilations (progressive house/trance).

gsparx

Any links to your tracks DarkJager?

gsparx

In response to my own question, if anyone's interested.
Maybe it's obvious but I wasn't 100% sure. For each person (label) you add to the private list of recipients, for a track you share on Soundcloud, that person will be notified the number of recipients.
In other words, you share your track with one label, then the next day share it with another, that second label will see that it was sent to 2 people. Next day add another label and it will tell them 3 people etc. etc.
This is relevant because recently I came across a label that only want to hear absolutely exclusive tracks.
They have no interest in listening if it's been sent elsewhere. So if they see it's been sent to even a small amount of Soundcloud users they won't listen.
It means you might have to be a little bit strategic on there.

DarkJager

gsparx wrote: »

Any links to your tracks DarkJager?

www.soundcloud.com/cloud-10