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-- Do you guys still submit tracks to labels?
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Note the flag next to my name

But yeah, I should have clarified... the Two Fat Ladies were immensely popular over here, but never would have been given a show in North America, I think.

Yeah mate!

Just with work Monday to Friday I can never work on music during the week but spend most weekends on it.
I am releasing stuff with Vicious at the moment under my house alias but with time I haven't been working on too many trance songs unfortunately.

I found that with Vicious records they do promo really well but it just takes so long to build your brand!

You still releasing stuff?

I have nothing to share specifically really, just this cliche.

youtube gets shittier with every update but I think a devoted music section with a genre-specific ranking system similar to NicoNicoDouga would be swell. Of course you could just buy youtube plays so that whole idea kinda falls apart. Nothing really preventing the garbage from floating to the top. I suspect thats whats going on with beatport, labels just throw money at them to get releases on the top 10 regardless of actual sales. Might be wrong though i'm a bit of a conspiracy nut

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Originally posted by sonix That actually did happen or still does and Beatport released a news statement saying they're preventing that by banning labels when Beatport sees the same IP buying mass quantities of the same track. http://news.beatport.com/cheating-t...e-consequences/ Interesting list, not affiliated with Beatport though: http://beatport-banned.tumblr.com

There are sites that pay people to buy tracks. They have labels as clients.

Also that Beatport banned site is very unreliable. It is a nice gimmick but a lot of the tracks mentioned disappear due to new (sub)licensing deals which affect availability.

Over the past year I submitted an EP to several labels, no takers. One said it wasn't the style they were looking for, the other didn't reply. The label I'm "with" rejected my last 2 EPs, so I'm batting zero. They are way pickier about style than they used to be, and that's fine.

Every label release I've gotten has been through producer friend recommendation, and interaction on this forum. The scant few demos I've submitted to labels over the years didn't get me one release.

I've sent demos to several DJs via soundcloud, no listens. They asked via their sets to send demos. Both have record labels, so if you get a spin you will most likely get a signed release.

I think I'm done with submitting tracks to labels. I've never had any luck with it, it's a time waster.

I will still send demos to DJs. A spin would mean a lot more to me than a label release.

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Originally posted by sonix Wait, they pay you to buy tracks you're gonna buy anyways? I want that job, buying tracks and getting paid for it like a discount and get free music lol

Yep...

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Hi! We are glad to invite you in our BeatportPromo team. Everything is very simple: 1. You download tracks in the task from Beatport, or other shops. 2. We pay you for this. Your invitation code: *** Will be good if you will register in such stores as: http://itunes.com http://junodownload.com http://trackitdown.net http://traxsource.com http://djtunes.com

I'm guessing Beatport is a bit smarter than that. But yes, if one is willing to invest in someone elses music that could happen.

If someone does it smart it is going to be really hard. But the most vital thing is to distinguish automated transactions from human ones.

A human will not buy the same track twice, especially not soon after a release. If it happens it is likely to have rather big time span in between or they buy the same track which have been uploaded as seperate releases, thus not hyping one single track.

A human will not have multiple accounts connected to one email, paypal account or creditcard. A human will not create a bulk of transactions on the same track (which is a must to get it in the charts).

A human will send regular header and cookie information on every request.

Plus Beatport has a huge dataset of trusted and validated transactions which they can use to analyze certain transactions (or patterns) as suspicious and manually/automatically validate if needed.

This is just scratching the surface. They have some smart people working there at Beatport. One of them is now my collegue and another one used to be for a short while .

It is not anything I worry about though. Chart juicing/hyping or whatever they call it isn't really a thing I am interested in persuing . I am mostly interested in the the dynamics and implications of said tools, and how much influence they might have.

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Originally posted by zodiac9 I think I'm done with submitting tracks to labels. I've never had any luck with it, it's a time waster.

Did the thought occur to you that maybe you're music is not yet good enough?

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Originally posted by Deillon Did the thought occur to you that maybe you're music is not yet good enough?

Do we really need this type of negativity in this thread ffs, damn.

"yet"

although if you can't get on a label that's a bad sign, the bar is so, so low

true, depends on how good the label is.

Yeah I'm sure that's a big part of it. I remember sending stuff out to 2020 when I first started out.. looking back that was pretty "hopeful" (delusional) although they were nice enough to respond anyway. I mean if anything there are a million net-labels if you're dying to get your stuff out there. Also, and this was years ago but try Baroque they were pretty slutty and were willing to pick up whatever trash I threw at them, they've got a sub-label for everything

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Originally posted by Storyteller Putting demos on public voting pages to filter out the best is wrong on so many levels. The only thing it does is drive label exposure because people push friends there to vote. The exposure is achieved but with the wrong intention and usually the artist won't get signed. The ones on top have the most friends willing to help, not the most talent. Submitting a demo should always be a private matter in my opinion.

It's business.

no i dont i do it for myself

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Originally posted by MSZ I have nothing to share specifically really, just this cliche.

God that's cute.

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Originally posted by Innocence Lost Do we really need this type of negativity in this thread ffs, damn.

Do you honestly think everyone's music is the same?

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Originally posted by Mr.Mystery Why do you think I originally chose this name... I long for the days when producers were faceless and never released anything under their real name. Only the music mattered.

I'm afraid these two french guys stole your thunder. But it worked even better than showing their faces. Go figure.

Looks is part of the package these days but it wasn't always.

Don't forget, in the 90's, you barely knew what most DJ's looked like. I remember standing outside a big event talking to this bloke for good a while and later someone told me it was Ian Ossia (not really a household name now, but back in the 90's he was probably one of the top 10/20 dj's in the world). I had no idea it was him as I'd never seen a picture and I was even an clubbing and aspiring DJ enthusiast.

There wasn't all this grandstanding, Jesus Posing, Giant TV screen headshot closeup bullshit that is mandatory now with any DJ. The DJ was a guy at the end of the dark room with headphones on.

You didn't really see the whole personality marketing thing. DJ's we're boring looking / visually average guys (see digweed, sasha, Oakenfold, Tong for more details).

In some ways it was like the days of Radio vs TV. You knew these personalities innately but had little idea what they looked like.

Many talented guys would plug away for years and it was difficult to break through. Yousef won a Muzik Magazine's bedroom DJ competition after years of playing out and it was having a media outlet finally on his side that got him there.

It was really only when the rise of the "Superstar DJ" came about (which also happened to coincide with of the rise of reality TV) that image of the DJ suddenly started to matter.

The same happened on a bigger scale with mianstream music and major labels - Ex-Sony Records A&R once guy told me that they now are not signing anyone that hasn't already had TV exposure - and that was in 2001!

It got so perverse with the image-centric nature of music, that we now have reality shows that try to exclude the image bias (like The Voice, X factor etc) - although it's all bullshit as most people on these shows have been invited and already were known to the producers etc.

Now, to be a big name DJ, you need one massive cheesey hit that happens to tap in to the current trend, and not make children run and hide when when you show your face.

Some have built an entire career just on image and branding - EC twins for instance haven't put out a sing track that you could name or whistle but they're both pretty boys, had a desperate drive for fame/success and looked the part.


It makes me laugh now when they put up billboards with some of these guys pictures because they have to (and you see them all over La or Vegas) - Zedd, although talented looks like he's been forced to do a school photo most of the time.
Avicii looks like he's auditioning for a european white boy hip hop crew in all of his photos.

There are others that have used to branding thing to complement their obvious talent; Mau5 with the helmet, Eric Prydz with the different monikers for each type of music, etc.

Bottom line is, it's not enough just to make a cracking track - you have to have marketing and branding that also connects. The good news is that if you can do it, you're basically set for life off one track. It really doesn't much.

If you write the next big hit, then it's really not difficult to find out who are the management teams and PR agencies that got these other people there.

I did for many years, and eventually got with the labels that I wanted to work with, so now I just send directly to the people inside those labels that I already know, and that already know me. If they don't like my track, I will then send it to other labels that I have dealt with in the past. Eventually once you release with a few labels, you don't have to send your music very far, or worry about that aspect much anymore which is a huge relief. Just keep at it, keep improving your sound, keep sending your tracks to whatever label you want to work with, and eventually you'll find a home. That's how it all worked out for me anyways. Hope that helps.

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Originally posted by meriter I mean if anything there are a million net-labels if you're dying to get your stuff out there. Also, and this was years ago but try Baroque they were pretty slutty and were willing to pick up whatever trash I threw at them, they've got a sub-label for everything

I'm not dying for a release, and that seems the kind of label I want to avoid. Thanks for the recommendation though, and I got a laugh out of you calling them slutty. Maybe by releasing all your "trash" they just trust you as an artist. Trying to put a positive slant on it, since I don't know the label and don't want to diss unfairly.

The 2 labels I submitted to supply tracks for Adam Beyer's Drumcode, that's why I sent the demos. Neither label listened to my soundcloud links, which is their prefered method for receiving demos. So I didn't get very far. Understandable, I'm sure they get a ton of demos. Maybe they should sign up to Storyteller's service.

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Originally posted by Magnus I did for many years, and eventually got with the labels that I wanted to work with, so now I just send directly to the people inside those labels that I already know, and that already know me. If they don't like my track, I will then send it to other labels that I have dealt with in the past. Eventually once you release with a few labels, you don't have to send your music very far, or worry about that aspect much anymore which is a huge relief. Just keep at it, keep improving your sound, keep sending your tracks to whatever label you want to work with, and eventually you'll find a home. That's how it all worked out for me anyways. Hope that helps.

There's one label that I've been with for years, and I would like to find another one like that. I haven't put much effort into finding another one, and I don't like submitting demos. I can count on one hand the number of times I've sent demos out. Anyways, your post is encouraging. You present a good example to follow.

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Originally posted by Mr.Mystery Why do you think I originally chose this name... I long for the days when producers were faceless and never released anything under their real name. Only the music mattered.

You can't be that ugly cmon post a pic of yourself for us.

quote:

Originally posted by Innocence Lost You can't be that ugly cmon post a pic of yourself for us.

Cmon don't be embarrassed of your own self, you can do it.

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