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-- Whatever you do, DON'T do this!
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Whatever you do, DON'T do this!

Ok, lately I have been seeing a big problem with a lot of the small labels and it's really bothering me.

Basically an artist will send out a track to about 50-100 trance labels trying to get signed. It's not that great a track (horrible production and maybe just some generic ideas) so of course he gets turned down by Armada, Flashover, Vandit, all the big guys. And this is the worst of the worst type of track - not even worth playing on the smallest radio shows.

He then takes it to some small digital-only label and "signs" it because they are desperate for whatever they can release for cheap and/or free. It goes out to all the stores unmastered.

End result? It sells 5 copies and the cycle continues with another label. How does this help anyone guys?? Why are you doing this? Why do people keep sending out crap demos? It doesn't help anybody

PS - I'm not saying the big guys are good either - they have a tendency to release really BORING but well mixed and mastered tracks.

The only labels that have really surprised me lately are Blue Soho Solaris, Abora, Anjuna (a FEW) and a few others.

anjunadeep all the way

but seriously, coming here and ranting aint gonna do shit

one of the many reasons beatport only allows labels that do a certain amount of volume now. i believe label minimums are at 300 sales per quarter. this will wash out a lot of what you're talking about.

Yea it is a major issue, hence why I fullu support BPs method of cutting small labels.

Yeah, I think a lot of it has to do with just wanting to be

DJ X (Aus) (shitty tiny label) when you play your DJ gigs. Being signed as a producer gets you a lot more crowd in my experience, even if no one has ever heard of the label.

quote:

Originally posted by Zombie0729 one of the many reasons beatport only allows labels that do a certain amount of volume now. i believe label minimums are at 300 sales per quarter. this will wash out a lot of what you're talking about.

BP still sell bucket loads of crap even with thier newley approved label system.

Ok dude so when you have a year under your belt, and are starting to make albeit bad but finished tracks nevertheless you shouldn't send them out?

I say thats wrong because before I got to where I am now (which isn't far but further than the shit demos stage) I sent shit demos off. You know what I learned from it! Sometimes the label would take me under their wing and give me some pointers, or other times they would refer me to other labels (more contacts). I now know through sending shit demos out a well known producer from the uk and have developed a friendship with him and his family who has helped me no end in my music.

I sent a shit demo when I made electro house a few years back called "Sticky Electro - Party time" that was so shit it got played on a few pirate stations here in the UK and was distorting because I didnt know what 0db meant thats how shit it was. Anyway the label signed it, got me to remix it, had some others remix it and at one point (nearly a week) the original,remix,and other remix were top 10 beatport,djdownload,beatsdigital etc and was beating the chemical brothers in the dance charts.

I'd put the screenshot up that I kept but its on my slave drive which when I reinstalled seems to think its unpartitioned raw data ??

Would that have happened if I listened to you?

The small digital label thing has its good and bad parts.

On the one hand small digital labels can be the last refuge of people making poor imitations of what is already popular, but on the other it can serve artists making good stuff that happens not to be "in" at the moment, and help them get their music heard.

Re: Whatever you do, DON'T do this!

fun thing is the OP is complaining about the amount of lousy music being put out. Problem is the labels not the artists sending the demo's. The label should be the quality controlling factor as it decides what is being put out. What the OP (imo) is describing is bad management by people whom happen to have bad hearing as well. That's the problem with the digital age, it costs none to start one (label), if you do it the cheap way that is.

quote:

Originally posted by ACK5 BP still sell bucket loads of crap even with thier newley approved label system.

to me that just says people are buying it?

It is totally wrong that you should have to pay for that shite!

So I put up my equally shite stuff on soundcloud which can be downloaded unmastered for free.

I have been 'literally inundated' with 3 downloads in the past year.

Or is it that I like making tracks and dont do it solely to get it released?
Think thats the general problem.

If you like it , good.
If not , so what.

Regardless of what label releases the track or who did it, great music tends to filter its way up to the top.

quote:

Originally posted by alanzo Regardless of what label releases the track or who did it, great music tends to filter its way up to the top.

+1

And labels have numerous ways of hearing new talent that doesn't require a demo from a schmuck. Bejesus! Go to SoundCloud, among other places and root through the stuff people have put up there. A lot of it's very, very good. Some of it needs finesse. There is also a great deal of rubbish - but hey, what are you complaining about, now?

If you're willing to put effort into finding good talent, the means are available; are they not?

who needs labels anymore anyway?

quote:

Originally posted by Sonic_c Ok dude so when you have a year under your belt, and are starting to make albeit bad but finished tracks nevertheless you shouldn't send them out? I say thats wrong because before I got to where I am now (which isn't far but further than the shit demos stage) I sent shit demos off. You know what I learned from it! Sometimes the label would take me under their wing and give me some pointers, or other times they would refer me to other labels (more contacts). I now know through sending shit demos out a well known producer from the uk and have developed a friendship with him and his family who has helped me no end in my music. I sent a shit demo when I made electro house a few years back called "Sticky Electro - Party time" that was so shit it got played on a few pirate stations here in the UK and was distorting because I didnt know what 0db meant thats how shit it was. Anyway the label signed it, got me to remix it, had some others remix it and at one point (nearly a week) the original,remix,and other remix were top 10 beatport,djdownload,beatsdigital etc and was beating the chemical brothers in the dance charts. I'd put the screenshot up that I kept but its on my slave drive which when I reinstalled seems to think its unpartitioned raw data ?? Would that have happened if I listened to you?

Hey I'm actually really curious to hear that "Sticky Electro" myself, I know you already said it was shit but I just wanna see how far from the shit demo level I am myself.. or maybe even I'm passed that point I don't know.

I would very much like to hear it though if you could pm me a link or something I'd appreciate it. I'm not even thinking about labels yet but it is def a possibility in a couple more years. I'm more curious about the production quality though really then the musical structure.

quote:

Originally posted by DJ Robby Rox Hey I'm actually really curious to hear that "Sticky Electro" myself, I know you already said it was shit but I just wanna see how far from the shit demo level I am myself.. or maybe even I'm passed that point I don't know. I would very much like to hear it though if you could pm me a link or something I'd appreciate it. I'm not even thinking about labels yet but it is def a possibility in a couple more years. I'm more curious about the production quality though really then the musical structure.

http://www.junodownload.com/ppps/pr.../1280992-02.htm

Bear in mind this is mastered by the label but still its awful. The original demo was shocking but I dont have it anymore. Think this was 2007 if I remember right, almost cringe worthy if it hadn't done so well.

quote:

Originally posted by Sonic_c http://www.junodownload.com/ppps/pr.../1280992-02.htm Bear in mind this is mastered by the label but still its awful. The original demo was shocking but I dont have it anymore. Think this was 2007 if I remember right, almost cringe worthy if it hadn't done so well.

Damn, you've come a long way. I hope that's not taken the wrong way, since I don't think I was capable of turning out a track that good when I first started out. It's just that your newer stuff I've heard is like nine or ten evolutions beyond that.

eh....I don't see anything wrong with the original mix. I think as artists, we tend to be critical of our work more than others. Definitely not something to cringe over. I actually like it.

quote:

Originally posted by EddieZilker Damn, you've come a long way. I hope that's not taken the wrong way, since I don't think I was capable of turning out a track that good when I first started out. It's just that your newer stuff I've heard is like nine or ten evolutions beyond that.

Of course its not taken the wrong way, thanks I havent posted anything new in a few months but im about to post a great remix I just finished comparing that to the sticky electro track is just worlds apart

Isn't it ironic though that in terms of downloads alone that old electro track was my biggest track selling a few hundred copies per site. Now I had a trance track played by judge jules on BBC radio one even a youtube video of people raving to it in the ministry of sound in london absolutely huge track for me hasnt sold enough to get a payout from the download stores

mind you the track was torrented the day after release..

quote:

Originally posted by Sonic_c http://www.junodownload.com/ppps/pr.../1280992-02.htm Bear in mind this is mastered by the label but still its awful. The original demo was shocking but I dont have it anymore. Think this was 2007 if I remember right, almost cringe worthy if it hadn't done so well.

I guess you gotta join right? I'm not getting an option to view my shipping car after I click buy.

I just want that one song I don't wanna join. Thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by DJ Robby Rox I guess you gotta join right? I'm not getting an option to view my shipping car after I click buy. I just want that one song I don't wanna join. Thanks.

Lol dude i'm not trying to get you to buy it. I'm not even in touch with the label anymore. Try clicking the headphone icon to preview it

quote:

Originally posted by Sonic_c Lol dude i'm not trying to get you to buy it. I'm not even in touch with the label anymore. Try clicking the headphone icon to preview it

Yeh but its like the cost of 2 snickers bars and I wanna open it up in Fruity and look at it a little closer. Plus I kinda wanted to hear the entire mix.
A couple of dollars really is nothing. Also, I have seen for a while certain people on this forum who *seem to be working very deliberately to improve themselves and its extremely motivating for ME to see how they have changed in specific time intervals. Its not the hugest deal but it is just something I enjoy seeing.

I'm ok with the minute 30 though no big deal.

quote:

Originally posted by Sonic_c mind you the track was torrented the day after release..

Get used to it man, its not like it was back in the vinyl days anymore. Now a days, every time I have a release, I spend the next couple of days googling to see how many 0day sites my track(s) show up on and emailing them to take it down. That can get quite time consuming when you have 2 or 3 tracks released in a month.

Really frustrating, but I guess we're stuck with it until something changes. I think what really gets me is that you can have an entire EP for the price of a pack of cigarettes these days. No more of this "I gotta buy this $25 triple vinyl to get the one song I want to play" stuff either. I remember going to the record store every week and dropping $100 easily on 9 or 10 new records. Now that same $100 gets me like 50 tracks. Is it really that hard to shell out $2 for a track?

quote:

Originally posted by Eric J I think what really gets me is that you can have an entire EP for the price of a pack of cigarettes these days. No more of this "I gotta buy this $25 triple vinyl to get the one song I want to play" stuff either. I remember going to the record store every week and dropping $100 easily on 9 or 10 new records. Now that same $100 gets me like 50 tracks. Is it really that hard to shell out $2 for a track?

Really shows how many people value the music these days.

They have hundreds of gigabytes of it on giant hard drives, but how much do they really care about any of it?

quote:

Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles Really shows how many people value the music these days. They have hundreds of gigabytes of it on giant hard drives, but how much do they really care about any of it?

Excellent point, I'm guilty of it myself.

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