TranceAddict Forums (www.tranceaddict.com/forums)
- Production Studio
-- Do you guys still submit tracks to labels?
Pages (4): [1] 2 3 4 »

Do you guys still submit tracks to labels?

It seems like I've seen fewer and fewer discussions about submitting songs to labels in the last few years. They used to be commonplace on TA and every other production forum, but now I rarely see anybody talking about submitting tracks to labels, or labels looking for new talent, etc. Are you guys still submitting and signing tracks to labels, taking a DIY approach, or something else?

Yes.

I sent a demo off to 2 labels just in the past week in a half. My only reason for sending demos is to get something signed to a label people have heard for marketing purposes. Known labels can get promo's to most of the big DJs which translates to building a following.

Sure. There are always labels looking for new and existing talent, so I don't see why not. As long as you're trying your best and think it might be release-worty, why not? With so many net labels in existence, it's possible to release virtually anything these days, but if you've made something decent that's received decent feedback, why not send it out to labels you like?

A few times I simply shared my Soundcloud page with a few labels/people and got some tracks released. Sometimes labels also prefer to release tracks you didn't care much for, while overlooking your personal favorites.

I had good luck with my first release but nobody else wanted to give me money after that so I got tired of trying to whore myself out. I'm only interested in signing to a label unless there's an advance or vinyl pressing, neither of which are likely unless I spend a fuck-load of time and energy building a brand around music i don't really give a shit about anymore



EDIT: I agree with what looney used to say about the days of sending out demos being over.

quote:

Originally posted by meriter I'm only interested in signing to a label unless there's an advance or vinyl pressing...

Pretty much. If you're making Trance or ambient/experimental, there are hardly any vinyls being put out in this genre nowadays, so you should try to actually send to known net labels where you can hopefully get some publicity or profit from it.

If you're making Techno or stuff that's still regularly being released on wax, then you should probly try and save it for that or, again, maybe a respected net label if you're looking for publicity, etc. But sending something that you've put a great deal of effort in - and something that received good feedback - to some obscure net label just for the sake of a release might not be the best idea, especially if you're trying to get recognized, etc. Most net labels seem to remain in oblivion, it seems.

Sort of, I usually get approached for originals / remixes these days. I dont really have time for either anymore though.

So, maybe I'm just seeing a trend where guys like many of us who have been signed already know the ropes, so there's not much to discuss??? But, doesn't it seem like there are fewer people talking about submitting their tracks to labels, getting signed, living the dream, etc., particularly amongst the newer producers? Maybe it's just me.

quote:

Originally posted by meriter I had good luck with my first release but nobody else wanted to give me money after that so I got tired of trying to whore myself out.

I can somewhat relate to that. I've never been one to submit many songs and most of my signings have come about by the label approaching me. That's mostly because I'm a combination of lazy, impatient, somewhat untrusting of labels, old, and quite happy with my non-music career. I've had more than a few labels sign my track and do little more than put it on iTunes and a post or two on their Facebook page. It's like, shit, I could've done that. If they aren't going to get the track in the hands of some known DJs, as Trancelover03591 mentioned, then what's the point?! But, I digress.

Better question is, what do you want for yourself in terms of releasing and your musical career. Ofcoure there is still opportunity.

quote:

Originally posted by MSZ Sort of, I usually get approached for originals / remixes these days. I dont really have time for either anymore though.

Not really, it is very easy to get confuse with so many of them on the market looking for some talent (at least some good idea) so they can release it.

In my case I would just push my work to my local Radio Station and if is likable (on the air) then good things will/start happening.

Darek

quote:

Originally posted by MSZ Better question is, what do you want for yourself in terms of releasing and your musical career. Ofcoure there is still opportunity.

Good question. For me personally, getting my music signed is a low priority since it's just something I do for fun in my spare time. On the other hand, I'm working with one singer on an album right now and it would be nice to sell enough copies to at least break even. But, we're primarily doing this for the sake of personal achievement and neither of us is looking for or expecting to make a career change. I've spent enough of my life in the music industry already and I much prefer my cushy non-music day job.

Nope, not yet.

Anyone here start their own label and have any insight into distribution? There's a great interview with Rob Garza from thievery corporation where he talks about landing a distribution deal where they made a fuckload of money (like hundreds of thousands) from their first album but that was back in the 90's when people still bought music

haven't checked out all of those but I can tell you first hand tunecore is a total scam, like fractions of a cent per sale

Depressingly, a humongous number of the labels I'd like to submit to don't accept demos anymore, or have some bullshit demo pool system, which:

1. Is ignored by them
2. Requires you to make the tracks public

So I have this massive pile of unreleased content that I don't know what to do with. It's too solid for me to release it with tiny mediocre labels where nobody will ever see it, but giving it away for free hasn't really been getting me the exposure I'd like.

I don't really know where to go from here.

quote:

Originally posted by sonix Instead of giving it away for free, how about meanwhile sell it on your own, using any of the distributors above. That makes the tracks public and you can then send them out to labels that require them to be made public. 2 birds with 1 stone and you might make some money while you wait for the labels to sign them and you might gain some fans too from the pre-release distribution.

I've read that a lot of labels will refuse to sign anything that's ever been public. And was told that by the label that released my first EP.

Subscription based pay model to exclusive personable content is the way to go right now imo. The current platforms put there are lacking foundation and for lack of a better term platform. Buying single tracks and albums s not enough(the latter will yield more btw) and that is more than apparent. People have the money to spend it on you, but the transaction is dilutedp and broken. I'm sure there is a lot of law involvedep making most of this seem impossible. Sorry for typos on phone.
Tldr I'm gay but no homo.

yaa i still release most of my stuff through labels, anything that doesn't make the cut i go the free route if i still feel its up to scratch.

quote:

Originally posted by meriter Anyone here start their own label and have any insight into distribution? There's a great interview with Rob Garza from thievery corporation where he talks about landing a distribution deal where they made a fuckload of money (like hundreds of thousands) from their first album but that was back in the 90's when people still bought music

i have a label and as mentioned earlier you share a piece of everything with everyone so its unlikely anyone is making a fuckton of money from digital distribution these days.

quote:

Originally posted by Seandroid I've read that a lot of labels will refuse to sign anything that's ever been public. And was told that by the label that released my first EP.

i wouldnt say this is concrete, just a general rule of thumb: if you've already released the track and promoted it there's little sense in doing the same thing unless the label is substantially larger than your personal reach - in the cases of a lot of mid tier record labels this is counter-intuitive for what would be a mutually beneficial relationship: you release on the label, the label gets some attention from your fans and vice versa. there are definitely cases in which i've seen smaller releases get licensed for re-release through bigger labels though so it's not out of the question

quote:

Originally posted by MSZ Subscription based pay model to exclusive personable content is the way to go right now imo. The current platforms put there are lacking foundation and for lack of a better term platform. Buying single tracks and albums s not enough(the latter will yield more btw) and that is more than apparent. People have the money to spend it on you, but the transaction is dilutedp and broken. I'm sure there is a lot of law involvedep making most of this seem impossible. Sorry for typos on phone. Tldr I'm gay but no homo.

i agree, for bigger artists though. for smaller guys, subscription based model is entirely out of the question: not enough pull to be sustainable, not enough resources to make it work, not enough content to keep it entertaining. sure, deadmau5 can pull it off but that's because he's already made a sustainable living from it otherwise and spends enough hours in his studio to run a live stream that people can tune into and justify paying their monthly fee to him ;p

I agree but I still think there ate avenues not fully explored or utilized in a proper manner by portals such as YouTube and soundcloud. I also agree that music kind of gets a bumwrap when people are looking for a immersive entertainment package but I still have some ideas that I think people could get behind given some momentum and luck. It requires investment and little payoffs to start for sure.

i used to send demos to djs/labels on soundcloud but it never appeared that ever even got 1 single play so i havent bothered in a while

Seeing how oversaturated the market is, getting signed is hardly a dream these days, as pretty much anyone can get a track released these days into the vast abyss of Beatport where nobody will ever stumble upon it.

It would have to be a truly exceptional deal for me to even consider it, and that just isn't happening.

Reviewing demos is resource intensive. All labels I talked to during Amsterdam Dance Event say reviewing everything takes too much time and they usually only take on referrals from already signed artists or artists they've heard of before.

Without turning it into a lame sales ploy: I have developed a service that solves the workload or reviewing demos for the most part. I see competitors developing similar products now too (but are inferior ). The labels that use my product respond to pretty much every demo coming in within a week or two. Some consistently reply within 48 hrs.

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.

For me a label is only valuable if I like their music/way of working/attitude. I personally don't even expect payments anymore. Just a tad of exposure and a shared love for similar music is fine. I don't like pushing my own stuff even though I have everything in place to do so. Pushing music I love but made by others is a lot easier , starting january 26th

This can be you!

You're forgetting my ego offset +4!

quote:

Originally posted by Storyteller Reviewing demos is resource intensive. All labels I talked to during Amsterdam Dance Event say reviewing everything takes too much time and they usually only take on referrals from already signed artists or artists they've heard of before. Without turning it into a lame sales ploy: I have developed a service that solves the workload or reviewing demos for the most part. I see competitors developing similar products now too (but are inferior ). The labels that use my product respond to pretty much every demo coming in within a week or two. Some consistently reply within 48 hrs. 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. For me a label is only valuable if I like their music/way of working/attitude. I personally don't even expect payments anymore. Just a tad of exposure and a shared love for similar music is fine. I don't like pushing my own stuff even though I have everything in place to do so. Pushing music I love but made by others is a lot easier , starting january 26th

I think I know one of the labels that uses your program and they are excellent about checking demos. They even tell you when the demo isn't for them and I can see the demo got played on SC.

They are easy to recognize as the upload form is very specific . Trying to arrange something with another label with a huge trance legacy but its hard to get in touch properly . They're always too busy. The irony is that this would save them days of work yet they won't budge and are weary. Their loss I guess.

Powered by: vBulletin
Copyright © 2000-2021, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.