NERD ALERT – Please Listen To My Demo (Part One)

Normally NERD ALERT touches on production techniques and tips – but I think this week we will post up something a bit different.This week we’d like to share some tips on approaching labels with your material. Of course, Solid Bump being a 100% DIY label – we probably are easier to get your material to than a huge dance label like Ministry of Sound. As the label has gotten more popular in the last year, the amount of demos we get sent are growing substantially. As this happens, I notice some things that make us more enthusiastic to listen to a new artist’s material… as well as some things that make us put it on the back burner.

By no means is this a comprehensive list of stuff to do to get signed – but I do think paying attention to these ideas will give you a better chance at “getting your foot in the door” with any label.

A personalized email: Something I have been seeing are demos submitted in bulk batches to labels, blogs, etc. While this may be okay in theory – at least do some research into the labels you are sending to and make sure your material MAKES SENSE to them. Although we are “known” for disco house stuff – we accept a lot of stuff, from jackin’ house, acid, electro funk, etc. All these styles kind of make sense together – however – a Dubstep track prolly is not right for our label.

PRO TIP: Never ever show your CC list in the email. Always be sure you put the recipients names as BCC. No one wants their business addresses waved around openly.

Have a nice one page PDF press kit: I like to know a little bit about the artist. Do they have other releases? Do they DJ a lot? Where are they from? Did they used to have other projects? What’s your story?

Something I can stream: At a certain point, getting Rapidshare/ Mediafire/ etc. links becomes too time consuming to navigate. Additionally, I am perpetually battling local hard drive space on my laptop – thus if I have had a reckless week – I may be low on space until the next clean up. Thus I probably will not download a file – but I would stream it. Never ever attach MP3′s to an email. Sites like Soundcloud are very helpful, or even better, invest in a domain name and hosting. Then you can just host it yourself and even password protect it.

Another great idea that also protects your material from potential theft is to do a short mix of 4 to 6 song clips as a single streaming file. Then I get the full overview of your sound in one simple click.

—————————————————————————————

Will doing the above get you signed? Well, there is a lot more to it than just the above noted points. I personally think your likelihood of success can be addressed by these two modern day philosophers…

“Luck is when preparation meets opportunity”- Seneca , Roman dramatist, philosopher, & politician (5 BC – 65 AD)

“It ain’t what you know, it’s who you know bro” – Willie D, The Geto Boys (1966 – Present)