When I posted a link to the last Nerd Alert on the Erol Alkan forum, the thread got a surprise contributor from Mike Mind of the infamous Turbo label. He chimed in with a very helpful and well thought out response and I think it really closes up this chapter of Nerd Alert.
On an additional side note, Mike recently did a stellar remix for Nacho Lovers new single “Deeper” – which is available now on Fools Gold and highly recommended. Buy it on Beatport.
Read Mike Mind’s 8 demo tips after the jump.
Mike Mind wrote:
As someone that does this for Turbo, here are my tips:
1. bcc / cc? don’t do it. If you want a label to listen to your demo, make it look like you’re sending it to them individually. If I don’t see my / our address in the to: field, but the artist’s own email address, i know they just sent this out to a massive list.
2. keep your biographical info to a minimum. you don’t have to include your resumé, or a list of semi-famous djs that support the unreleased demo. if we like what we hear, we’ll do our research.
3. tell us where your from. oddly enough, it peaks curiosity. we get a lot of demos that start with ‘greetings from italy!’ usually these end up being pretty good, and even if the rest of the email seems dodgy, i still end up clicking on the link. that said, if you try to trick us by faking that you’re from italy, we’ll find out!
4. NEVER say ‘i think this would be perfect for your label’. rarely do demos that start with that message end up being perfect or fit with what we do. let the label decide whether it’s perfect or not. worst case scenario, we remember you as the person that has no idea what they’re talking about.
5. following up on a demo submission: if you send a demo email, some of the time people will listen and not respond because they’re not interested, or don’t want to say something embarrassing about your work. if you follow up, the best way to do it, is “hi ____, a few weeks ago, i sent you a link to some of my tunes. here’s the link again in case you didn’t get a chance to listen to it. thanks!” Constant pestering will only make a label not want to work with you, but a polite follow up email is fine.
6. don’t be discouraged if a label passes on your tracks. if the a&r people think you have potential, but the tracks you sent aren’t good enough, they’ll remember and open your future emails.
7. don’t send everything you’ve ever made. pick your best 2 or 3 tracks and keep it to that. if the label wants to hear more, they’ll ask. often, if we’re on the fence about an artist, it’s a mediocre extra tracks included in the submission that ends up being the dealbreaker. if you only have one oustanding track, just send that. you don’t need to pad the submission.
8. lastly, almost as important as the music is being polite, humble, and otherwise coming across as someone that seems like they’d be great to work with. when a label invests in an artist, they’re investing in a potential long term relationship. start off on the right foot.
Awesome post – very helpful stuff that isn’t always obvious. Loving the nerd alerts guys keep them coming!