Getting Signed

[mablack]

Some producers on here have been signed to a label/have their music on beatport. What were some of the milestone steps you see got you get there?

[YoshiExcel]

No offense to anyone, but really a freakin monkey could get signed and sell their tunes on Beatport these days, it's getting ridiculous. =(

[Rexx]

No offense to anyone, but really a freakin monkey could get signed and sell their tunes on Beatport these days, it's getting ridiculous. =(

LOL!!!

Getting signed is hard to do in this biz. You need to show the label that you will make them some money. Back in the day they didn't care about your music, they just wanted to know people will pay for it.

[Xonetacular]

I am interested in this as well.

[guiltyblade]

Well produce a legit track and put it in people drop box on soundcloud. Tons of DJs now have their own labels, and such, and there are smaller lables out there to put your track on beatport.

Obviously make some good tracks and get them out there in the hands of other DJs in the same genre, even if it means giving away a few tracks in the begining to start with. In the meantime drop them off in people drop box with a nice resume about yourself, either in the comments area, or if they have an email do that. Its takes time and effort.

[Rexx]

You know, since this thread came up, I've been losing sleep thinking way too much about this thread. So I'm going to vent it out here so I can get it off my chest and finally get some sleep after working 75+ hours/week in the studio.

I've been creating tracks for a good 12-13 years now. Believe me, I've done the self promotion thing, and at the very best that I possibly can. Resumes, mailing CDs, even hit up radio stations and given tracks to DJs. I've never "made" it big. I don't have any albums out. I don't play other people's music. What's worse is that I'll hear my tracks being played in clubs oddly enough. And from time to time I feel like giving up when I see other DJs live the glamour life. Jealous? Hell ya! It just makes me wonder why the heck I do this thing. Well, I've been DJing and making music for a long time. This is my life. I feel I have to be me and be true to myself; and it's probably holding me back. However, do I really want to lose who I am as an artist?

Now to keep with the subject of this thread. This is simply about how to get a label to notice you out of all the other people out there.

What I am about to say next is purely and simply my own opinion and I'm sure some people will give some negative comments, but it's late, I'm tired, and so, I'm going to welcome those comments. Hey, they might change my mind. I'll stay open.

I believe, that to make it HUGE in the music industry, you have to create music that can be played on the radio/mtv/much. Making a good track is not good enough. The track you create has to be able to span not just R&B, HipHop, EDM, D&B, etc. It actually has to span all genres of music. Why do we hear rappers singing over dance tunes lately? (got that frm Jay-Z). Why do we hear more and more cross-genre/artist collaborations all of the sudden. Your track has to have a catchy hook, something that will stick in the minds of the consumer. The term "Bubble Gum pop" comes to mind. This is what labels are looking for (at least in north america, of course). It has to hit Top40. And more importantly - It has to sell.

I laughed at the Beatport comment because I felt the exact same about it.

If you listen very carefully at every song that made top40, by such&such new artist, you'll notice that most have the same musical structure. A formula, if you will. After people buy it, their name is now everywhere.

To get the right people to hear your stuff is going to be the real challenge.

Here's a question - Do labels listen to anything on soundcloud? I know artists have made it through YouTube after getting like X-Billion hits. Where else would labels be lurking?

[MiL0]

I'm pretty much retired now but I had a bit of success a few years back (a few vinyl releases, worked with people like Noisia, toured Asia, had my stuff played in Fabric etc).

I think the most important thing is to make sure your music is good enough (musically and engineering wise). Also, like getting dj'ing gigs, it's all about networking and who you know... it's one thing being able to write good tunes and another getting them heard by the right people.

For me, my tactic was to listen out for new and undiscovered producers (I used to do unsigned mixes where people would send me their unreleased tunes). From that I'd then contact them, send them some of my stuff and do collaborations. I was quite lucky in that I got to know people like Noisia, Prolix, Desimal, Robot Death Squad, Sunchase, Materia, etc before they had any major success. I guess I had a good ear for talent! I was also on good terms with Pendulum, Cause4Concern, Stakka & Skynet, etc so I could always get my tunes into the right hands.

If I was starting out from scratch now, I'd probably do the same thing... send my tunes to people who are of a similar standard to me (for feedback and collaborations). I'd also try and do some sort of marketing 'gimmick' - why not visit your local university / film school and see if any of the film degree students want to use your music on their final degree film? That way you can upload your tune to youtube and get a bit of buzz going (if the film/music is good of course!). You're also tapping into a different potential market - you might even find you get work from other film students etc.

And yeah, getting your stuff 'signed' on Beatport made me lol a bit... imo, you're not properly signed unless you've got a bit of vinyl with your name on it hanging in the studio... :P

edit: if you're into dnb and looking to get signed, I can't speak more highly of Chris from Blu Mar Ten... definitely send him your stuff (if it's good)... he'll make sure it gets into the right hands (but don't send him shite...)

[MiL0]

the brief story how me and a friend from school (now known as Prolix) discovered Noisia... Back in 2002 we used to upload our tunes to a website called electronicscene.com (sorta like a very early myspace but for electronic music). We used to promote the shit out of our tunes so that we'd get our stuff to number 1 in the charts (for the most listens).

But one day we got beaten by "Noisia" (I think it was a tune called Quantum Leap). Instead of being annoyed at losing the number one spot, we couldn't help but be impressed at how good the production was (it was exactly our sort of style). Within a few weeks we were in contact with them via MSN/AIM and exchanging tunes/clips. Within 6 months we were flying out to Holland to meet them and working on collaborations. We did this a few times and then they came over to the UK to do some tunes with us and Vicious Circle. They brought over some very early dubplate versions of the Block Control EP and you could tell they were going to massively blow up... and the rest is history

A year or so later I moved to Asia and got into dj'ing. A few months after I'd left, Prolix (who I used to regularly do tunes with) got signed to Renegade Hardware. After I returned back to the UK 6 years later I'd kind of had enough of the whole dnb scene (the minimal sound wasn't my thing and I guess I'm getting old haha) so stopped dj'ing/producing.

[DJBambii]

I straight up just kept sending demos to labels with every track I made that was better. In my opinion, skill does have something to do with it but then there is pure luck as well since everyone has their own taste, including label managers . I think the only reason Im getting signed is because is an over seas label(In the UK) thats just starting to make an impact.