Looking for some suggestions and opinions of you who’ve been in the game for a while.
We’ve all heard the “you have to produce to take your DJing to the next level” thing. But whats the follow up to that suggestion?
I’ve been producing some tunes for a while now, and lately caught myself thinking, now how the heck does this help my DJing? all the sound design, arranging, mixing, mastering that goes into producing is a lot of hard work and effort to get something at least decent sounding. All I really wanted is to play some nice music, have fun and build synthesizers. I’ts a deeper rabbit hole than I expected and unless its somehow paying off I’m afraid I can’t afford to spend all this time and effort.
I generally get good feedback and a handful of downloads, but how do I take it further? or more like, how to put your stuff out there and make yourself more attractive to record labels, and how to get some of your tracks released.
I’m curious to hear your stories how you got started and landed your first releases and some suggestions.
And maybe some honest and constructive criticism on my tunes, are they listenable, dancable to or even worth releasing?
Have you tried sending it in to record labels? Set a track to private and send the secret link to them. If that doesn’t bring you anywhere, set it to public instead and try having it reposted on blogs and add them to soundcloud groups. Fame doesn’t come overnight. Start following people you’re interested in, hope they follow back, and promote your music
edit: First part was long term. If you just want this to help your short term dj’ing than make a mixtape and go out to places where they might be interested in the style you play. Maybe you can land a gig or 2. Being able to play your own productions is the best feeling there is!
I think you should do it because you want to, and if it pays off, well okay that’s a bonus. But do it because you want to, simple and straight as that.
Hmm will try sending out some stuff.
You’re absolutely right, if you catch yourself thinking “what the heck am I doing” its time to set it aside for a while.
I never set tracks to public, always private, stats off, and only ever send to labels 1 at a time.
Send an email to the label (not just a soundcloud msg) say a bit about yourself, about the music.
Generally speaking labels don’t like tracks that have been shared publicly, though I have had one signed that way. But the rest have all been private links emailed to labels.
Also I run a label, so I know what I look for when I receive a demo submission, I hate ones that are simply
“hey here’s my tracks for your label, (soundcloud link) let me know what you think”
That shows that you just don’t care, also shows you haven’t put much effort into the email.
Not a chance, a demo is supposed to be something new that nobody has heard yet. They want to generate sales on your song, if it’s been downloaded by a ton of people then what’s the value of having them sign it? I’ve seen a few instances where someones free download got signed, but that’s rather rare and the song has to be a fucking cannon.
i think you production game is pretty on point, i liked the first and third better but its just my preference and honestly could only see myself using the first one, and even then its not something id use as a go to track, however i also lean toward a different sound. production value wise id say you know what youre doing, i cant give you any advice there… but no matter how skilled you are , if you arent having a “feeling” about the track and what its saying, no one will.
I’m not too knowledgeable about todays dance music labels, but used to be involved in the 90’s and some things haven’t changed.
It’s always been damn hard to actually get an A&R person to actually listen to your a song/tracks
You’ve got 3 quite different sounding dance tracks there. 1st is sort of Deep/Tech vocal. 2nd is quite technoey and the 3rd quite a NY garage sound. Many labels want to sign artists, so do you have a ‘sound’. If you are doing quite different sounding tracks, can they market you? I guess this is why Eric Estornel has Maceo Plex for deeper stuff and Maetrik for more techno style. Or, you find a label who will just stick out a single track?
You need a bit of luck and a load of tenacity. In this day and age not only everyone and there mum is DJ’ing, but they’re producing too. These labels will be getting bombarded.
Try to create your own blog and distribute your songs and mixes there for free. If your song scores a huge nr of downloads and plays on soundcloud (10k+) it will get recognized. The chances of an A&R listening to your songs with 130 plays and hiring you right away are close to zero. Your chances are way better if you manage to give your tracks for free to other DJs and they get some airplay. I have a friend whose song got played once by a very famous DJ and boom it was signed. Another one played his song as a last song in his warm up set for a famous DJ and the guy asked for the song later and they released shortly afterwards.
Personally think this is bad advice, The majority of stuff I’ve signed has been private links I’ve emailed to labels as a demo. Most labels will not like the fact it has been A. Given away for free B. Listened to however many times C. That it’s already about on the internet Why would they then put it out?
I’m sure there are some shitty digital labels that do hunt out tracks that have tons of plays, bet it doesn’t do so well when it’s released.
I personally target labels who I respect and like what they put out, and only labels who do vinyl, as I’d rather my stuff came out on the black wax. I know if I had a track up for free download/available to listen before I sent it to a label, they wouldn’t go near it. Whats the point for them?
I understand your point and you are definitely right if you are talking about artist who already have a certain reputation. But I think for OPs specific situation it definitely helps more to first gather some local reputation and building up a fanbase and a decent amount of followers before he starts emailing labels. For my part I never ever listen to stuff (mixes, tracks) that has been sent to me without any further notice because I consider it as spam. And I’am a 100% sure that this is the same for guys who manage bigger labels.
I have never ever heard about anybody who got signed with an house/techno track right away from scratch, but I know a ton of stories about people who started slowly with some free edits and remixes, did their monthly podcast and ended up getting signed with one of their later works.
Out of personal interest, what songs did you release, do you have a soundcloud / discogs page?
When I started Cecil I did put out stuff to listen, but I kept the stuff for labels back and didn’t let that stream. Since then my opinions changed, I personally don’t think you need to have anything on your soundcloud, if the music is good enough when a label listen’s to it and they like it they’ll sign it. But i do think it differs with genre’s/labels, some don’t mind if it’s been up but if a label puts out vinyl and that’s the format you want to release on then it doesn’t benefit you at all putting it out there for all to listen to.
I can also say that people do get signed without any sort of followers on sc/fb, without having previously done anything.
With that in mind…how do you go about actually getting a label to listen to the stuff you send as opposed to deleting the email? I get that it’s basically an A&R person’s job to listen to unreleased music and decide what they like. But if it’s at all like everything else like that, it seems like the hardest part is actually convincing the person it’s worth considering in the first place.
I think the main thing is obviously match your music to the label, no point sending a House track to a label that only puts out Techno etc
But put some thought into the email,
if the label has set things they like, say like only send your best two tracks, don’t send them three
find out if there is a specific email address just for demo’s
put demo submission as the subject of the email
in the email don’t just put “here’s my tracks” with a few links
mention your influences / the kind of sound you want to do etc
if you’ve had anything out or anything coming out, mention it
don’t start kissing arse but say why you contacted that label, any stand out releases you liked of theirs etc
Another way is to find out who runs the label, add them on facebook, speak to them, after a while ask them if it’s cool to send them some stuff
It’s all just about putting yourself out there, damn I’ve had loads of labels not get back to me or reject it, I’ve turned some stuff down because I knew it wasn’t right for me, it’s all just a lot of hard work, and sometimes just the look of the timing.
I also think it’s a lot harder to get noticed in the world of digital releases, and by digital labels, simply because there are so many people sending stuff in.
I’ve been producing for 6 years, 4 years longer than I’ve been djing. I’ve only just landed my first two releases. You need to work to define your sound, your USP so to speak, and tighten production (depending on the type of music, Jump Up D&B you don’t even need to bother mastering whereas Tech D&B it HAS to be crisp - I make both ). Then start sending it out, post short clips on soundcloud so people can’t just download it straight, and keep your best work private and send that out. Giving away freebies is a really good promotional tool, as well as messaging up various blogs/promotional soundcloud channels to repost/promote your sound.
Be prepared to be rejected. A lot. They won’t necessarily come out and say no, but they will stall and eventually not bother talking. Don’t let this discourage you, keep pushing your stuff out there, and it will start to take root. Setting up a promo list when you have a fair few followers helps as well, especially if you are sending your music out to DJs who will play it.
Also, try and get an internet radio spot. Not as easy as it sounds, but my Rough Tempo slot has got me gigs at Ministry of Sound, regular listeners, a lot more followers and the contacts I needed to push forward
Don’t give up if you love it. I did a while back and wish I’d kept going as I would have been in this position a few years back.
). Then start sending it out, post short clips on soundcloud so people can’t just download it straight, and keep your best work private and send that out. Giving away freebies is a really good promotional tool, as well as messaging up various blogs/promotional soundcloud channels to repost/promote your sound.