i can remember someone bringing up that topic, but i couldn’t find it via the search…
i know this is not a production forum, but there are a lot of smart and talented guys around here, so i thought i’d ask anyways:
how can i release a track?
let’s say i’ve got my mastered track lying around on some harddrive and i want to get it out there, meaning i want to be able to buy this track via sites like beatport, etc., how can i do that? obviously i’m not on some kind of label - is this the first thing to do? send the track to a label?
is it even possible to release a track if you’re not with a label?
and how to make my track available on vinyl?
is there a way to have the track pressed on vinyl (or dubplate) just for me - and how much does it cost me?
i’m sorry, i’m really feeling kind of dumb here, but i’m a real n00b at these things… but i want to learn and i’m sure there are tons of guys here knowing these things much better than me!
also try cdbaby.com, they do pretty much the same thing as rebeat, maybe for cheaper? weigh your options.
edit: the technical side of it is: in order to get your song sold, you need a product code attached to your song that will be referenced when it sells on one of these stores. that’s pretty much what these companies do, is get a product id number assigned to your track. (i forget what the number is technically called)
It’s important to keep in mind that, while it’s relatively easy to release a track on your own, it’s quite difficult to get people to actually buy your music unless you already have a following. It depends on what your goal is, but in many cases getting onto a label is better than releasing on your own.
i’m having a few follower, but not very much, so i’d probably be better off with a label…
actually i’m not trying to get fully into the producer game, just want to release a few tracks
but of course i wouldn’t mind selling a copy or two of them…
the idea with the cds also seems very nice, i’ll try that one too! i’m pretty confident it’ll work out some time…
any ideas for mastering? i already found a few online mastering sources, but i don’t want to use one i don’t know (these online mastering things could be really anything)…
did anyone of you already have some tracks mastered? where did you do it?
hehe, i’m going to read through this page and try to learn these things, because i think it helps me as a producer, but i think i’m better off by letting someone else master my tracks
these mastering guys truly have mastered the art of mastering (what a sentence!)
i could try learning how to master, but i’d never do it as good as them… and i want the tracks to be of the best possible quality, as i sat hours (days? weeks? months?) in front of my computer to make my tracks sound the best i can…
exactly. this is probably the best point in the thread because obviously the OP is quite new to the game.
Things are drastically different in the music industry with the internet now so it forces artists to be more in charge of their own careers more than ever before. You can take this as a good thing or a bad thing, if your young and tech savvy- it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to independent artists.
My advice is if your just starting, release FREE music. Send your mastered tracks to blogs, djs, promoters, labels etc. for FREE to get your name around. When you actually consider how much free advertising you get in exchange for sharing that work, you’ll realize that there’s more to be gained by not selling your music until you’ve built an audience/market for your product.
Think of “sharing your free music” in terms of “buying advertising” and it makes more sense.
that actually makes a lot of sense to me!
but aren’t these blogs, djs, labels, … all totally spammed with newcomer music? my bet is that they can’t even listen to all the promo material they get…
^ yeah but it’s those people’s jobs to sift through the crap for new talent. I’ve heard countless recent success stories of fresh producers making their break simply by sending their promo tracks to the right connected person via myspace, blogs etc.
I can’t guarantee your stuff will be looked at by every person you submit it to, but some of them will and that’s all you can hope for. It may not seem like much at first but already you have a huge advantage over some no-name nobody trying to hawk music on beatport that nobody wants to buy.
Thats a very good idea.. Seems like a sane way of trying to me, and theres actually nothing to lose with this approach…
Do you have any suggestions where i could send my drum & bass tracks for promotion?
Maybe some dnb blogs i can scan for other nice promo tracks (know your enemy )?
Thanks for all your great suggestions, all this information will be of great value for me, i’m sure about that! This community is by far the best out there, there are so many helpful, nice guys and theres rarely someone getting insulted for not knowing something!
producers submitting their music to blogs nowadays have been enjoying good success. as long as you go through the appropriate ones for your style, this might be one of the better ways considering the state of music distribution right now. it’s amazing how many bands, djs, and producers are breaking out on the blogosphere as opposed to more traditional media these days. a few minutes browsing around hypem.com will show you what i mean.
in the past couple of years i’ve seen a pretty sizable handful of producers and djs go from utter obscurity on their friend’s tiny blog to beatport featured releases and culturally significant remix duties a year and a half later… anoraak and the whole valerie group, hot pink delorean, designer drugs, shazaam, and breakbot, among others.
so try sending it to a like-minded music blog. several, in fact. stay in contact with them and see what happens.
the really awesome thing about this method is that bloggers are not exactly spoiled for choices on content which they can legally post and distribute. this means if your music deserves to be heard by the masses, it will be heard. and talked about. and played at clubs and on commuters’ ipods.
its cool, welcome to the community. glad i could help a bit. I haven’t been following drumnbass much these days so can’t help you out on that tip. I’d suggest googling dnb artists you like and including the word “blog” in the search string… or ask the cats at dogsonacid haha. cheers
