How to know when youre ready/getting your stuff out there

[deadly_habit]

and also, i think wait for the label to contact you, that way your music will find a more suitable home!

that's pretty much guaranteed failure right there.

lol how? i waited patiently and now have been offered some great labels to release on! Dont understand why everyone feels the need to rush everything!

did you approach the labels initially?

[3za]

and also, i think wait for the label to contact you, that way your music will find a more suitable home!

that's pretty much guaranteed failure right there.

lol how? i waited patiently and now have been offered some great labels to release on! Dont understand why everyone feels the need to rush everything!

Its called being proactive.

If you want a million pound, the best way to get it is to get off your arse, and do what every you can do to get it. The worst way of going about getting a million pound, would be to wait for it to fall in to your lap.

[cloak and dagger]

no, I believe the worst way of going about getting a million pounds is to whore yourself out for one pound one million times

[Siderealdb]

no, I believe the worst way of going about getting a million pounds is to whore yourself out for one pound one million times

If only there was a whore like that, right?

[skanky beats]

and also, i think wait for the label to contact you, that way your music will find a more suitable home!

that's pretty much guaranteed failure right there.

lol how? i waited patiently and now have been offered some great labels to release on! Dont understand why everyone feels the need to rush everything!

Its called being proactive.

If you want a million pound, the best way to get it is to get off your arse, and do what every you can do to get it. The worst way of going about getting a million pound, would be to wait for it to fall in to your lap.

but were not talking about money are we? were talking about when you know youre ready to get your stuff out there, and a great indication would be that labels are contacting you!!

[Kes-Es]

and also, i think wait for the label to contact you, that way your music will find a more suitable home!

that's pretty much guaranteed failure right there.

lol how? i waited patiently and now have been offered some great labels to release on! Dont understand why everyone feels the need to rush everything!

Its called being proactive.

If you want a million pound, the best way to get it is to get off your arse, and do what every you can do to get it. The worst way of going about getting a million pound, would be to wait for it to fall in to your lap.

but were not talking about money are we? were talking about when you know youre ready to get your stuff out there, and a great indication would be that labels are contacting you!!

I say this on behalf of everyone.

Nice. Fucking. Save.

Nice, fucking, save.

[cloak and dagger]

no, I believe the worst way of going about getting a million pounds is to whore yourself out for one pound one million times

If only there was a whore like that, right?

I've done some things I'm not proud of in times of need tbh

[paravrais]

I'd fuck any one of you for a million pounds.

No homo.

[3za]

and also, i think wait for the label to contact you, that way your music will find a more suitable home!

that's pretty much guaranteed failure right there.

lol how? i waited patiently and now have been offered some great labels to release on! Dont understand why everyone feels the need to rush everything!

Its called being proactive.

If you want a million pound, the best way to get it is to get off your arse, and do what every you can do to get it. The worst way of going about getting a million pound, would be to wait for it to fall in to your lap.

but were not talking about money are we? were talking about when you know youre ready to get your stuff out there, and a great indication would be that labels are contacting you!!

If only everyone took this approach to life. "Im not going to try get a job, Im going to wait for one to find me, that way I know im going to find a job that suits me" "Im not going to try get a girlfriend, im going to wait for one to find me, that way I know im going to find a girlfriend that suits me". IMO you should know when your ready for getting your stuff out their, then you just got to do.

[Sharmaji]

and also, i think wait for the label to contact you, that way your music will find a more suitable home!

that's pretty much guaranteed failure right there.

lol how? i waited patiently and now have been offered some great labels to release on! Dont understand why everyone feels the need to rush everything!

first i'd like to know what the labels are-- not to diss at all, as most labelheads I know ARE always on the lookout for standout music to release as it's the lifeblood of the business-- but few have the time to do so.

TBH, yes, labels will contact you about tracks after a certain point. I self-released my first 12," after getting some good radio & blog support; it seemed to be the fastest way to get the music out there. After that, other labels contacted me, and I wound up signing up 3 other releases... vinyl and the moving target of the music retail industry being what they are, only 1 has come out yet, but the second is slated for February 2011 and more to come after that.

The point is, none of that would have happened had I & my colleagues not been proactive about getting in touch with people, researching who's playing/writing about/releasing music that's relevant to ours, and generally building up a network of folks who'd be interested in hearing what we're creating.

If you're sitting at home making tunes and putting them on soundcloud, expecting a good label to come along and sign you up out of the blue-- i'd be surprised. Not that it couldn't or doesn't happen-- the world is small, and if a friend of a friend passes along something whos judgement i trust and it's great, then yes, of course i'll find out who the artist is, get in touch, get them into the fold as best I can. But I rarely have the time to do that myself, and i'd

[skanky beats]

and also, i think wait for the label to contact you, that way your music will find a more suitable home!

that's pretty much guaranteed failure right there.

lol how? i waited patiently and now have been offered some great labels to release on! Dont understand why everyone feels the need to rush everything!

first i'd like to know what the labels are-- not to diss at all, as most labelheads I know ARE always on the lookout for standout music to release as it's the lifeblood of the business-- but few have the time to do so.

the labels that have contacted me are Good Years, Bullet train and Four40 records. Obviously i got very lucky and also i see your point that theres no real harm in sending out your stuff, and it obviously worked for you, but at the same time i believe, with your tunes being at the high quality they are you would have still eventually been picked up by a goood label!

[Capture pt]

interesting thoughts all round, well ive sent out a few messages, but literally only like 4. See how things go first of all if theres any replies etc. I might of aimed a bit high with the people I asked so I might try some smaller names and labels next. Hard nail to hit.

[skanky beats]

interesting thoughts all round, well ive sent out a few messages, but literally only like 4. See how things go first of all if theres any replies etc. I might of aimed a bit high with the people I asked so I might try some smaller names and labels next. Hard nail to hit.

would like to know how it goes!

[fhsueh]

My two cents:
If you are proud of a few tracks, then you are halfway there.

Make some more tracks. And then some more. Find some way to let a few others hear them. And be open to feedback, especially about the mix, realizing that an objectively compelling song can trump any technical deficiencies. At a certain point, you 'just know' that your tracks are ending up at a consistent level of quality.

For the 'sit back and do nothing' vs. 'proactive' debate, I have experienced both. I was approached for my first release. And I reached out for my upcoming release on Rush Hour. In both cases, being professional was key.

One more point - you have to let go of your tracks at some point and not have your ego all wrapped up in them. When you send stuff out, think of them as 'demos' - they show your level skill/talent, and also give labels a peek at what you can do. They may not even like a particular track all that much, but may realize you have more to offer.

All this to say: keep writing stuff you enjoy first and foremost, keep trying to improve, and recognize the value of a third-person's listen, especially if you're lucky enough to get a response from someone whose work you respect.

[Big MD]

Yo


basically, its got to the point where (i think) i would like to start getting my tunes out there a bit more, except I have no idea how to do this other than going to nights and forcing a CD upon some poor DJ and hoping that he will listen to it.

man doo this!!! i just recommend it.

i did this 2 or 3 years ago. i wasn't known, and my tunes at this time where allso... let's say not so good. 2 or 3 weeks after i got a message, to play on a local radio station, since then i am somone, i play now on raves in zurich and got a lot of friends which are charing the love to the music.

if it don't works at one rave, try again and again. you need a real contact point to the scene as musician - not only as part of a crowd.

you understand me?

go for it!!! no mather how much or how good your tunes are, let the people know about you!

[tavravlavish]

sorry if I am repeating some of the same things other people have said

Honestly if I was a 100% committed producer, I wouldn't even bother with soundcloud yet. I would just make some producer friends and get good feedback from people, especially people who know what their talking about mix wise and have a decent taste in music, keep getting feedback till your producer and dj buddies are telling you your tunes are good (mix wise, tunage wise and ready to be mastered) then send a couple tracks off to labels that aren't shit and put out music you at least respect (who wants to be on a label with a bunch of shitty producers?). Shoot for getting your stuff out to labels that release sexy vinyl.

That is the baller way to do it. No one knows about you then BOOM your on a cool label with some of producers you admire and your new record has a release date! THEN you get on soundcloud and be sure not to add anybody, you look cooler when you have 5 people your following and 2650 follow you

....

[tavravlavish]

unfortunately I have mixed feelings about what I want to do musically in a ton of ways genre wise and how I make my music wise so I don't really produce, at least not enough to figure out how to make a decent mix and be satisfied with what I make.

figuring out what style to stick with is impossible, and I want to do it all, but you have to stick with one thing for a while to really get good at making it.. Life is a bitch and making music on your computer usually isn't half as fun as making music with your friends on instruments.

[tavravlavish]

interesting thoughts all round, well ive sent out a few messages, but literally only like 4.

try sending out a cd in the mail, in my mind this would work well but now that I think about it in some cases it probably wouldn't.

If i had a label though I think I would much rather have someone send me something on a cd with a note saying who you are why you like the label and ask if they like your style and are interested in what you are doing with music. Shows more effort and I personally would be more inspired to listen to that than a tune somebody sent me over email or something like that.

[akema]

Keep calm!!! check ya facebooky!

[Basic A]

interesting thoughts all round, well ive sent out a few messages, but literally only like 4.

try sending out a one-off/vinylik/dubplate in the mail, in my mind this would work well but now that I think about it in some cases it probably wouldn't.

Fix'd