Getting contacted by Record Labels on soundcloud

[Dustwyrm]

Hey Everyone -

Has anyone ever been contacted by smaller record labels who state they like your work? I have been a couple times, and this time I responded and had a brief dialogue with the user on their soundcloud. I mean they don't come straight across and say "we want to sign you" but I'm wondering what you guys do when you get those kind of messages.

They sent what seemed like a semi generic message stating they liked my work and explained a little about their label. I responded to it and got a few intelligent human responses, so I know there are real people there answering messages, and not a spam robot. They have about 2,000 likes on Facebook and only a small following on Soundcloud.

It's difficult to try and dissect because I don't feel my skills are good enough to be contacted by a label but I want to know - When you guys get these types of inquiries -- What do you take from it? Do you take it with a grain of salt -- Like do they send their interest to hundreds, perhaps thousands of soundcloud users?

Thanks fellas

[fragments]

There are a lot of fly by night net "labels" that don't know what the fuck they are doing. Have a listen to the tunes. That's a place to start.

[Dustwyrm]

Yea I figure any promotion would be good even it it's fly by night lol. I just don't know how aggressive to be or if they just send bullshit to thousands of people hoping to get followers or somethin, you know?

[rockonin]

Dustwyrm out of curiosity how have you got so many listens and comments on your signature track? How do you promote your tracks apart from forums?

[Dustwyrm]

I'm extremely adamant about putting them into groups. I have access to a computer at work at my cubicle so I take advantage of that. I put them into as many large groups as I can. The ones with a lot of members. I myself look at those groups to listen to songs so I know that a lot of people go into those groups for listening. And it's important for the tracks to be at the top or at least on the first or second page. The big groups have people constantly updating their songs so you have to be persistent.

Edit: On soundcloud that is. I used to put my songs onto other forums like FutureProducers.com and some other places, but they never got any listens there so I stopped putting them there. I don't really advertise on Facebook unless it's a new track I made, I post it once but that's it.

[hutyluty]

Ask if they'll pay for mastering and where it's getting done. If you have to pay for it yourself then tell em to do one.

[Dustwyrm]

Tell em to do what? Make their own song? lol

[wub]

Basically, you should be asking what the label can offer you. A Soundcloud page with more followers than you or a Facebook page with more likes than you =/= a label.

Questions to think about;

• Ask them what they can offer you.
• What formats do they release in?
• Is it only MP3 or do they press vinyl?
• What is their release schedule like?
• Where do they promote their releases?
• What other artists do they have signed?
• Have you heard of their other artists?
• Do some research, check these artists, chart positions, what style of music do they produce?
• What distributors does the label release through, i.e. Beatport, iTunes, Juno, Bleep etc?
• Do they offer mastering services for tracks they sign?

Ask if they'll pay for mastering and where it's getting done.

I agree with huty on the last one re; mastering...it's a pretty telling one. If a label believes in a tune that will actually sell, they should be prepared to put a bit of investment behind it to get it sounding as good as possible...IMO, of course.

If you have to pay for it yourself then tell em to do one.

Tell em to do what? Make their own song? lol

"Tell them to do one" is a slightly more polite euphenism for "tell them to fuck off".

[Samuel_L_Damnson]

That was a good post wub. Dustwyrm, The english language is pretty fucked in actual england, like wub said "do one" just means gtfo in computer shit.

[ehbes]

One thing to add to wubs post is if you do decide to release regardless of the label, get EVERYTHING in writing

[deadly_habit]

To add to wub's point, most labels worth a damn aren't actively seeking new talent, it's the opposite, people are coming to them. There are exceptions, but be careful.
Releases on these labels could hurt you in the long run when trying to get real labels and larger artists to pay attention to you as a matter of reputation.
I personally know after talking to some artists, that due to past releases on free labels and such (connotation) they would have ignored the music I sent years later if not for other write ups and such.
It sucks, but it's a factor to remember.

One thing to add to wubs post is if you do decide to release regardless of the label, get EVERYTHING in writing

Honestly this doesn't matter as much as people think. ie: SHIFT HAS NEVER PAID ME A SINGLE FUCKING DIME for my digital and wax release with them in spite of hounding the head via phone, email, and naming and shaming them on this forum. I have a nice written contract in my file cabinet as well, but it's worth nothing unless I take them to small claims court which would be a larger cost due to travel and legal fees than what I'm actually owed in the long run. You'll find it's the same unless you're selling music like Skrillex or a major I suspect.
Contracts are nice, but remember you're working in a niche genre. I've blown getting releases before on semi larger labels by being adamant about where's the fucking contract, I think you're trying to scam me. Hindsight can be a real bitch.

[Hircine]

I don't really mind contracts or getting paid, the money you will get out of it won't be that much anyway, publishing fees hit really hard. I'm more focused on releasing music through labels that I like/respect and that have released music by other artists I know and seeing my music actually being played in clubs and radios.

My tip? Get to know the label manager, talk to him on facebook and stuff like that. If he's a nice guy and the label has it all sorted out, why not?

[ehbes]

I was taking more about not getting your tracks stolen and less about money..

[Sharmaji]

a few things to consider:

back in the day, when there were very few labels and not many more artists, it wasn't uncommon at all to be contacted by DJs who'd heard a tune of yours and wanted to cut a dub of it, or a label (or, often, a just-about-to-be-started label) who was interested in your work. The release i did with Pete Bubonic came about that way, his partner hit me up on (wait for it) MySpace and it solidified from there. On another side, when i was putting together the idea of doing a label beyond my own releases in 2008 (man was that the WRONG year to try to start a small business) i had a 5-release roster of tunes that were ready to be signed up... and was getting around 40 emails a day of tunes that i wasn't interested in.

Thus I wouldn't necessarily be suspicious about labels who are seeking out talent-- any business who releases material wants to get the best material from the best artists, right? I would, however, want to have a very clear idea of what the label's track record is, who does their distro (digital or physical), how they expect to market the record, release dates, contracts, ownership of the master, advances and recoups, what websites will sell the record/digital, etc. If there isn't any... no thanks. If there isn't any track record, but there's a ton of ambition and answers to or at least awareness of a bunch of the questions... you make the call.

[wub]

advances... If there isn't any... no thanks.

Do netlabels even offer advances?

[Hircine]

advances... If there isn't any... no thanks.

Do netlabels even offer advances?

No.

[Yves Laurent]

Funny thing is that this happened to me two days ago. I got contacted by a pretty substantial label. I thought it was spam at first, but I got the A&R's email, and have been conversing. I looked her up and she's legit. But on your situation im not really sure. I mean a label hast to start off somewhere. And if people only get picked up by known labels then no new labels are ever built or pick up steam. Check out the other artist they have with them, that's a good indicator of where they are going.

[Soulstep]

Funny thing is that this happened to me two days ago. I got contacted by a pretty substantial label. I thought it was spam at first, but I got the A&R's email, and have been conversing. I looked her up and she's legit. But on your situation im not really sure. I mean a label hast to start off somewhere. And if people only get picked up by known labels then no new labels are ever built or pick up steam. Check out the other artist they have with them, that's a good indicator of where they are going.

This. When I first started my label people were reluctant it didn't help that I wasn't a DJ or producer
but a few artist gave me chance - cutkachi, yin yang audio etc

them guys sold hundreds on their first releases and now the label reached a point were I'm able pay artists decent money especially when compared to most other netlabels,

sometimes you just got to give people a chance....

[Hircine]

Funny thing is that this happened to me two days ago. I got contacted by a pretty substantial label. I thought it was spam at first, but I got the A&R's email, and have been conversing. I looked her up and she's legit. But on your situation im not really sure. I mean a label hast to start off somewhere. And if people only get picked up by known labels then no new labels are ever built or pick up steam. Check out the other artist they have with them, that's a good indicator of where they are going.

This. When I first started my label people were reluctant it didn't help that I wasn't a DJ or producer
but a few artist gave me chance - cutkachi, yin yang audio etc

them guys sold hundreds on their first releases and now the label reached a point were I'm able pay artists decent money especially when compared to most other netlabels,

sometimes you just got to give people a chance....

deafblind + baitface + konvex

[deadly_habit]

Funny thing is that this happened to me two days ago. I got contacted by a pretty substantial label. I thought it was spam at first, but I got the A&R's email, and have been conversing. I looked her up and she's legit. But on your situation im not really sure. I mean a label hast to start off somewhere. And if people only get picked up by known labels then no new labels are ever built or pick up steam. Check out the other artist they have with them, that's a good indicator of where they are going.

This. When I first started my label people were reluctant it didn't help that I wasn't a DJ or producer
but a few artist gave me chance - cutkachi, yin yang audio etc

them guys sold hundreds on their first releases and now the label reached a point were I'm able pay artists decent money especially when compared to most other netlabels,

sometimes you just got to give people a chance....

Sometimes you give people a chance and they screw you over, then you give someone else a chance and they screw you over. Not hard to become very jaded very quickly.