Sending demos

[serox]

Well, take what you hear from Frankie Bones with a grain of salt lol... who remembers the epic myspace forum threads where he claimed to have invented Jungle?

Vinyl didnt really die in the states yet, theres still plenty of DJs paying rediculous prices for shipping so they can play vinyl. I just prefer my tunes a little fresher than that - like a day or two old instead of a year.

Id just say make sure you do your research before sinking a ton of money into a stack of vinyl that may or may not sell. I dont know about you, but $1800USD for a run of 500 vinyls is more than Im willing to invest to be able to hold my first release in my hands.

Dont blame the quality control issues on the medium though, its the fault of inexperienced label owners more than the fact that the file is digital. Theres some major quality control issues with vinyl too - when I was buying for the store, Id only buy half of the releases that were available because they either sounded identical to other tunes or the pressing was bad or because it sounded dated compared to what was being played in the club. Digital doesnt automatically = bad. Thats not to say there isnt some crap out there in the digital stores... just saying theres some crap in the record bins too.

Every thread he enters becomes epic, that guy has some ego I tell you. He is so unlike his brothers unreal. But his ego aside he knows his shit and you cannot argue with a man who has 70k records, he is a veteran. As for inventing jungle, well, thats a new one:)

As for records being old, my collection is all old/rare:p I dont like modern music in general. I think Dubstep was better in 2004 but thats just me:)

I have a number of friends who own labels and distribution companies (not dubstep) and if I was not so lazy and had the time I would have already done it by now. Btw, those costs are very high but I guess thats for the states. I can get it sorted far cheaper. I will give it a bit of time before I seriously think about doing it tho because it is a mission in some ways.

Dont get me wrong. I dont think all digital stuff is shit in anyway! I just personally want my shit on wax, and will.

There is bare shit music being made in all genres, everyone is a producer innit:) my stuff is shit too but hopefully people into the same vibe will like it and thats all that matters! cannot please everyone.

[paradigm_x]

lol at you moaning about people not listening after one pm/email with

Don’t worry about people stealing an idea. If it’s original, you will have to ram it down their throats.

in your sig.



My first release was on vinyl, felt great for about 2 weeks then meant nothing.

Its only a format.

Up to you at the end of the day tho.

Good luck with it.

[kidlogic]

That $1800USD (Roughly 900 GBP) included shipping from the plant in Germany to the distro in the UK and was the cheapest I could find for 12", two color labels w/ black sleeves in 2006. I know it can be done cheaper now with smaller runs, and for as little as dance music sells in the states, theres actually a few new plants that have opened in the US since '06 (thank emo kids and hipsters lol).

If I was gonna do a press now, It be a run of 500 7" from a plant I found on the West Coast for just over $1 a record - it'd also be for a Skweee release though, and self distro'd via the Skweee community.

[serox]

lol at you moaning about people not listening after one pm/email with

Don’t worry about people stealing an idea. If it’s original, you will have to ram it down their throats.

in your sig.

Lucky for me I dont use that sig in writing;)

[serox]

That $1800USD (Roughly 900 GBP) included shipping from the plant in Germany to the distro in the UK and was the cheapest I could find for 12", two color labels w/ black sleeves in 2006. I know it can be done cheaper now with smaller runs, and for as little as dance music sells in the states, theres actually a few new plants that have opened in the US since '06 (thank emo kids and hipsters lol).

If I was gonna do a press now, It be a run of 500 7" from a plant I found on the West Coast for just over $1 a record - it'd also be for a Skweee release though, and self distro'd via the Skweee community.

mission!

I can do it all locally and can get as little as 200 pressed, or could last time I checked.

I would not bother with 7's either because they are not really worth playing on pro audio rigs and are a nightmare to to mix.

[kidlogic]

That $1800USD (Roughly 900 GBP) included shipping from the plant in Germany to the distro in the UK and was the cheapest I could find for 12", two color labels w/ black sleeves in 2006. I know it can be done cheaper now with smaller runs, and for as little as dance music sells in the states, theres actually a few new plants that have opened in the US since '06 (thank emo kids and hipsters lol).

If I was gonna do a press now, It be a run of 500 7" from a plant I found on the West Coast for just over $1 a record - it'd also be for a Skweee release though, and self distro'd via the Skweee community.

mission!

I can do it all locally and can get as little as 200 pressed, or could last time I checked.

I would not bother with 7's either because they are not really worth playing on pro audio rigs and are a nightmare to to mix.

7s are the currency of skweee though... but tbh, itll prob never happen

not that hard to mix... i dont even use my spacers most of the time

[serox]

not that hard to mix... i dont even use my spacers most of the time

lol.

Yeh i have had to do that one a few times before too, just use the slipmat innit.

Can get tricky tho if you are doing long mixes because it is ride the pitch only.

[legend4ry]

That $1800USD (Roughly 900 GBP) included shipping from the plant in Germany to the distro in the UK and was the cheapest I could find for 12", two color labels w/ black sleeves in 2006. I know it can be done cheaper now with smaller runs, and for as little as dance music sells in the states, theres actually a few new plants that have opened in the US since '06 (thank emo kids and hipsters lol).

If I was gonna do a press now, It be a run of 500 7" from a plant I found on the West Coast for just over $1 a record - it'd also be for a Skweee release though, and self distro'd via the Skweee community.

mission!

I can do it all locally and can get as little as 200 pressed, or could last time I checked.

I would not bother with 7's either because they are not really worth playing on pro audio rigs and are a nightmare to to mix.

Its expensive to do like, 200.

The Lacquers alone are £150-200 for a double side, plus sleeves thats another £30-40 (for good ones) , plus labels (more than 1 colour?) thats another £30-50 (if you can find a company what will settle for less than 1000 unless ou get white labels and write on them) - plus in the UK you're looking at a set up fee of around £20-40, plus price per unit of the vinyl, say 65p a vinyl.

So umm, my rough estimate to press 200 is around the £450.

All that money for a run of 200? Might as well do 500 and spend the extra £100-250

EDIT: I forgot the metal work too, so thats another 80-120 quid.. with a potential profit(if selling at around 6 pound a unit) is £1200 - such a risk for an artists first release.

Or, you could spend a couple of quid on mastering and have the digital release out in every digital shop, within a day.

[serox]

Its expensive to do like, 200.

The Lacquers alone are £150-200 for a double side, plus sleeves thats another £30-40 (for good ones) , plus labels (more than 1 colour?) thats another £30-50 (if you can find a company what will settle for less than 1000 unless ou get white labels and write on them) - plus in the UK you're looking at a set up fee of around £20-40, plus price per unit of the vinyl, say 65p a vinyl.

So umm, my rough estimate to press 200 is around the £450.

All that money for a run of 200? Might as well do 500 and spend the extra £100-250

EDIT: I forgot the metal work too, so thats another 80-120 quid.. with a potential profit(if selling at around 6 pound a unit) is £1200 - such a risk for an artists first release.

Or, you could spend a couple of quid on mastering and have the digital release out in every digital shop, within a day.

Put out a digital release in a day? yeh I know! look around, everyone with a computer is doing just that, thats the problem.

£450 for 200 records is not a lot really. I would go for whites and tag them all by hand, I am use to that lol. There is no risk at all in it:) none at all. I would be happy to sell none, its not about money at all. If I can get something played by someone who I think is at the top of the game it will give me the confidence needed and I would be happy to release that tune, its done, its ready.

I would happily then pay the £450 and sell off the tracks at £2 each or swap with other artists for wax promos, whatever.
A donkey could release a track digitally. It would mean very little to me and I would get no sense of achievement from it. It is the same as me burning a CD on my PC at home. The fact that it is harder to release music on wax (in dubstep anyway!) is pushing me even harder for it!

[DZA]

Ill sign you

[timmyyabas]

DIY is deffo the way to go. if i was ever gonna start releasing tunes, this would most likely be the way to do it.

you need to stop caring about people who don't wanna listen to your shit tho, if i was a big label or wotever, i wouldn't want to sit all day long listening to demo after demo of shit.

if you want the big labels to release your stuff, the first thing to do would probably be getting some big dj's to play your stuff. if some label headz hear it from there and like it, then they may look into releasing it.

i wouldn't even bother sending out demos to labels (or if i did it would be like 2 labels and thats it, just on the off chance), coz if i was them, i probably wouldn't listen either. fuck listening to a thousand tunes just to find the 1 good one.

[cloak and dagger]

Umm, who are you sending them too? You seem to be aiming way to high for the amount of clout you have. There is VERY few labels who're biggish who'll listen to your demo unless they know you the reason of this is simple - to much SHIT dubstep out there.

Aim low, get a small digital label to sign a few tracks - because if even they don't want to sign it then you need to go back into the lab and write more/better tracks.

I have to disagree with this completely. It's definitely easier to get people to listen to your stuff if you have "clout," but it's not going to matter much if the tunes are good enough. In dubstep especially, there's loads of examples of people getting their first releases on bigger labels simply on the strength of their music...you just need to find one that's willing to invest in it. In a similar vein, there's so many digital labels out there that only a very small minority of them are really going to hold any clout when sending tunes to a bigger label; saying "I've had mp3 releases on Blahblahblah Digital" isn't really going to do many favors for you, with a very small handful of exceptions, and those exceptions usually involve the support or involvement of somebody who has had physical releases or releases on those bigger labels.

Here's how I see it: you really have to believe in your music. If you don't believe in it 100%, you can't expect anybody else to. If you send a tune to a label and it's not very good, then don't expect them to listen to the next tune you send them...so make sure you're really confident in what you're doing.

Another thing is that even if someone isn't feeling you're tune, it doesn't mean others won't feel differently. I know that from experience.


As for them not listening before you send anything, yeah it sucks when you're trying to get signed, but it's something you have to accept and either wait for the right opportunity, or just move on. If you make a somewhat niche sound as I do, it's important to understand that a lot of labels have circle of artists that they release music by, and they're probably turning down music by them that's a lot better than yours just because they can't afford to put all of it out. Also, I've had enough big names complain to me about all of the shitty tunes people send them, and so between that and being busy making tunes, running labels, DJing, and maybe doing full time school or work outside of that (in addition to getting plenty of music they want to release by artists they know), they don't feel it's worth replying to every email.

The DIY thing isn't a ridiculous idea, either...the majority of bigger labels start like that. Scuba just said in an interview that he started Hotflush because people wouldn't release his tunes, and a lot of known artists and label owners have that same story.

[thierry_le_dj]

http://dubstepdirectory.com/labels.html
try a few of these!
i've sent a few to some of those..

Thanks. I will start going thru smaller labels soon. To be fair I did go for the best, I aimed high but thats just me.

I would rather they listened and said nothing or said they didnt like it, come back later. But to say they are not even interested in hearing new artists was a surprise but I guess thats how the business is for them. They must have so much waiting to be released.

i've been the same i 've sent to the big label's!
but i will start sending out demo's to the small labels but seriosly i don't know which
one to send too and i dont really know who does the type of dubstep that i do.

[Sharmaji]

not be devils advocate here but it sounds like folks need to spend time upping the ante of the work, creating both MORE music and better music (so that you always have something bangin, and ready to go, should folks come knockin), AND developing long-term relationships with folks. Should you hear back from someone in the industry about your music-- great! That's a relationship to build. If you think, it's just a 19-year-old intern, well-- that kid, if he's got focus, will be moving up in the world and in 10 years-- easily someone that could be good for you to have a relationship with.

The DIY adage of starting a label, funded w/ your own money, and getting proper distribution, is a tried-and-true, proven model. DMZ did it. Kode 9 did it. Scuba did it. Pinch did it-- no one forced any of them to start their labels, they just took the chance/opportunity when they could. Work on up-- Ben UFO. Ramadanman. Peverelist. etc, etcNow, yes-- it helped that a bunch of this happened in 2004/5 when not everyone and their mother was a dubstep producer and there was probably 1/2again as many distribution houses as there are now. ST was actively looking for new labels up through 2007-- i know that's not the case now. also all those artists who couldn't find a proper home at an existing label had HUGE catalogs of great music, ready to go.

I do think this comes down to hard work and good ol dues paying-- either writing, promoting, building your own space in the community. Ain't no handouts in music!
___

those of you in the UK could also concievably do a short run vinyl release on consignment. I wouldn't expect to make any money off this, but basically-- you press your records and go around to shops, IN PERSON, and try to get the shops to stock a handful of copies. At the very least, it's a good wakeup call to see what actually is selling and to get someone else's input on your plan. but yeah-- if you can get 200 records on consignment at BM Soho, SOTU, Rooted, Hard to Find, chemical, Redeye-- and maybe make some phonecalls and get Juno and Boomkat to stock your stuff-- i'd say you've paid a good chunk of your dues Do that and stay in touch w/ folks at Z Audio, ST, Nu Urban, keep them abreast that you did this-- people will notice.

(but yeah-- hard work!)

[webstarr]

You can get 300 pressed for £300 including mastering. I know this as someone I speak to did it just before xmas. Just need distribution then

[collige]

not be devils advocate here but it sounds like folks need to spend time upping the ante of the work, creating both MORE music and better music (so that you always have something bangin, and ready to go, should folks come knockin), AND developing long-term relationships with folks. Should you hear back from someone in the industry about your music-- great! That's a relationship to build. If you think, it's just a 19-year-old intern, well-- that kid, if he's got focus, will be moving up in the world and in 10 years-- easily someone that could be good for you to have a relationship with.

I understand this entirely. Problem is, I have no idea how to begin these relationships. More often than not, I just end up throwing my tunes into peoples' dropboxes and hoping they'll like 'em and contact me.

[Sharmaji]

I understand this entirely. Problem is, I have no idea how to begin these relationships. More often than not, I just end up throwing my tunes into peoples' dropboxes and hoping they'll like 'em and contact me.

of course-- not easy. but in looking at our production forum w/o scrolling one bit, I see 4 labels looking for tunes--good place to start.

[serox]

Great feedback people thanks!

For a moment I was doubting myself for aiming high, that moment past.

[paradigm_x]

FWIW all teh tunes ive had signed recently came via sending to djs on here.

Ben UFO (prob far too busy these days, was years ago), Dice, Bunzero, Threnody, Mad EP, (in chronological order) are a few of the DSF heads who have weekly shows, well worth hitting them up.

[serox]

FWIW all teh tunes ive had signed recently came via sending to djs on here.

Ben UFO (prob far too busy these days, was years ago), Dice, Bunzero, Threnody, Mad EP, (in chronological order) are a few of the DSF heads who have weekly shows, well worth hitting them up.

Good idea. I have not sent out much tbh and the ones I have spoken to are at the top.