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Getting in Touch With Labels
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 7:43 am
by hipnotikk
hey all,
so i've finally got enough tracks i'm happy with to put in a demo, so i'm starting to look for labels (big and small) with a similar sound, but damn! most of these labels don't even have email contacts on their website, if they even have a website at all
how do i go about this? any help is greatly appreciated.
Re: Getting in Touch With Labels
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 10:11 am
by mikef
My Space?
Soundcloud?
Re: Getting in Touch With Labels
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 10:12 am
by philT
the dubs section is a good place to start
Re: Getting in Touch With Labels
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 12:14 pm
by gforce
Im in the same situation, today i just went to the dubstep directory, label section, clicked on everyone (mostly myspaces) posted a soundcloud demo in their comment explaining the tracks were "availible for release"...
fuck knows if their even looking at the comments on their own page tho... a lot of labels have soundcloud drop boxes on their pages you can submit tracks to.
hard copies are a way to get noticed and taken seriously (thats if the label excepts them)
Re: Getting in Touch With Labels
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 12:42 pm
by midnightminustwo
hello.
can i just say that whilst i HAVE signed someone since hearing them on myspace, it's a better tool for promotion to the public/fans than label a&R, just because it's flakey. Soundcloud is good for a&r, you can hear the whole thing, it's decent quality etc. i personally wouldn't drop comments on people's myspaces to be honest.
most labels will love being sent hard copy, it's less work than downloading something you might not rate, just make sure that all details are written on the case AND the cd, as they can get seperated.
It can be useful to find a name of a person and send it direct to them.
You can up your game by getting them professionally mastered, which would be about £15 per track for a decent digital master, that way they can hear it in it's best light and....
I would also suggest looking at the DJs that inspire you, and send them cds with it on. Most of them seem to have serious label contacts, and if it's pointed out to a label by a dj they already rate, they may look at it more favourably, plus then you can get feedback from the djs and shwo how big in the game you are when sending it to labels.
also having your own myspace/website/web presence is helpful too. some of the labels would do worse than doing that as well though!
just be aware the amount of stuff you get sent is immense, so ANYTHING you can do to elevate yourself from the pile of cds/mp3s the better.
Re: Getting in Touch With Labels
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 3:17 pm
by hipnotikk
i've been warned in the past against just sending cds to labels, i hear it's an easy way to get it thrown in the trash, and some labels are weary of doing anything with unsolicited demos. though i do want to make myself look as professional as possible.
i think soundcloud will probably be the best bet for me, seeing as myspace is spam city, and the labels i have seen on it haven't logged into it for a long while.
i posted in the dubs section, but i find it's 95% users, not really any labels (only seen one thread and that was from abz, who's on here anyway

)
thanks for the ideas guys.
Re: Getting in Touch With Labels
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 3:42 pm
by midnightminustwo
yeah, sorry, should have made it clear, contact the label, then send the cd

Re: Getting in Touch With Labels
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 4:12 pm
by bdzzlr
I handle most of the online promotions and marketing for RogueDubs. In addition, I run all of the social media sites.... myspace, facebook, soundcloud, twitter, etc. If you send us tunes through any of these outlets, I am usually the one making the decision whether or not your tunes get heard.
What we want:
a zip file containing 2 or 3 of your hottest tunes
a short bio telling us about yourself (PLEASE USE PROPER ENGLISH)
contact information... AIM, email, myspace, facebook, soundcloud, whatever
(ALWAYS best to include this info in the file name itself.. for example: TuneName-ProducerName-Aim.mp3)
What we DONT want:
a link to your myspace telling us to "have a listen"
tunes posted into the comments section on myspace... they will not be heard.
i assume you are just promoting yourself on my page.
cryptic messages that require a slang dictionary to decipher.
With that said, we are always happy to listen to peoples music. We will want copies though. The first thing we are going to do with it is play it for the RogueDubs crew (about 3 of us spend Friday nights listening to all the music submitted). The next thing we will do is play it on the radio (RogueDubs Radio airs every Sat on Dubstep.fm) and see what kind of reaction it gets. It will also be played out Live, again to see the reaction. And of course, we will be in contact with you.
Hope this helps a little.
http://www.roguedubs.com
roguedubs@gmail.com
http://www.myspace.com/roguedubs
http://www.soundcloud.com/roguedubs
Re: Getting in Touch With Labels
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 4:45 pm
by hipnotikk
bdzzlr wrote:I handle most of the online promotions and marketing for RogueDubs. In addition, I run all of the social media sites.... myspace, facebook, soundcloud, twitter, etc. If you send us tunes through any of these outlets, I am usually the one making the decision whether or not your tunes get heard.
What we want:
a zip file containing 2 or 3 of your hottest tunes
a short bio telling us about yourself (PLEASE USE PROPER ENGLISH)
contact information... AIM, email, myspace, facebook, soundcloud, whatever
(ALWAYS best to include this info in the file name itself.. for example: TuneName-ProducerName-Aim.mp3)
What we DONT want:
a link to your myspace telling us to "have a listen"
tunes posted into the comments section on myspace... they will not be heard.
i assume you are just promoting yourself on my page.
cryptic messages that require a slang dictionary to decipher.
With that said, we are always happy to listen to peoples music. We will want copies though. The first thing we are going to do with it is play it for the RogueDubs crew (about 3 of us spend Friday nights listening to all the music submitted). The next thing we will do is play it on the radio (RogueDubs Radio airs every Sat on Dubstep.fm) and see what kind of reaction it gets. It will also be played out Live, again to see the reaction. And of course, we will be in contact with you.
Hope this helps a little.
http://www.roguedubs.com
roguedubs@gmail.com
http://www.myspace.com/roguedubs
http://www.soundcloud.com/roguedubs
thanks brother, that helps a lot. Sent one over to you guys

Re: Getting in Touch With Labels
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 4:56 pm
by Wolverine
plastician has made a soundcloud with a drop box, check this thread
http://www.dubstepforum.com/plastician- ... 29113.html
Re: Getting in Touch With Labels
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 5:19 pm
by FSTZ
hipnotikk wrote:thanks brother, that helps a lot. Sent one over to you guys

hee hee
that's not a "brother"
bdzzlr is a lady

Re: Getting in Touch With Labels
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 5:21 pm
by hipnotikk
my apologies

Re: Getting in Touch With Labels
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 5:24 pm
by bdzzlr
No worries. I'm pretty used to it!
Thanks for the email!
Re: Getting in Touch With Labels
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 5:28 pm
by hipnotikk
bdzzlr wrote:
No worries. I'm pretty used to it!
Thanks for the email!
gotta kick the habit of calling everyone brother

hope you enjoy the tunes!
thanks again to everyone who replied ITT!
Re: Getting in Touch With Labels
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 7:54 pm
by FUTURISM RECORDINGS
If anybody wants to send music to a lable then feel free to send your music to us at Futurism Recordings!
futurismrecordings@gmail.com
Were always on the look out for new material......
Re: Getting in Touch With Labels
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 8:03 pm
by ADHD Records
Hey there, this is ADHD Records, I can see it's a bit late now! But if you are still intrested in lookin for a label hit us up at
adhdrecords@live.co.uk
!!
cheers ADHD
Re: Getting in Touch With Labels
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 11:26 pm
by Caski
dmz prefer cd's i think thats all they'll look at/listen to, spose its better that way sometimes
Re: Getting in Touch With Labels
Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 1:03 am
by ad noiseam
The most important thing when trying to get signed or first getting in touch with a label is to know who you are dealing with. There's nothing more annoying for a label than getting demos from people who have no idea what kind of music you release, and just carpet-bomb the whole world with their demos. I've got enough hair-metal and indie pop demos for the rest of my life.
Moreover, your chances will be a lot higher if you are actually able to show the label guy that you know what he / she is doing. If you don't know where the label is based, broadly how long it's been active, and the name of some other bands on it, don't even try. It's insulting to the person you are sending your demo to, and it shows that you basically have no interest in this label (so don't expect them to be interested in you).
Oh yeah, and checking if the label page has a
demo policy also helps a lot.
Re: Getting in Touch With Labels
Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 1:13 am
by Funk Eh
hipnotikk wrote:bdzzlr wrote:I handle most of the online promotions and marketing for RogueDubs. In addition, I run all of the social media sites.... myspace, facebook, soundcloud, twitter, etc. If you send us tunes through any of these outlets, I am usually the one making the decision whether or not your tunes get heard.
What we want:
a zip file containing 2 or 3 of your hottest tunes
a short bio telling us about yourself (PLEASE USE PROPER ENGLISH)
contact information... AIM, email, myspace, facebook, soundcloud, whatever
(ALWAYS best to include this info in the file name itself.. for example: TuneName-ProducerName-Aim.mp3)
What we DONT want:
a link to your myspace telling us to "have a listen"
tunes posted into the comments section on myspace... they will not be heard.
i assume you are just promoting yourself on my page.
cryptic messages that require a slang dictionary to decipher.
With that said, we are always happy to listen to peoples music. We will want copies though. The first thing we are going to do with it is play it for the RogueDubs crew (about 3 of us spend Friday nights listening to all the music submitted). The next thing we will do is play it on the radio (RogueDubs Radio airs every Sat on Dubstep.fm) and see what kind of reaction it gets. It will also be played out Live, again to see the reaction. And of course, we will be in contact with you.
Hope this helps a little.
http://www.roguedubs.com
roguedubs@gmail.com
http://www.myspace.com/roguedubs
http://www.soundcloud.com/roguedubs
thanks brother, that helps a lot. Sent one over to you guys

bdzzlr is a gal dem.
everything but the contact info applies to most labels. imagine you're putting out the release on a label of your very own... how would you promote yourself? this is what labels want. I prefer to get tracks via AIM direct from producers, but either way. Direct conversation is always the best way. It's easy to ignore emails or soundcloud boxes. I do that every day lol.
Re: Getting in Touch With Labels
Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 2:31 am
by pkay
Start bookmarking soundcloud drop boxes and make yourself a list of labels on your AIM list
Between AIM an Soundcloud you should be able to get in touch with 90% of the labels out there.
Make sure you have your AIM nic in your MP3's title, your ZIP or Rar's title as well.