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If you give out free 320s on Soundcloud does that preclude a release on a label for that track? I'm just curious, and wondering if I'm going to regret giving away free downloads of my tracks at some point. Not to say that I'm ready, but, it seems like it would be useful info.

I find it does and it has.

Dreadfunk wrote:If you give out free 320s on Soundcloud does that preclude a release on a label for that track? I'm just curious, and wondering if I'm going to regret giving away free downloads of my tracks at some point. Not to say that I'm ready, but, it seems like it would be useful info.

There's no reason why giving out free tunes can't be used effectively though, giving tunes out for free can be more effective promotion for yourself as an artist than a lot of small labels can provide (not all of them obviously). I just gave away pretty much everything I've ever written, and I don't regret it one bit, the people who are listening to your stuff on a regular basis appreciate it and are more likely to stick with you as an artist and return your generosity in the future with more promo or paying for tracks when you do get releases, plus the stuff tends to end up in a lot of mixes and podcasts, youtube videos which all really help attract attention to your work.

The thing is, if you write a massive tune, you shouldn't be too afraid to give it away for free I think, because if you can do it once, you can do it again.

You can always write more music.

On the other hand there's a lot to be said for just keeping your tracks to yourself and sending them to labels when you think you're ready, it all just depends on what you as an artist really aspire to I think - and I personally just like giving out free tunes in the hopes of reaching a wider audience who might like my stuff.

To answer your question, 'does that preclude a release on a label' - Not always but in the vast majority of cases (99% of the time) it does, although this doesn't have to be a totally negative thing if you think giving out free tunes is something you'd like to do.

EDIT: Judging by the tune in your sig, if the rest of your work is like that then there's no reason why you couldn't choose either path and benefit from it, I'd say you're definitely ready to start sending your tunes out to labels if that's what you'd like to do, equally, if you released it free people would eat it up and be really appreciative of your doing it.

Yep, you wanna try and sell something everyone already got for free?

Makes sense. Thanks for the replies.

I give away all my songs, but that's just because I'm nowhere near good enough to force people to buy my music
If I ever start getting attention outside of my group of friends, I'll probably stop giving them away, but I doubt that'll be anytime soon.

a label wont release it if youve given it out. it happened to a member here; motherdavid to be exact. he wont the brostep battle comp thing and his tune was a big hit so he decided to give it out and im not sure how it all got sorted but from what i remember, the label wasnt interested in releasing the tune anymore. someone correct me on this if im wrong.

I think in the future I'm going to think a little harder before I enable that download button. I think I'm getting to the point where I might start to regret it!

Well, it depends....i sent a lot of demos to labels before xmas, having already given quite a few free downloads away. Some labels got back to me saying they would like to put out but not these tunes as id given them away. Then others were not bothered at all, and from this i have 2 ep's coming out soon on different labels. I really think it depends on your music and if its any good. I dont give away free downloads now. There is no definite answer...if you already have given them away theres no harm in trying. If they like your stuff they will likely follow your music and maybe sign your future tunes. That happened with me for my second ep.


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