Sending Out Demos

eviltimeban

jiltloop wrote: »

No problem. They're genuine comments. I seem to remember you tried a mono e.p too if I'm not mistaken?

How much promotion do the label leave up to you as a matter of interest? How involved are they in the promotion? Do they mainly just provide the contacts?

I suppose I would have imagined that once you had the label you could kind of take a back seat a little bit with that side of it.

Well remembered, I did do a mono album! That was a different kind of music though, it was like 60s beat music, whereas I'm more interested in making ambient / electronic stuff now.

As for the label, well... I think most artists have issues with labels and promotion (La Roux was only in the news yesterday saying her label didn't promote her album to her satisfaction). I didn't go into the deal thinking I'd be getting billboards or full page ads, due to the size and nature of the label. The promotion was pretty much left up to me. They had contacts and about 50 promo CDs went out to them; that network helped with getting reviews and radio play etc. But it still didn't result in big sales.

On the other side, I'm inhibiting it a bit by not playing live. I don't really have the capacity to play live, nor am I entirely sure how I'd go about doing that music live! That's why I did some videos and trying to make it more like an art project with my own paintings / photos for album covers and keeping it going with new material and so on. I can't get out there and play it live so I need to find some other way to promote it - however that's where you hit the brick wall, and you need a bit of luck, like some sync or someone just picking up on a track and it gets bigger.

Also, I haven't made as much effort as I should have with social media. I've put effort into Twitter recently and I'm finding that has helped; I had 50 new followers this week! That's something OP needs to do as well, get on Twitter and research everyone who is doing what he wants to do and try and build up a network. People seem to respond on Twitter more than they do over email, for example.

So as I go into preparing to release the new album, I need to balance out my expectations of what I want a label to do for me, with their expectations about what I should be doing to promote it. If I put restrictions in place (ie no live work) then they may not be interested in promoting to the full extent. It has to be a symbiotic relationship with both parties doing their bit.

jiltloop

I find the info very informative thanks! I suffer from protaganism and a chronic inability to focus on and finish tracks unfortunately.

But in my head I think if I had the material and was able to finish my songs to the standard I'd aspire to, I would probably approach the same label and would also be in a similar position as yourself regarding live sets.

Your music is more something you would listen to while driving or relaxing at home and that would be the kind of music I would be aiming to make as well.

I like the way Boards of Canada's music and artwork fit together and I like the idea of matching artwork and photography with the music. They also very rarely play live and seem to specifically aim for home listening kind of music.

I would be delighted with the level of success you've had so far and it would really spur me on if I got that far. I was over the moon when Mick Chillage asked if he could play a couple of my tracks on his Chillage Idiots show but other than a handful of gigs and a song on a fledgling label startup compilation CD, that's as far as I've gotten.

eviltimeban

jiltloop wrote: »

I find the info very informative thanks! I suffer from protaganism and a chronic inability to focus on and finish tracks unfortunately.

That is the hardest part, especially about electronic music. When is it finished? I have a background in writing and recording more rock-oriented music, so I suppose I was able to put that practice into place and apply it with the electronic stuff.

Its about having a vision about what you want the song to be, listening to your work in progress over and over, away from the studio, and figuring out what you need to do next. Decide, is this a short song? A long song? Does it need more layers, more instruments, a better mix? Get a check list and work from that, or better still, learn from stuff you have completed - what worked, how did I do that, what can I carry forward to the next track?

keithkk16

Just got an offer today for a contract, but i'm not really sure what to do, should I just jump straight in and see how it goes or see if more offers come about. Anyone ever had to do up a contract before?

Labarbapostiza

keithkk16 wrote: »

Just got an offer today for a contract, but i'm not really sure what to do, should I just jump straight in and see how it goes or see if more offers come about. Anyone ever had to do up a contract before?

The general rule is never sign a contract unless you've had a lawyer to look at it. I'm not sure if there are any music business lawyers in Ireland. I'm sure there are in England. They might give it a quick glance over for free, with the expectation of getting business from you if or when more money is involved. You can call them, because they expect to get calls from people like you.

If you just jump right in, you may have signed something that screws you for life. And you may not get anything out of it now, but it may come back to haunt you. It's happened to lots of famous musicians, who signed contracts with companies who did nothing for them, but later when they started making money for someone else, they came along to make a grab

What's the contract for? A single release, or a Scientology ten thousand year contract?

keithkk16

Labarbapostiza wrote: »

The general rule is never sign a contract unless you've had a lawyer to look at it. I'm not sure if there are any music business lawyers in Ireland. I'm sure there are in England. They might give it a quick glance over for free, with the expectation of getting business from you if or when more money is involved. You can call them, because they expect to get calls from people like you.

If you just jump right in, you may have signed something that screws you for life. And you may not get anything out of it now, but it may come back to haunt you. It's happened to lots of famous musicians, who signed contracts with companies who did nothing for them, but later when they started making money for someone else, they came along to make a grab

What's the contract for? A single release, or a Scientology ten thousand year contract?

Atm I'm gonna hold off an shop around a bit more, but at the same time I'm gonna get someone to read over the contract when I get it and have a proper think about it. Hoping it's just a one time release atm like a 4 or 5 track ep then see what happens after it.

eviltimeban

It should specify on the contract exactly what you are releasing (single, album, multi-release etc), over what term (2 years, 5 years etc), what the percentages are, if there is any licencing split, and any other obligations by either party.

paulo6891

keithkk16 wrote: »

Just got an offer today for a contract, but i'm not really sure what to do, should I just jump straight in and see how it goes or see if more offers come about. Anyone ever had to do up a contract before?

congrats

Labarbapostiza

keithkk16 wrote: »

Atm I'm gonna hold off an shop around a bit more, but at the same time I'm gonna get someone to read over the contract when I get it and have a proper think about it. Hoping it's just a one time release atm like a 4 or 5 track ep then see what happens after it.

Are they offering you a contract on a specific track you sent out?

I assume that if they're fair dealing, most labels just have a boiler plate contract that covers just a release. If it's just one track they're interested in releasing.


Tell us the story of how you went about getting a label interested in the first place?

keithkk16

Labarbapostiza wrote: »

Are they offering you a contract on a specific track you sent out?

I assume that if they're fair dealing, most labels just have a boiler plate contract that covers just a release. If it's just one track they're interested in releasing.


Tell us the story of how you went about getting a label interested in the first place?

I sent out 4 tracks, so it'll probably be all 4 on the release if it happens. I've been flat out sending tracks to people through email, soundcloud and fb, sending them to djs more than labels atm, got some advice from a few dj's giving me an idea of what labels would suit my sound and just went from there. I sent the label a few housey tracks during the week and they said they liked them and would I be interested in a contract. Told them I'd have a think about it. Waiting to hear what kind of contract it is first.

paulo6891

Do you mean radio DJs or club DJs? And if club DJs, what's the best way of finding them?!

keithkk16

paulo6891 wrote: »

Do you mean radio DJs or club DJs? And if club DJs, what's the best way of finding them?!

Club Djs, didn't even think about radio DJs myself. I sent tracks to mainly Irish Dj's that I like and just got lucky that they replied, not all Djs liked the tracks but said they were solid and they were able to advise me on where to send them to.