Question Answered, thanks!

[mangoose]

UPDATE - Question answered. Thanks!

[Nick Sevilla]

Remember :

There is no such thing as a Demo.

[mangoose]

Remember :

There is no such thing as a Demo.

That's how I feel. So "get it mastered?"

[Nick Sevilla]

Remember :

There is no such thing as a Demo.

That's how I feel. So "get it mastered?"

Yes. And stop calling it a demo.

[mangoose]

ok

[Dakota]

They'll only listen to it once, and often just the first 30 seconds of each song. So have musically compelling action up front, and definitely get it mastered.

[A.David.MacKinnon]

Yep. Keep in mind that even the some of the most seasoned music business people have no ability to hear something that's slightly rough and imagine the polished finished product. The same can be said of film directors, music supervisors, radio programers , etc, etc, etc.

[Bro Shark]

What do you do. Are you a singer/songwriter? Do you make electronic music? Do you play out? Do you have an audience?

Labels will "sign" (ahem) an artist based on a cold-call submitted recording probably 0.004% of the time. I'm going on a limb here and saying your strategy is not a good one.

The rest of the time, labels choose to work with an artist/band when there's some natural buzz around that artist. Some examples: a friend of the label is raving about you, and says "you gotta hear/see this act!" Or there's a growing tide/groundswell building around your brand name, either from frequent gigging, touring, people sharing your music online (tape trading), or whatever... you know... "buzz."

So yeah, you can go ahead and have your recording mastered. But do you have anything else going for you? If not, good luck with that lotto ticket.

[chris harris]

Bro Shark nails it. It almost never happens that a label hears a record and says, "We can sell that!" They typically know that they can sell a band's record before the band actually delivers the record.

[mangoose]

thanks

[kslight]

but I also see value in partnering with an inidie label to put out an EP/LP or something like that.

What value are you looking for them to add? Are you looking for someone to finance the costs of putting it to a physical medium, get it distributed in stores, publicity, management, lawyers, etc...? Not sure what you want them to do. I'm inclined to believe that unless you have a reasonable amount of success under your belt preemptively (self funded releases, playing a good amount of shows to a decent crowd, BUZZ) that they won't do much for you, if even they respond at all.

some of the most seasoned music business people have no ability to hear something that's slightly rough and imagine the polished finished product

This. Label people, management people...they work in the music BUSINESS most likely because they are not artists themselves, and IN GENERAL need to be spoon fed a FINISHED PRODUCT. They are probably not very creative and cannot hear your artistry and certainly cannot imagine the difference between a rough demo and a polished product, you have to give them your best work in its most polished state. For every person that submits "demos" unsolicited, there are 1000 that submit a professional sounding EP/album.

13 minutes does not sound like very much to me to be submitting to a label. I think 6 songs is the minimum you should be delivering. If you send them less and they think you are great, they are going to say "This is good, but we want to hear more." If you send them 6 and they think you are great they will say "This is good, and its done, this is going to be your EP."

Finished product!!

So "get it mastered?"

Absolutely. If you send them something that is unmastered/unprofessional sounding I believe it shows the label how uncommitted you are and your lack of confidence. If you are not willing to invest in yourself, why should they?

my work is respected in my (small) circle and they have been waiting for this.

Great. Have you considered crowd funding to get this made into a proper release? Create a campaign for yourself on Kickstarter and really see how committed and interested in you your fanbase truly is. If you can show a successful campaign and prove existing fans I think it will help you (marginally) on obtaining record label interest.

[mangoose]

my original question has been answered, mods if you want, you can delete this thread as it quickly has gone off-topic.

Thanks!

[chris harris]

This message board exists for more than just you to get advice. And, just because you don't like some of the advice, That's a poor excuse to fuck up the valuable information in this thread that might help others who aren't offended by getting answers that they maybe don't want to hear.

Deleting posts and asking that the thread be deleted is a chump move. Whether or not you like the advice you're receiving, there's some great info and advice here.

[Bro Shark]

Yeah man. Poor form this time around.

You'll get 'em next time.

[mangoose]

Sorry, I disagree with you. I believe forum threads are best when kept on-topic. Otherwise you litter the internet with mindless drivel and back and forth, connected to a thread title that has nothing to do with whose penis is longer. Obviously those that decided to lecture me on the ins-and-outs of the music business think otherwise. But I started this thread with a simple question - which was answered quickly and I showed my appreciation for this.

You can start your own thread if you want to talk about all the extraneous information you might want to add - but I can assure you, i don't need it and I did not ask for it. At the very least, I don't deserve to be talked down to like this. Show some respect.

Peace