Advice on getting signed.

[Mad_EP]

When I'm confident about my material I'd like it if people listen to it. Then regularly get gigs.
Don't care whether I'm signed to a label or not, I'd like to be working with a supportive booking agency.

You are learning quickly.

Personally - especially with the drying up of cash advances, and the increasing prevalence of digi (over physical) releases... There are maybe two uses I see in modern labels. 1) Have them pay for your mastering. 2) If they are a label that is in fashion, being able to use that to help get gigs.

And in a way that is kind of sad... because I love releasing music. In my first 2 years, I released a 12", 2 full length albums, a triple album (3 x cd), lots of remixes, a special edition EP, etc.. Eight years later, in the past year I released a 12" and a digi EP. It's not that I didn't have opportunities - I just didn't see the point unless the benefits of releasing the music were worth what I considered to be the quality of the music.

[Mad_EP]

what would you say are the better sites to promote yourself on?

To be brutally honest - I don't think there is any one EXCELLENT site for decent promotion.

You can play the game and get lots of followers on Soundcloud, Twitter & Facebook... and I am not saying it hurts... but you can't trust numbers on those sites. I am just saying the time spent on trying to boost numbers can be better spent working on your craft. For instance - I am around 500 followers on Soundcloud, which comparatively is kinda slim. But everyday I gain like 3-5 followers and lose 2 or 3. I am not a spammer - so it isn't like people unfollow me because I have annoyed the shit out of them... they have unfollowed me because they only followed me to try to boost their own numbers, but I didn't play the game by posting meaningless comments on their shitty tracks. So what does that say about numbers?

[Sonika]

Dude 600 is a good amount....

A good amount, but meaningless. At the moment I've got 13,852. I estimate about 200 of those actually care about the tunes I put up.

how did you get 13000??

Yeah I noticed that too, garethom has a fucking HUGE amount of followers. Even if they aren't listening to your tracks, that's still an impressive number

[garethom]

Haha, it's bollocks man, anyone wanna buy my soundcloud profile for £300?

[Sonika]

Haha, it's bollocks man, anyone wanna buy my soundcloud profile for £300?

You can be modest all you want, 13,000 still ain't anything to scoff at

[DistinctDub]

13,000 followers o_O

[garethom]

Haha, it's bollocks man, anyone wanna buy my soundcloud profile for £300?

You can be modest all you want, 13,000 still ain't anything to scoff at

Not being modest haha, I didn't earn them and I certainly don't want the vast majority!

[Electric_Head]

Not being modest haha, I didn't earn them and I certainly don't want the vast majority!

£300?
that`s a bit steep

[deadly_habit]

protip: all the soundcloud followers and comments in the world aren't going to get you a worthwhile release or gig
some people focus their promotion tactics and spend time working in the wrong areas

[OfficialDAPT]

protip: all the soundcloud followers and comments in the world aren't going to get you a worthwhile release or gig
some people focus their promotion tactics and spend time working in the wrong areas

Brotip: some people have a ton of followers but suck

[deadly_habit]

that's exactly me point soundcloud is just as useless as any other social media as a gauge to quality based on followers/likes or whatever

[garethom]

that's exactly me point soundcloud is just as useless as any other social media as a gauge to quality based on followers/likes or whatever

This. It's free to click a button, but when it comes to people paying a fiver to see your set, or sinking a few quid on a download, it's a different story altogether.

[Sonika]

I know I'm completely joking, 13,000 is just a large number is all - I know it has little to no merit.

[deadly_habit]

that and you don't really have any worthwhile statistics (at least not on soundcloud free) such as demographics you get from say youtube of where people are from, their average age, how many are repeat listens, if they came from a click through link and if so where that is from, if you have a buy option if they clicked that which in conjunction with stats from a shop can tell you how many customers are coming from said soundcloud link, also a key one how long people are listening to a track
you can have a track that if you hype or spam right has 1,000,000 people checking it for one second to turn it right off because it's shit

[JTMMusicuk]

that's exactly me point soundcloud is just as useless as any other social media as a gauge to quality based on followers/likes or whatever

This. It's free to click a button, but when it comes to people paying a fiver to see your set, or sinking a few quid on a download, it's a different story altogether.

Thats why your stuff has to be the shit these days so it works out, you cant expect to get decent money through unless your trying hard
Its a case of making sure your your tunes are wicked and making sure you post obvious links where people can buy your stuff.
Take skrillex, he made it just through doing that. He put his tunes up for free on youtube and whatever but linked to sites to buy it and made a fair bit from doing so

[deadly_habit]

yea cause deadmau5 had nothing to do with that or having a following from his old emo band

[ehbes]

yea cause deadmau5 had nothing to do with that or having a following from his old emo band

[JTMMusicuk]

yea cause deadmau5 had nothing to do with that or having a following from his old emo band

yeah true im not gunna deny alot of people already knew who he was but the point remains the same, he said he literally did minimal promotion and just uploaded a few tracks to a site to buy them (cant remember which) and his stuff sold itself

[deadly_habit]

he's also been involved in music for over a decade in a professional capacity, it was hardly over night or with no promotion

[Mad_EP]

he's also been involved in music for over a decade in a professional capacity, it was hardly over night or with no promotion