Advice on getting signed.

[deadly_habit]

that's hardly overly formal it's called courtesy those of us in the real and business world use it, and it tends to go a long way on getting a response either way.
the other was a pisstake

so who here giving advice has been signed and gone through the process raise their hand

considering i've also been on the other side and received unsolicited music as well i can speak for what irks the shit out of me is people not bothering to introduce themselves or just ask you if it's alright to send you something, it's one reason i don't use aim anymore, i used to use it to receive files being sent, but at the same time i would sign on and some random person with no introduction would just start sending me a file, then rather than introduce themselves the first message i'd receive from them is asking me if i listened yet

courtesy goes a long way

[Mad_EP]

Hello X,
My name is xxx AKA producer name here. I was looking on your website/blog etc whatever fits here for a way to contact you as I was wondering if you were taking demos at this time, and if so what would be the preferred method of delivery.
Thanks for your time,
xxx

something to that effect

or

OI M8,
I GOTS PHAT BEATS YEA, OVER 10,000 FOLLOWERS ON SOUNDCLOUD AND LOADS OF COMMENTS ON MY PHAT BEATS. CHECK EM OUT (I INCLUDED U ALONG WIF 999+ OTHER PEOPLE PRIVATELY SHARED TO LISTEN TO MY BEATZ) AND LEMME KNOW IF U WANNA SIGN EM MATE.
DJ FILTHY SISTER FISTER

For the love of God don't be either that formal or that obnoxious...but especially that formal. No one wants to feel like their time is only worth a chain mail full of half baked business jargon. This is only music, no need to stress. Especially sending tracks to blogs, it's all mostly run by a bunch of young people who are excited about the scene. Just act like a human being and be enthusiastic about the music you make, if you act fake before people even hear your music they have no reason to believe it's a genuine product.

Actually Deadly was right on point. He knows from experience. So do I.

[Mad_EP]

that's hardly overly formal it's called courtesy those of us in the real and business world use it, and it tends to go a long way on getting a response either way.
the other was a pisstake

so who here giving advice has been signed and gone through the process raise their hand

THIS.

Do you wanna take a guess how much thinner this thread would be if it were only replied to by people who actually have released records?

[Attila]

I disagree based off business experience in general, being genuine goes much farther than being fake for the sake of formality. Same reason the most "conventionally" qualified person doesn't usually get the job.

[Mad_EP]

I disagree based off business experience in general, being genuine goes much farther than being fake for the sake of formality. Same reason the most "conventionally" qualified person doesn't usually get the job.

So basically - you are one of those people who has taken a "business course" at some point in your life, but you haven't actually released any records....

[deadly_habit]

how is that not genuine? the music is what is going to stand you apart, being courteous is how you get the music to them and get them to listen.
labels and djs get bombarded by unsolicited music, being courteous and adhering to their wants and needs when it comes to format or where to send it to, or if they are even accepting music at this time helps show you value their time and often will help you get to the head of the listening queue.

[eldoogle]

I disagree based off business experience in general, being genuine goes much farther than being fake for the sake of formality. Same reason the most "conventionally" qualified person doesn't usually get the job.

So basically - you are one of those people who has taken a "business course" at some point in your life, but you haven't actually released any records....

He said business experience AKA experienced business.

But actually being formal can't hurt.

[Mad_EP]

I disagree based off business experience in general, being genuine goes much farther than being fake for the sake of formality. Same reason the most "conventionally" qualified person doesn't usually get the job.

So basically - you are one of those people who has taken a "business course" at some point in your life, but you haven't actually released any records....

He said business experience AKA experienced business.

But actually being formal can't hurt.

I know - but I've seen these types of claims before... and very rarely are they made from people with any kind of relevant experience whatsoever. In addition to having released records, I have also been a high-level booking agent and radio producer. In no context has there been ANY lack of formality in communications from unsolicited outreaches that were ever taken seriously.

[eldoogle]

Yup, I think the consensus is to be formal.

[deadly_habit]

Also I do gaming journalism as well and when i'm contacting a company or dev for say review code or a press kit (aka I want something from them, just like you want something from a label when you are sending them music) I'm formal as well and guess how often I don't get a response?
enthusiasm has nothing to do with it, that's assumed by the fact that you're contacting them, it's being courteous that shows that you value their time and are willing to take the effort to make things easier for them to MAYBE HELP YOU OUT and are not just doing a blanket spam of your tunes to every label inbox or contact you can find (believe me that gets around by word of mouth as well)
This "formality" is how you get to know people and start a relationship which may become something casual later on down the line (aka networking) and if you foster good will with a label head, even if your tune doesn't fit their sound they may pass the word on to another label it may fit or point you in that direction and spread some word of mouth for you just because you were courteous initially.

[Mad_EP]

Also I do gaming journalism as well and when i'm contacting a company or dev for say review code or a press kit (aka I want something from them, just like you want something from a label when you are sending them music) I'm formal as well and guess how often I don't get a response?
enthusiasm has nothing to do with it, that's assumed by the fact that you're contacting them, it's being courteous that shows that you value their time and are willing to take the effort to make things easier for them to MAYBE HELP YOU OUT and are not just doing a blanket spam of your tunes to every label inbox or contact you can find (believe me that gets around by word of mouth as well)
This "formality" is how you get to know people and start a relationship which may become something casual later on down the line (aka networking) and if you foster good will with a label head, even if your tune doesn't fit their sound they may pass the word on to another label it may fit or point you in that direction and spread some word of mouth for you just because you were courteous initially.

Bang on. (again).

[Sharmaji]

this all makes me miss those "hey man you should book me at (insert wrongly-spelled event name), i'm awesome" AIMs

the underlying language of the music biz-- be it press releases, email headers, biz correspondence-- is as formal and business like as any business until relationships are built up. Eschewing that just makes you look like a jackass.


.... unless, of course, your music is brilliant.

and that's rarely the case.

[deadly_habit]

MY MOM SAYS I'M AWESOME SIGN ME!

[Attila]

Also I do gaming journalism as well and when i'm contacting a company or dev for say review code or a press kit (aka I want something from them, just like you want something from a label when you are sending them music) I'm formal as well and guess how often I don't get a response?
enthusiasm has nothing to do with it, that's assumed by the fact that you're contacting them, it's being courteous that shows that you value their time and are willing to take the effort to make things easier for them to MAYBE HELP YOU OUT and are not just doing a blanket spam of your tunes to every label inbox or contact you can find (believe me that gets around by word of mouth as well)
This "formality" is how you get to know people and start a relationship which may become something casual later on down the line (aka networking) and if you foster good will with a label head, even if your tune doesn't fit their sound they may pass the word on to another label it may fit or point you in that direction and spread some word of mouth for you just because you were courteous initially.

But this isn't gaming journalism, this is music. I can't really think of anything you can do that's more personal than creation. But I think a lot of you took what I said as "spam them informally as opposed to formally" which obviously is terrible advice...in fact I think contacting labels at all for a release is an inefficient way of going about it hands down. Any offer I've gotten to have my music released has just been from meeting people and being cool to them. Eventually they just asked if I wanted to release my tracks through them. I think if everyone stopped treating these people as bosses and instead as peers, they'd have a much easier time building a career.

Formality's not about being courteous, it's about trying to trick people into thinking you're more important than you are. We're not employees-at worst we're independent contractors-so treating it like an employee will never lead to better-than-employed results.

[deadly_habit]

so where can i buy your music, let alone hear it?

[ehbes]

so where can i buy your music, let alone hear it?

itunes

[Attila]

this is a lot like trying to talk sense to a wall.

It's not my opinion, it's the opinion of virtually every individual who's become successful...and to be honest it's all common sense. From what I can tell this thread is geared toward people who really want to make as strong a career out of music as possible, not play along and get a few gigs here and there. Again, it's not a dig on your methods because they've obviously worked acceptably for you, but I'm referring to maximizing instead of getting along acceptably. If you think your methods are the be all end all then fantastic, you can feel comfortable believing myself and anyone treating music as business building instead of job hunting will completely and utterly fail. But if you've been doing this for 15+ years and aren't completely and utterly on top of your game, then I personally don't know how much trust I could put into your methods...as you've basically proven they don't work that well.

But I digress, I'm clearly by far the odd man out here so I won't disrupt the seminar any further...

ps I enjoyed the hell out of your dramatic reading haha

[ehbes]

ps I enjoy your dramatic readings

dont talkk about dem or ELSE

[deadly_habit]

well i'm not the only one who has been signed in here, and i didn't try to make my living just out of music, but you seem to be ignoring the guys who are signed in this thread who DO make their living in music
This isn't just theory, it's experience and pretty much fact in 90% of the cases

[Sonika]

well i'm not the only one who has been signed in here, and i didn't try to make my living just out of music, but you seem to be ignoring the guys who are signed in this thread who DO make their living in music
This isn't just theory, it's experience and pretty much fact in 90% of the cases

So you're signed, but what do you do for a living?