Mjoo, tuli mieleen, et eiköhän tämmöinenkin threadi tarvita. Löyty meinaan hyvä do's & dont's -lista demojen lähettämiseen tuolta Choo Choo Recordingsin boardilta. Kuitenkin nykypäivänä kilpailu on kovaa ja jotenkin pitäisi saada soppariin nimeekin alle.
Listaan lisaisin sellaisen pointin, et kannattaa minimoida se pakkausmateriaali ja suosia kierrätystä. Isommille levy-yhtiöille valuu kuitenkin niitä CD-R:iä sellaiseen tahtiin, et siitä on oikeasti jo haittaa et laittaa himmeitä spesuiluja. Ainakin WARP vetoaa ihan ympäristöön omilla demo-ohjeistuksillaan.
Sit tosta tuotantolaadusta ja muusta voi viritellä ihan keskusteluakin, sen kans kyllä painii varmaan itse kukin...
Mut itse asiaan;
Quote - Choo Choo Recordings:
We get loads of demos here at Choo Choo Records and we're always interested to hear what people are doing but we sometimes struggle to wade through the piles of demos effectively so here are a few tips for people wanting to send demos to labels and get them heard!
1. Don't send through an album's worth of material. There are very few labels that have time to listen to over one hours worth of material from just one artist. With the amount of demos landing on the door mat every day it's just impossible to devote hours to one CD. Keep it short, keep it snappy, put your best track first and limit it to about 3 tracks.
2. Always write your details on the CD. You'd be amazed at how many demos we get that we think are great but then can't find the cover that came with it and have no info on the CD. Sad but true.
3. Don't bother explaining why you made a track. It may be important to you to explain that some specific DJ inspired you to create a symphony and that you were elated and up-lifted at some club in the past but all it does is label you as a muppet! Again, sad but true.
4. Never open your letter with 'I know the quality is piss poor but ......' If the quality is piss poor, get it right and then send the demo. Don't send sub-standard product, we're a forgiving bunch in the office but if the sound quality is rubbish we'll turn it off no matter how good the track is. Crackly hissy music sounds crackly and hissy no matter what the tune is.
5. Make sure you're targetting the right label with the right music. Just cos we're labelled as 'progressive house' doesn't mean that we want progressive rock demos. Yep we've had our fair share of those. We all like to break boundaries but there's no point sending jazz funk fusion to a thrash metal label, know what I mean?
6. Sending a demo by UPS / Fed-Ex / TNT etc. won't increase your chances of getting it listened to or signed! It just means we have to arrange to have the delivery sent at a convenient time or arse about collecting it. Oh yeah and make sure it has the correct postage on it, if it's going to cost a label to get it they're not going to be best pleased.
7. If a label doesn't get in touch the instant the demo is delivered to the office please bear with them. Chances are they have stuff to do other than listen to demos. I know we tend to have blasts of listening to them one day per week as opposed to listening to them every day.
8. Accept that if a label doesn't respond after you've emailed them fifteen times that chances are they listened to the demo, knew instantly that it wasn't right for them and moved on to the next one. Some labels do respond to every unsolicited demo, some don't.
9. If a label tells you it isn't for them don't go back and ask them to explain why in great detail. Whilst it's great to be able to remember every demo and know why it wasn't right, after you've heard five or six, you can't remember the first one that you heard and if you heard them ten days ago chances are you can't even remember the name of the artist let alone why you didn't like something.
10. Don't get disheartened. No one ever signed a Mara demo.
Listaan lisaisin sellaisen pointin, et kannattaa minimoida se pakkausmateriaali ja suosia kierrätystä. Isommille levy-yhtiöille valuu kuitenkin niitä CD-R:iä sellaiseen tahtiin, et siitä on oikeasti jo haittaa et laittaa himmeitä spesuiluja. Ainakin WARP vetoaa ihan ympäristöön omilla demo-ohjeistuksillaan.
Sit tosta tuotantolaadusta ja muusta voi viritellä ihan keskusteluakin, sen kans kyllä painii varmaan itse kukin...
Mut itse asiaan;
Quote - Choo Choo Recordings:
We get loads of demos here at Choo Choo Records and we're always interested to hear what people are doing but we sometimes struggle to wade through the piles of demos effectively so here are a few tips for people wanting to send demos to labels and get them heard!
1. Don't send through an album's worth of material. There are very few labels that have time to listen to over one hours worth of material from just one artist. With the amount of demos landing on the door mat every day it's just impossible to devote hours to one CD. Keep it short, keep it snappy, put your best track first and limit it to about 3 tracks.
2. Always write your details on the CD. You'd be amazed at how many demos we get that we think are great but then can't find the cover that came with it and have no info on the CD. Sad but true.
3. Don't bother explaining why you made a track. It may be important to you to explain that some specific DJ inspired you to create a symphony and that you were elated and up-lifted at some club in the past but all it does is label you as a muppet! Again, sad but true.
4. Never open your letter with 'I know the quality is piss poor but ......' If the quality is piss poor, get it right and then send the demo. Don't send sub-standard product, we're a forgiving bunch in the office but if the sound quality is rubbish we'll turn it off no matter how good the track is. Crackly hissy music sounds crackly and hissy no matter what the tune is.
5. Make sure you're targetting the right label with the right music. Just cos we're labelled as 'progressive house' doesn't mean that we want progressive rock demos. Yep we've had our fair share of those. We all like to break boundaries but there's no point sending jazz funk fusion to a thrash metal label, know what I mean?
6. Sending a demo by UPS / Fed-Ex / TNT etc. won't increase your chances of getting it listened to or signed! It just means we have to arrange to have the delivery sent at a convenient time or arse about collecting it. Oh yeah and make sure it has the correct postage on it, if it's going to cost a label to get it they're not going to be best pleased.
7. If a label doesn't get in touch the instant the demo is delivered to the office please bear with them. Chances are they have stuff to do other than listen to demos. I know we tend to have blasts of listening to them one day per week as opposed to listening to them every day.
8. Accept that if a label doesn't respond after you've emailed them fifteen times that chances are they listened to the demo, knew instantly that it wasn't right for them and moved on to the next one. Some labels do respond to every unsolicited demo, some don't.
9. If a label tells you it isn't for them don't go back and ask them to explain why in great detail. Whilst it's great to be able to remember every demo and know why it wasn't right, after you've heard five or six, you can't remember the first one that you heard and if you heard them ten days ago chances are you can't even remember the name of the artist let alone why you didn't like something.
10. Don't get disheartened. No one ever signed a Mara demo.