This article is aimed at musicians, songwriters or anyone else who wants to know how to go about approaching a record company for the first time. At some point in time most bands or musicians will decide to try sending a demo to a record company in the hope of securing that all important recording contract, the problem is that sending an unsolicited demo is not the best way to get a deal and dealing with record companies can be daunting to the beginner.

However don’t give up just yet because you can significantly improve your chances by reading and following this book.

Please note though that this article  is not called how to get a record deal and become a multi-millionaire rock star as I would be unable to gurantee that, I can however say with confidence that if you follow the guidelines in this book you will get your music heard by the right people, the people that have the power to offer you a recording contract. After that it is up to your music to do the talking, and that I cannot help with. Regardless of the stories you hear these days about studio technology and how anyone can become a pop star unfortunately it isn’t true and at the end of the day no matter what tactics you use if the music isn’t up to scratch no record company will ever sign it.

This is a real life guide to getting your music heard by the right people, the people who have the power to offer you a recording contract, not the record company receptionist who is given a pile of unsolicited demos to listen to each day.

This guide doesn’t beat around the bush, getting a record deal is not going to be easy there are many factors which must come together at the same time for you to even stand a chance of a deal and this is before your music has even been heard.

When that moment comes a whole new set of obstacles are then in place. Unfortunately getting a record deal is not like applying for a loan where all applications are put through the same computer system and a decision is based on a mathematical system. You are dealing with real people in a cut throat multi-billion pound business and that means you are dealing with greed, ego’s and all that is good and bad with human nature.

Welcome to the music Business………..

Before we start there are five important things that you need to be aware of regarding record companies, remember that it is the record company that you are ultimately trying to win over and it pays to learn all you can about your opponent.

Here are five things that you should always consider and are generic to all record companies.

1. The music business is just that, a business. Record companies are companies.

Those magic words the demo, everyone seems to have there own idea of what a demo should entail and what format it should take. Now there are two important points that we must clear up before we go any further,

It would be almost unheard of for an artist or band to be signed on a demo alone.

But saying that never underestimate how important your demo is, it is your calling card, it is the first impression that the record company will get of you so never settle for second best. Your demo must be produced to the best that your ability and budget will allow and if you have any doubts about you or a member of your bands ability to record and produce to a high standard then hire someone who can!

Now it is time for the 5 golden rules of The demo -

2. Put your best song first, this sounds obvious but you would be surprised how many artists struggle with this basic concept, don’t just take your opinion on your best track get as many opinions as you can from friends and myspace etc.

 Coming soon – Part 2, what now?

This is just a short post to run through a few essential things that any band or artist must be doing on myspace, as you will have probably noticed it is no use just building your page and sitting back waiting to be discovered. If you are lucky you may get 3 or 4 people a day finding you by accident.

The biggest mistake that most bands make is building a myspace page and making that their band website, myspace should only be part of your online presence to keep in touch with fans and post gig news etc. make sure you have an official band website and make sure that your myspace page links to it and vice versa. Do not just rely on myspace!

The next thing to do is get involved, there is no shortcut to getting lots of traffic visiting your page, start some myspace groups, post on the forums, leave comments on other bands pages that you like. I will warn you now that it is very time consuming. On my own myspace page at one point I was spending 3 or 4 hours a night on the forums and building contacts and I was getting maybe 200 to 300 hundred visits a day to my page, but if I took a couple of days off and was not active I saw this number drop off to about 20 to 30 visits a day!

The next tip is something I have mentioned in another post, give your music away! let people download your songs off myspace and if fans want to use your music on their profile let them. The more people spreading the word the better.

I recently attended a small gig at a bar by a fairly new band on arrival I noticed a table set up at the side of the stage on which the band were selling every possible item you could think of with the band logo on. You name it and it was there, lighters, badges, stickers, mugs, t-shirts, cd’s, etc.

So this made me think, what is an appropriate amount of merchandise for a unsigned band to sell at a gig? personally I think it was a bit over the top to have such an array of items on display especially considering they had a fanbase of about 5 people, mostly friends!

I would be interested in hearing anybody elses views but I think when playing venues where people are probably seeing you for the first time a cd is all you should try and sell, maybe as you build a fanbase and start to see familiar faces following your gigs it is worth introducing one or two designs of t-shirt.

The only other thing I would consider in the early stages is badges but not to sell, they are far better given away for promotion.

With the current witch hunt that seems to be going on by the industry against individuals and websites involved in illegal downloading of music it got me thinking of the old 80’s message that home taping was killing music! This slogan was designed to prick the conscience of the average law abiding music fan that would copy an album off a friend or record a track off the radio and make them think that because of their actions the whole industry was going to collapse.

So the question that I was thinking about was this, are their really any more people downloading music for free now than were illegally copying abums or taping off the radio back in the day?

I don’t think so, I am sure that almost everyone of a particular age at some point in their life taped a song off the radio or copied an album they didn’t buy and suprise suprise the industry survived. Now I am in no way supporting or condoning ripping off music for free I am just tired of hearing the same old scaremongering from the industry and it seems to me the only difference is that it is easier to track the culprits down these days.

Is it just me or has the x factor ruined the christmas number one? I dont know if it is the same in the rest of the world but here in the UK the race for the christmas number one was always a big deal. Sure, sometimes the christmas number one would be a novelty record or something by cliff richard but it was always fun and if you cant have a terrible song at number one for christmas then when can you!
Part of the fun was that you knew that grandparents that hadn’t bought a chart single for years were going into record stores trying to buy a cd for their grandchildren and probably getting it horribly wrong!

But for the last three or four years the christmas number one has been a forgone conclusion, the x factor starts in autum and has a 12 week ad campaign then releases the winners single the week before christmas and what a suprise all the brainwashed go out and buy it!

This has now taken all the fun and magic out of the christmas number one, I have even noticed for the last couple of years other labels are not releasing as much during that week as if they know there is no point.

So come everyone lets not be brainwashed, lets put the fun back into the christmas charts and boycott the x factor single when it comes out, tell your grandparents now that you do not want to find that cd in your christmas stocking!

Here is a list of some of the best books to read on the music business, all are available from amazon.

music management bible
The Music Management Bible

start an independent record label
Start an Independent Record Label (Music Business Made Simple)

the business of music
This Business of Music Marketing & Promotion (This Business of Music: Marketing & Promotion) (This Business of Music: Marketing & Promotion)

the future of music
The Future of Music: Manifesto for the Digital Music Revolution

all you need to know
All You Need to Know About the Music Business

music publishing
Plain and Simple Guide to Music Publishing

myspace
MySpace Music Profit Monster: Easy Online Strategies for Getting More Fans Fast

music techology
Music Technology Workbook: Key concepts and practical projects: Key Concepts and Practical Projects

home recording
Guerilla Home Recording: How to Get Great Sound from Any Audio – (No Matter How Weird or Cheap Your Gear Is)

music production

The Art of Music Production

music business
The Guerilla Guide to the Music Business

future of music business
Future of the Music Business: How to Succeed with the New Digital Technologies (Future of the Music Business: How to Succeed with the New Digital)

myspace marketing
Myspace Music Marketing: How to Promote & Sell Your Music on the World’s Biggest Networking Web Site

guerilla

Guerrilla Music Marketing Handbook: 201 Self-Promotion Ideas for Songwriters, Musicians and Bands on a Budget

dirty little secrets
Dirty Little Secrets of the Record Business: Why So Much Music You HEAR Sucks

music distribution
Music Distribution and the Internet: A Legal Guide for the Music Business

If you are a band/artist interested in the future of the music business you need to read this article by talking heads frontman David Byrne

http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/magazine/16-01/ff_byrne?currentPage=all

We all know the music industry is changing rapidly, the labels are panicking and trying to get involved in all the latest gimmicks and ideas as well as trying to come down hard on people sharing music through the internet. But one thing we can be sure of is that record labels as we know them will cease to exist very shortly.

What this means is that it is the end of the middleman for the music consumer.

Traditionally the consumer has only being granted access to the music that the labels have deemed good enough. The average music fan would only hear the music that was chosen by the record labels or radio station playlists.

Now in the new world the music consumer has access to millions of bands/artists through their computer and internet connection, as with all scenarios there are pros and cons to this. Obviously with the filters gone it is up to the individual to seek out the quality and with so much out there it could be like looking for a needle in a haystack but as technology improves I am sure it will not be long until music search engines and databases know your music tastes better than you do.

The big question is though if this was the case how many bands/artists would be able to make a full time career out of there music?

This post should really be called how not to get a record deal, it never ceases to amaze me when talking to other bands/artists and listening to demos what some peoples idea of a professional demo package is.

First of all it has to be said that the chances of your band being signed off an unsoliciated demo are slim to none!

You would be far better putting all your energy into building a buzz at a local level around your band and taking it from there, trust me if you can create a buzz at a local level, start selling out some bigger venues and maybe shift a couple of thousand copies of an e.p. then mangers, and A&R scouts will come to you and this is a far better position to be in.

But if you are determined to go down the demo route then follow these basic rules -

these may seem obvious but believe me I have seen so many who ignore them.

1. Put two maybe three songs on at most, if they like it they will request more.

2. Put your best song first!

3. if the best song has a long intro consider remixing it to get it going quicker

4. do not send it to ‘the a & r dept’ dont be lazy find a name!

5. include a short biog, one side of A4 is plenty, do not lie, if your biggest gig was in front of twenty people there is no point pretending otherwise.

6. include a couple of decent pics

7. your demo will carry a lot more weight if you can get someone in the business to forward it on for you, try music lawyers they dont get as many demos sent to them and most have a hidden ambition to discover the next big thing!

8. follow up with a phone call or email after a couple of weeks and try to get some feedback.

9. dont give up after a couple of rejections!

Good luck.
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Is it possible to make a living from your band if you do not have a record or publishing deal?

Of course it is, you may not gross millions but it is certainly possible to make a decent wage working as a full time band and by this I do not mean selling out and playing covers in hotel lobbys.

The key to this depends on a couple of things though

1. at least one member of the band must have some business sense or you will need someone who does to come along for the ride (manager?)

2. you must be prepared to travel and work hard, gigging is going to be a major source of income and promotion.

But if all the band are willing to commit then it can be done.

But dont forget you need to make enough for everyone in the band, travel costs, accomadation costs etc.

you wll need to setup your own label for releases, your own publishing, your own merchandise, your own website as well as playing maybe 3 or 4 gigs a week!

If this sounds like a lot of work then you had best stick to mailing out your demos!