# Where to start looking to get signed?



## TheComet (Nov 28, 2008)

Well I think I'm going to start getting serious about getting signed this spring, but I'm not sure where to start.

If anyone out there has already done the run, can you give me a few tips on where to start? I've already put together a sample CD of sorts (needs some updating since I've cleaned up a few songs though heheh) and have ALOT of music to show

ps: If I tend to wander between electronic genres a bit, is that going to have an effect on where I should look?


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## kurreltheraven (Nov 30, 2008)

Which labels are you chasing specifically? What do you want to put out?


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## TheComet (Nov 30, 2008)

kurreltheraven said:


> Which labels are you chasing specifically? What do you want to put out?


I don't have any labels in particular I'm shooting far, just one that I can put out albums for without much red tape or restrictions on what I can make


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## King (Dec 8, 2008)

Its really tough to find lables who will fund your works and release them without problems...the main thing is to let them know you wish to be in charge of what you release and to really put together a killer demo that catches their attention...a lot of independent companies are willing to sacrifice time and money for the right talent you have to prove to them you got what it takes and nothing speaks louder then a tightly made professional demo.

I have included here as well some links that will help you acess your dream of being an independent musician working for the label of your choice.

http://musicians.about.com/od/musicindustrybasics/a/demodos.htm
http://musicians.about.com/od/musicindustrybasics/a/demodonts.htm
http://musicians.about.com/od/beingamusician/ht/senddemo.htm
Copy and paste on each
each are in order
-Demo Do's
-Demo Don'ts
-Send your demo to record labels 

If all else fails you can always do what a lot of musicians and composers are doing and release your own CD under your own label...I believe Jansen Tamiia would be able to help you out.

Here is another couple links to help you out if he is unavailable.

http://musicians.about.com/od/beingamusician/ht/selfpromote.htm
http://musicians.about.com/od/musicindustrybasics/ht/promopackage.htm

Hope this helps you out my friend

good luck to you.

-shodarkhorn-


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## Lyxen (Dec 10, 2008)

yo i have a thread.....think its called fur teh scene....i havent check out your tracks yet but I want to start a small label or something similar,,,,,,A website to sell ,,,no what i mean..You got an email? I check yur tracks and then give you more info once my idea geta rolling,,, edit: yea u thread is down.... Like i wanna make a site where its like a label but more about getting this new genre of music out you know,,,furry music???? cal it something- i pcture it'll be like the emo scene where it just gets out and it spreads like poison,, check my tracks on the link below and uh yea dude lets chat


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## TheComet (Dec 10, 2008)

Thanks for the links, they're a HUGE help and should clear up alot of things for me

and Lyxen...yeah....legibility before considering your offer man


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## protocollie (Jan 12, 2009)

seriously i would not bother pitching. you will be ignored to hell and back. the big combo is perform and produce, also since you do electronic, get in touch with DJs who play the shit out who are in a better place than you and see if they'll drop it.

Electronic like most more underground scenes is not just labels snapping up artists that make music that might be marketable. Most have a specific sound (granularised way beyond even genre) that fits their vision and you need to cater to a specific style to release on a specific label.

But specific tips for you? This is the part where I look like a jerk, but seriously it's worth listening to me here. Work on your mixdown. There's things that need compression and EQ that do not have compression and EQ. That makes your track muddy - the kick gets drowned out by other sounds and the pads sound mucky and nondescript. It may not bug you in headphones or on PC speakers, but on reference monitors (or worse, a club system) the whole thing will pretty much collapse into a muck of nondescript noise. You need to clean up things so that everything sits properly on its own band. I listened to a track of yours that was recent and labeled as drum and bass, and I can give you a couple specific notes on that. The pads in the background run together, the bass doesn't travel far enough into the realm of bass and clashes with the kick from the drum loop you used. The drum loop can't have the only kick or drums in the track, especially when it's that dirty and lacks that much punch. You don't have a sub bassline which subtracts from the impact of the track as well.

The other big thing is get in touch with the actual community, i.e. listen to things in the genres you are trying to produce to get at least a bearing on the state of the art today. Your music is, with lack of a better word, dated sounding. It's not even that you have to be innovative in dance or electronic - if you want club play, you need to be up on the current trends in music and evolving so your stuff doesn't sound stale. Your stuff sounds very stale. Success in club/electronic/dance music means that you need other DJs to feel good about playing your stuff because they're snapping it up to help their career more than yours. Without an up-to-date sound nobody will ever risk dropping your stuff.

Final word? Don't even think or worry about this yet. You have a ways to go. Look up sound engineering and how to appropriately mix down and master your tracks because any effort to get yourself signed would most likely result in you being ignored in the future more than anything. When your tracks sound on par sonic-wise with current stuff, then consider the move. And get out there and DJ some. Never hurts.

Sorry if I sound cold, but that's the reality of the music scene. I'm not picking on you or your music - there's good ideas in it. It's just definitely not ready to get signed by a label, and any time spent pitching your tracks to labels would be a waste right now when you could be busy improving.

How do you know you're doing things right? Your friends are shitty critics because they like you and are amazed you have something half-decent. Your family sucks at criticizing your music and for the most part, so do you. The only way to see if you're ready is to floor test your shit. Get a gig, drop it if you're confident. If everyone leaves the floor, it's a scrapper. If people go nuts, pass it along to other DJs, see how it works. The floor test is what matters.


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