Recommend some labels a fellow EKTer should send a demo to

[posture]

I have trouble deciding which label would be right or receptive to my music, I'm sure I am not alone. I've only sent out like 2 demos in the 10 years I've been making music and I'm sure my music is good enough for at least a CDr or 12 inch release. I am in need of some guidance and I'm sure some others would benefit as well.

 

Post some sample tracks, get a recommendation from fellow WATMMers on which labels an EKTer should submit a demo to. I'll start:

 

http://soundcloud.com/lsn/channel

http://soundcloud.com/lsn/crater-life

http://soundcloud.com/lsn/lights-set-north-birthday-song

http://soundcloud.com/lsn/trapped-in-walls

[Guest maus]

[snarky WATMM reply]

a lot of people don't know this, but all EKT visitors actually have a small, but very well-respected record label just inside their ass.

 

turns out that if you manage to force a CD up there, you're guaranteed a 4-album deal plus touring and merch.

[/snarky WATMM reply]

 

in all seriousness, though... i STILL don't understand why ANY musician these days wants to get involved with a label for physical distribution.

 

does anyone know anyone who still uses CDs regularly? my mom is the last person i'd have thought would ever adopt any kind of new technology, and now she downloads music and apps from the iTunes store with her iPod touch.

 

now granted, my mom probably isn't your target audience. but the point is the same. distribution is a weird concept these days. it's almost more about marketing than it is about distribution.

 

in a sense, as musicians, it's NEVER been easier for us to get our music to anyone in the world. it's just a matter of getting it in front of those people. having a relatively unknown label making CDr copies of your album doesn't seem like it would help get new listeners.

 

a 12" makes a little more sense right now, as many DJs are still spinning vinyl, but that's diminishing as well. at the end of the day, any serious working DJ - even the most rabid vinyl purist - is going to eventually at the VERY least INCORPORATE either CD or MP3 playback into their DJ set. purely for convenience and to compete with guys who can download any track in the middle of their set to please the crowd. so the advantage of having your music available on 12" diminishes significantly.

 

now, in my opinion, an electronic musician looking for a small label isn't as bad as the DROVES of singer / songwriters and bands who STILL want to "get signed". it's completely UNFATHOMABLE to me that people think you can still be "discovered" and become an overnight rich n' famous rock star. those days are so far gone it's ridiculous.

 

being a professional musician is a LOT less lucrative than it used to be. but there's two sides to that... it used to be that someone making bedroom electronic music would never have a chance to be successful unless warp or some other mid-level label took their music to the niche audience that followed them. by removing this filter, it's like the wild west.

 

there ARE outlets to get your music in front of people. last.fm has a program where you can, for $20 US, have your music played to listeners who you target by choosing what artists you think are most similar. that is to say, if you make BOC-style music, you can choose listeners of BOC, Isan, Plaid, or whoever to have your track played to. i'm constantly surprised by how many people use the last.fm radio, and i've done a few "campaigns" with my tracks that have resulted in new fans, listeners "loving" the track, and conversations about my music.

 

you might argue that you're a poor, struggling musician and you can't afford to invest in your music. well then how serious are you about it? there are guys in the up-and-coming hip-hop world who scrimp and save for billboards, bus ads, or vehicle wraps (big decals covering an SUV or something similar) to promote themselves. these guys have passion and dedication, and it pays off.

 

i don't mean to pick on your question - but the role of the label in any of our lives is shrinking more and more. there are a LOT of new and interesting avenues to get your music out there and get new fans. it does take more effort than it used to. you're basically taking over for the component of the labels that market and reach out to new listeners. but by doing it yourself, you reap more of the benefits.

 

just my 19 cents.

[Guest mafted]

there's so much competition now.. i am totally in the same boat. it's like you want to send out to labels just to make a name for your stuff, but then they'll probably just end up basically stealing it and not giving you much back. i say we start a Watmm label.. it might actually make sense if we set it up right.

[Cryptowen]

Labels don't seem like the best option any more. I figure someone will come up with a viable way of getting exposure/gold doing music eventually, but at the moment we're in sort of a gray area.

 

Like mafted said there is a ton more competition these days. Now any reasonably talented musician can make a nice sounding record for very cheap/free, so maybe it's getting to the point where everyone will just make their own music instead of listening to big trend setters. Who knows...

[Guest Lube Saibot]

I will automatically sound like the thread jerk saying this, but i have to say, i find it over-enthusiastic to say that one can actually wrestle a career out of music without any outside affiliation. Granted, there are examples to the contrary: Fake Blood is a touring musician without being signed anywhere, Amon Tobin is releasing his tunes on Amon Tobin.com, Noisia got Vision going pretty soon into their career, Borgore is bypassing everything and getting Buygore.com going, Enter Shikari (since maus also brought up band music) sold out the London Astoria unsigned and then set up their own label to sell their music. BUT (and this is a big but): Amon Tobin made his fame as one of the major poster children for Ninja Tune when Ninja Tune and Warp were pretty much THE SHIT; Noisia erupted onto a saturated scene and pretty much changed up the game in terms of quality (before stuff like the Subtitles roster was taking off), and before getting Vision going they had a slew of single releases on pretty much every "cool" label in the genre; Enter Shikari was an almost calculated perfect melange of the most pop end of the spectrum of pretty much every major musical genre family, they were the best example of the post-KLF British breakthrough succes; Fake Blood got into one of the last few lucrative genres, didn't stray much from a winning formula and exploited the remix market quite a bit; Borgore did the "Slipknot" thing i.e. shock and brutality without getting too death metal to capitalize on the brootal kid market.

 

Seeing things this this way might seem jaded, i personally feel it's just realistic. Unless you're prepared to get a "thing" (gimmick), do tons of networking and bug people, already are an established milestone of a heyday age, or are invested in really taking a genre to it's next logical progression, you can't do it on your own. If your stuff is just "good" and you're committed to self-promotion, sure, you're definitely gonna get a buzz going, be it with last.fm, myspace, youtube, soundclound, bandcamp, some nice netlabel, etc. But IMO, it's going to stagnate to the "buzz" level forever.

 

If vinyl died tomorrow alongside any other form of physical releases, and selling mp3's were declared illegal or something and you WOULDN'T be able to sell music anymore, labels would still do their part in emancipating struggling bedroom producers to at least touring musicians who make a living. I really think the importance of associating yourself with a household name is not recognized enough these days, despite being super obvious IMO. It's simple, retarded psychology. Consumers LIKE labeling. You'll see labeling decried in every possible media outlet but, in truth, aggregating "types" is really the way tastes are formed in 99% percent of music-listeners. Even groundbreaking (but not very "pop") but not very accesible stuff like Loops Haunt needed Mike P playing him in sets and putting out a release on Black Acre to really take off. It's not like he sold his tunes on iTunes independently and got gigs off that.

 

30-50 years from now, bandcamp (or similar alternatives) might proliferate exponentially and become the status quo in releasing music. Until then, i feel maus's post is a tad wishful thinking-ish.

 

In conclusion: awesome tracks mate. Spread 'em.

[Retape]

http://soundcloud.com/retape/love-chords-v2

 

SIGN ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You have posted a message with more emoticons that this board allows. Please reduce the number of emoticons you've added to the message

[Guest margaret thatcher]

astralwerks

[posture]

All great points guys, thanks. I just want my music to be heard and I'm not the best at promoting/marketing myself. I also want my music on vinyl so when one day, when I'm dead it may show up in a thrift store or something. lol.

 

I'll look into the netlabel thing, but I feel like I may have already missed the boat for some reason. Really though thanks for taking the time to reply.

[awepittance]

I just want my music to be heard and I'm not the best at promoting/marketing myself.

 

kind of cancels itself out, even if you did get signed to a label, you can't rely on that label to promote and market you for the rest of your career. If a label sees that you have zero energy in promoting yourself and you aren't generating a lot of interest, that label has no motivation for hyping you up too much. What i find is that artists who are on a good label and who promote themselves are in a much better boat.

[Guest Lube Saibot]

Well obviously, but there are exceptions to this as well. Look at Burial for example.

[posture]

I just want my music to be heard and I'm not the best at promoting/marketing myself.

 

kind of cancels itself out, even if you did get signed to a label, you can't rely on that label to promote and market you for the rest of your career. If a label sees that you have zero energy in promoting yourself and you aren't generating a lot of interest, that label has no motivation for hyping you up too much. What i find is that artists who are on a good label and who promote themselves are in a much better boat.

 

I understand what you are saying, I just hate spamming myself all over to the point of being annoying.

[Guest Scrambled Ears]

I just want my music to be heard and I'm not the best at promoting/marketing myself.

 

kind of cancels itself out, even if you did get signed to a label, you can't rely on that label to promote and market you for the rest of your career. If a label sees that you have zero energy in promoting yourself and you aren't generating a lot of interest, that label has no motivation for hyping you up too much. What i find is that artists who are on a good label and who promote themselves are in a much better boat.

 

I understand what you are saying, I just hate spamming myself all over to the point of being annoying.

 

well not everyone will react that way...i for one liked your music...so this thread is a promotion of sorts...you annoying jackass

[o00o]

a friend of mine does very good rock music

 

he did just upload it to myspace adding 90 friends in about 4 years or something

 

I was adding 3000 friends at the time to promote my music

 

now he has more plays than I have and I know that he did not pass links around or anything

 

so maybe focus on the music instead of running for fame and the rest will be there when the time has come

 

also be realistic about the quality of your music

 

In case you want to sell you have to be at least as good in production quality as the people that are selling well

[Guest maus]

...i find it over-enthusiastic to say that one can actually wrestle a career out of music without any outside affiliation...

 

it may be optimistic (though most people who know me would probably laugh at ANYONE ever calling me optimistic. :) ), but i think it's more valid than you realise.

 

you mention labels would be the force to promote bedroom producers to touring status even in a vacuum of recorded music - but why labels? traditionally, labels operated as a filter. they provided the only possible route to recording with any quality, and subsequently to distribution. in the early days, this was good, because they went out of their way to find the best of the best music to put into the world. labels (particularly majors) lost sight of their purpose and became money making machines. smaller labels suffered from the majors' money thirst because they had to focus primarily on marketability and profits in order to sustain their businesses.

 

warp, ninja tune and the like seemed to escape this for some time, but the mp3 revolution hit them too (warp's more recent output being a good example of this.)

 

as a result, even mid-level labels like warp and ninja tune can't afford to take chances on unknowns, and likely won't touch you unless you've demonstrated some kind of marketable fanbase or following. it's not evil, it's just business.

 

the point is, you have access to the same tools they do now. you might not have the mailing list or entrenched GENERAL fanbase that a label does. but you have access to social networking. bloggers. youtube. a website.

 

you can EASILY submit your music to any number of music libraries for consideration for use in commercials and TV. these are all ways to get your music heard. get a quirky song placed in a toyota commercial and watch what that does to your fanbase.

 

of course it's not EASY. and of course it's competitive as all fuck. hell i work in the film and TV music industry. there's eight million kids all over the world with cracked versions of LA Scoring Strings and Logic flooding the music libraries.

 

but if you are an artist, and you believe in your music, and your'e creating something that reaches people (and even if you make music by melting candles onto mice... SOMEONE will love it) then you can do something with it.

 

lube saibot, you mention that you don't think an artist can make it without label support... but i think any determined, serious artist has an equal shot either way. it's not up to a label to get you out and touring. hell, take a cue from any local band from the last 30 or 40 years. call clubs. send demos to places that usually have DJs, or have open mic nights. or take initiative and create something local in your community that supports electronic music. there's an audience for it. you just have to WORK to reach them.

 

being a musician is one of the hardest, sobering, reality-check inducing careers you can choose. even more so these days. but it can be done, with or without label help.

 

having said all that, if you can manage to get a real, honest, legitimate label that has some standing and believes in you, of COURSE that will help. but i put it to you that finding THAT scenario is far more difficult than just grassroots, old-fashioned elbow grease.

 

just my opinion.

[posture]

also be realistic about the quality of your music

 

[o00o]

most of the people I know who got successful started a label by themselves by the way but most of these are not selling as they used to 2-3 years ago even so these guys have about 100.000 views on youtube with their tracks so they focus on DJing

 

this is what aphex does too currently to some extend

[o00o]

also be realistic about the quality of your music

 

 

just take somebody that sells well (who ever you like) and compare him with your production (just technically not conceptually) and you can easily see where you stand and where you need to work. In case you find somebody that is on the same production level or even better below yours and sells well send tracks to his label

 

I do it the same way and this made me stop for while now and made me working on the quality of my tracks (better melodies and better production technically)

[posture]

Good advice, I just thought you were calling my tracks shite. Sorry, my music is pretty personal to me, so I was like wut.

[posture]

Also sorry if this thread turned into a thread about me. I wasn't trying to spam my tracks but look for ideas on which labels to send to. I like niche labels, ones that release cassettes or limited pressings. I would be perfectly fine with a small fanbase, or something like Bochum Welt status. But there have been a lot of good points brought up and arguments made in this thread.

[o00o]

the part where he is talking about success and so on is really to the point of my opinion starts at 9:40

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-LoZho4HC8

[Guest hahathhat]

i would be willing to give up a chunk of the profits in exchange for having someone else do all my promotion.

[posture]

i would be willing to give up a chunk of the profits in exchange for having someone else do all my promotion.

 

Agreed, I don't even care so much about profits. If I got any, it would all go towards more gear. I already accepted that music is my hobbie, not career, but I do want it to be heard and my main goal is for it to be released. I just want to be able to hold a record with my music etched into its grooves. I don't know, just a life long goal.

 

the part where he is talking about success and so on is really to the point of my opinion starts at 9:40

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-LoZho4HC8

 

Yeah great interview. I listen to it from time to time.

[Guest hahathhat]

i tried promoting my own music for a while. i found it soul-sapping. this page puts it well:

 

http://www.electronicmusing.com/blog/2009/09/on-being-an-unprofessional-musician/

 

labels are certainly irrelevant for distrubution, but it would be super nice to have someone dedicated to working the handshakes-and-myspace end for me. just find someone i like and get along with that's good at that shit, strike up an agreement about splitting the profts, and then both just go at it. i write music, partner promotes. partner lets me know what people seem to be into, helps me pick trax/arrange albums. i make sure partner knows what my music about so the promotion makes sense.

 

i guess i am looking for a press secretary?

[Guest maus]

Good advice, I just thought you were calling my tracks shite. Sorry, my music is pretty personal to me, so I was like wut.

 

this is something you will DEFINITELY have to learn to swallow. there will ALWAYS be people, increasingly so as you get more well-known, that will trash your music. many of them without ever really listening to any of it. growing a thick skin is absolutely invaluable if you're going to put your art in front of the unwashed masses.

[posture]

Good advice, I just thought you were calling my tracks shite. Sorry, my music is pretty personal to me, so I was like wut.

 

this is something you will DEFINITELY have to learn to swallow. there will ALWAYS be people, increasingly so as you get more well-known, that will trash your music. many of them without ever really listening to any of it. growing a thick skin is absolutely invaluable if you're going to put your art in front of the unwashed masses.

 

Yeah I know, I'm working on it. I have to separate my own insecurities from my music (Low self-esteem FTL)

 

i tried promoting my own music for a while. i found it soul-sapping. this page puts it well:

 

http://www.electronicmusing.com/blog/2009/09/on-being-an-unprofessional-musician/

 

labels are certainly irrelevant for distrubution, but it would be super nice to have someone dedicated to working the handshakes-and-myspace end for me. just find someone i like and get along with that's good at that shit, strike up an agreement about splitting the profts, and then both just go at it. i write music, partner promotes. partner lets me know what people seem to be into, helps me pick trax/arrange albums. i make sure partner knows what my music about so the promotion makes sense.

 

i guess i am looking for a press secretary?

 

Yeah I read that post a while ago, I am even the first commenter on there. Great stuff.