PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Off-Topic music contacts

hi
still trying to get a record deal.
I called a company and have been told that I need to be referred by somebody who knows them. I guess it s quite typical in the music business. so my question is : how can I have personal contacts to get inside the business. (without doing gigs) .any practical advice would be appreciated .Does directories can help ?Which ones?. Are there people (who I can reach easily) who can help me to be in contact with other people? Who? Do you have emails , phone numbers , links ? (I am speaking about a record deal with a Major labels)
Thanks,
Daniel

How do you plan to get a record deal without doing gigs? Any record deal will need promotion, and they expect you to plan dates to do just that. So if you are already playing live it will help to kick that in high gear.

If you want try something like Taxi.

As Robh said the only way to get noticed without playing live is through Taxi. Another good site like Taxi is BroadJam. I know that BroadJam has competitions for music for professional advertising firms.

You also may want to post your music on some music forums like this one, Kara-Moon, KVR etc and ask for honest evaluations. What ever you do be sure that you have your songs copyrighted prior to posting anywhere!

Good luck.

daniel, i respectfully suggest that you are in a cloud, mentally, to envision the recording industry to work that way. as in any other profession, you must "pay your dues," so to speak. in an interview, singer/song writer, willie nelson said it took him 20 years to become "an overnight success!" the real over-nighters are scarce as hen's teeth. true, there are a rare few "instant stars" but, by far, the vast majority worked their tail feathers off over many years to "make it big." the recording companies have an endless supply of talent to choose from. why should they bother with you? answer that honestly. my suggestion: get out and play a few thousand gigs, get your name and music known then, wallah, overnight success! i certainly don't want to discourage you, just being logical. now go out and prove me wrong. remember to share your success formula with us "dues payers" on this forum.

Don,

There’s something you aren’t taking into account. Danieldaniel, (hereafter referred to as dan-dan), doesn’t need to pay his dues! He is, after all, looking for a Major record deal!

That means dan-dan is far superior to any other musician that’s ever gotten a contract! Dan-dan has made the decision to skip the whole process and go straight to being a star on a Major label!

Who are we to deny him that? Therefore, I will reluctantly give him the info he’s looking for, even though I was planning on using this myself.

The number is BR-549. The email is getaclue@areuserious.com. Ask for Big Mo.

You’ll be a star in no time at all!

I know with gigs , but i am not in the position right now to do them.
I rely on my demo , that maybe someone will listen and believe in my music, and from there ,move on.
If the Beatles would have a demo today without doing gigs, they wouldn t be noticed. After all , I think music is mainly made to listened at home.

Daniel

I forgot to thank everyone for your answers
Daniel

You're welcome dan-dan. Please be sure to mention us in the notes on your first CD.

P.S. Why does this conversation eerily remind me of the Chinese take out I just ordered for dinner?

Danieldaniel,

How about dropping a couple of your works onto the User Showcase for us to give a listen to.....

cchallum

i had an afterthought...we have an honest-to-goodness, real-life studio owner in our midst, harvey gerst. lets ask him what becomes of unsolicited, no-name demos. i'm thinking he simply doesn't have enough hours in his day to listen to them. on the other hand, if harvey were to stop at his favorite watering hole after work and heard a knock-em-dead singer in the karaoke lounge it might pique his interest. it is simply too easy to burn a great-sounding demo cd. studio wastebaskets are full of them.

harvey?

Many years ago, I wrote an article for a local magazine. The article was called: "How to get a recording Contract":

So you wanna be a Rock and Roll Star? Well, this month's article is about just that - how do you get a recording contract? It ain't easy, but there are some things you can do to help. There is really only just one reason why a label will sign a band to a contract: The record company believes they will make money. That's the only reason a label ever signs an act.

There are at least a thousand bands in the Metroplex trying to get a recording contract with a major label (that includes country, pop, rap, singer/songwriters, etc.). How many do you think are going to make it by the end of this year? One? Five? Ten? The answers is probably one or two, maybe five, certainly not ten. A few months back, I pointed out what record companies are looking for these days. Here's the list again, in exact order of importance to a label:

1.) Established stars with a track record (Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, etc.),
2.) Celebrities that have a curiosity factor built in (Charlie Sheen, etc.),
3.) Acts on smaller labels that have a national or regional hit,
4.) Small label groups with a really big following,
5.) Local groups with a big following and/or national touring,
6.) Other.

Now, which category do you fit into? Welcome to the real world. So, how do you move up to a more desirable category, like number 5, even? Start by taking a look at your demo. How long are the songs? If you want airplay, get them down to under 4 minutes (preferably 3 to 3½ minutes). Save the long shit for your live shows. Either digitally edit what you've got, or go in and re-cut your demo. Then, try to get signed with a local label that has some distribution.

If you're in a band, play, play, play. Try to buildup a following and get on a label - almost any label is better than no label. Why? Most legitimate record companies want a guaranteed hit from their artists, whether it's an established artist or a new artist. Singles sell albums, and albums pay the bills. If you've got a regional hit with an independent label, a big label is more interested in you than if you're a group that just sends a demo tape.

A regional hit with an independent label is one good way to get a major label's attention. Another is a good gimmick, something that sets you apart from other groups, like a girl playing bass (as in Smashing Pumpkins). Make yourselves and your music different than everybody else. Kiss made a fortune being very different from other bands, so did Nirvana.

Make sure your group is leading the way, don't follow. Make people say, "now that's really different." Make your shows something the audience will remember for a long time. Be ready if Fame comes knocking; Does your group have a good picture, a well written bio, and a really good demo? What if a record executive walked up to you after a gig and said, "I'm interested, give me a press kit". Do you have one? Do you carry demos and pictures with you EVERYWHERE you go?

Sending out CDs to record companies is not a hard and fast rule, but make sure that the whole package you send has a pro feel to it - good graphics, eye catching, something that would make a record company executive want to know more about the band.

Don't hype the band in your bio or promo pack to a record company. If you really are the next Pantera, let the record company tell you. They kinda resent being told things like that.

Remember, record companies are NOT in the business of making records. They are in the business of making money. They make money by selling records.

If you can convince them that you can make a lot of money for them, congratulations, you just got a record deal.

I'll address some of the other points in another post.

Cchallum,
if i want to put my music here,how do i do? I don t understand with the show case
daniel

Danieldaniel,

The info is in the first post on the User Showcase, i.e., the one by Peter Gannon that explains how to utilize the User Showcase. The address is

http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=282880&an=0&page=0#Post282880

Check it out,
cchallum

cchallum
I don t even have a link of my songs, but I am thinking of doing it ( I already don t do gigs , maybe at list I could do that
Daniel

Have you *ever* spent time doing any gigs?

Live Performance is a necessary part of the learning curve here, I know of no other way to gain the experience needed to compete.



Another consideration these days is the *age factor* - the record companies are signing younger and younger artists, as Harvey has stated, the reason for that is the money that can be made.


--Mac

We live in the American (UK version also) Idol age, where folks think that they will get discovered by showing up. Heck most of those kids on those shows, have been groomed from an early age to perform, and have sang live in county fairs, talent shows, and open mike nights since they were babies. Others work in local bands and struggle to get heard.

Daniel, have you ever gone to a local night club or restaurant and listened to a local singer or band, and they play covers, and suddenly announce that they are going to do an original tune, and no one seems to care. This is because people want to hear memories. The want the music to take them somewhere in the past. For that reason to get people to listen to your material they have to become familiar with it. That take time and effort to build up a following.

If all you want to do is sit at home and record songs and expect folks to flock to hear it on the internet, or for music execs to do backflips to listen to a demo, you are being a tad silly. There are literally hundreds , no thousands of people on the internet alone, on sites like soundclick, reverbnation, sound cloud, and about 100 other places promoting their music.

Daniel, I am not trying to crush your dream, but if this is what you want, you have to care more than others do. You have to put in the blood, sweat, and tears it takes to rise above literally thousands of others, who are singing in every venue they can, and getting exposure. Get an account at some place like soundclick, and add a couple songs, promote the heck out of them and see what feedback you get. Make sure you copyright, your stuff first in some meaningfull way.