Sending Demos to Record Labels

Which Labels to Send Your Demo To?

If you thought this article was going to be something like a simple list of all the record labels that will take demo submissions for consideration, then we’re sorry but we’re going to disappoint you.

No, this isn’t going to name the top record labels to send your demo to. Unfortunately (or fortunately, as it weeds out some of indie musician stragglers who think that the world owes them a living) you still need to perform some sort of personal filtering to get a personal list of record labels that is tailored for YOUR needs. And that takes a bit of work.

It seems like you’re saving a lot of time and money by buying a book or resource that has a list of every single record label ever made. This is certainly a good starting place. But if you simply take all the record labels in the book or website and send a package to them, you are bound to waste both your time and money. (Well, if you have a lot of money, then forget what I just said. Knock yourself out sending your CD to everyone!) Coming up with a targeted list of labels is much more efficient in the long run.

Think of yourself as an advertiser: it’s pretty important to know who your target audience is because the likelihood of them buying something is much greater than a non-targeted person. You could easily blanket the market as some larger companies do. But some of them can do this because their product actually appeals to a large segment of the population. That and they have deep pockets. Chances are fairly high that only a small percentage of people will be interested in your particular music, and of those how many are in a position to do something with it? And chances are high that you don’t have deep pockets, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this!

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