Sending Demos to Record Labels

Making a List and Checking it Twice

So hopefully, you’ve got your goals set. Now it’s time to go through that list. First of all, if you haven’t already bought a book listing them, you may want to skip that and just use an online resource. Why?

There are a ton of sites out there that list nothing but record labels. One that I like is Record Labels On The Web, for these reasons: Not many (any?) flashing ads on the site and labels are listed by both location and genres. You can perform an intersection search on both actually which will give you a really good listing.

Now you want to think about what the type of music you play. I know, everyone wants to be “unclassifiable” and unique, but you need to think like a record label here. Narrow it down to 3 or so styles (like Country, Folk, Indie Pop). The more detailed that you can get the better. Although, remember that many of these record label categorize only by “general” styles.

Then decide where you want to send your music and especially whether you want to send to labels overseas. I would HIGHLY recommend that if you are anything but an established indie artist that you skip sending to other countries (unless you’re very close in proximity). This is not so much the fact that it’s good to be close to your label in location, but because sending packages to other countries, especially overseas, will destroy your budget for postage.

Well, it actually IS a good idea to try and target record labels close to you. I mean, it is just that much easier in terms of communication, booking shows and appearances and understanding the local music scene that they cater to. Don’t rule out far away labels, but favor those that are in your backyard.

Now you want to start going through that list of record labels. If you have the means, you will want to actually create a database for the information you are going to pull out of the list. This can be as simple as putting the information in an Excel Spreadsheet, or you could create a custom web-based server side MySQL database to handle the information. The bottom line is you don’t want to “re-do” your work of filtering out the labels that you are interested in. A database will help keep that straight, as well as remind you which labels you have sent stuff to, how long it is has been, and their responses if any.

Whatever list you use, MAKE SURE TO VISIT THE WEBSITE. Of course, that’s assuming that a website exists for the label. This is extremely important. Don’t just write down physical address information.

For each label that releases your “genres” and is in your desired location, visit the site. You want to make sure the label still exists, and is still putting out music. Read the bio, artists page, and FAQ for the site. Most importantly, find out if they accept unsolicited demos? Most will have a clear policy on demos. You will save yourself a lot of postage by just skipping those who absolutely state “Do not send in anything to us”. What, you think they’re kidding?

Check that their philosophy on music jives with your own and that they are supportive of their artists. Make sure all the physical address info is correct (labels frequently change their physical address!). Take the address, their website URL, the email address, phone numbers, and any other information you want and put it in your database. Then move onto the next record label.

This takes a considerable amount of time but is worth it in the end to narrow the list down.

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