So you’re an independent artist who’s got a great demo that you’ve taken the time to perfect. Now you want to send it to a variety of record labels in the hope of getting signed, but you’re not quite sure how to start.
Don’t worry, here’s a complete guide on how to submit your music to record labels for consideration.
1. Double-check your demo to make sure it’s ready to send to industry professionals
After all, signing a contract with a record company has to do with having good music (but not only that!). If you feel ready to send your demo to a record label, chances are you’ve spent a lot of time perfecting it but just to be on the safe side, double-check that you have a track that’s ready to send to music industry professionals.
Emerging artists don’t usually have a lot of money to spend on recording their songs and recording costs tend to be high. But if you can, try to get your hands on some decent recording equipment or even hire a recording studio, as this will really improve the quality of your work.
And while recording the track, make sure you hire the right people who can help you take your song to the next level. For example, if you need some good guitar playing but you’re not very good at it, hire a guitarist whose skills can make your song sound more professional.
You don’t need to waste time and money mastering the recordings you want to send. But it’s a good idea to mix them as well as possible before sending them off, because when it comes to getting the attention of a record label, sound quality matters.
—
These record labels are looking for new emerging artists to sign 👇
—
2. Do your research before approaching a record label to make sure you’re not wasting their time
The next step is to decide which labels to send your demo to, i.e. which labels you think would be interested in music like yours. Different record labels often have a genre they like to stick to, be it hip-hop, punk, rap, country, folk, or indie music… and they may not accept music that falls into another genre so if that’s the case, you don’t want to send them your new music and waste everyone’s time. When researching a label, you really want to be critical of your own music: is it suitable for that label?
One important thing to bear in mind if you’re just starting out is to reach out to the smaller or medium-sized labels that fall under the scope of the big three, the three major record labels that are Universal Music Group, Warner Music, and Sony Music. As influential as the major labels are, remember that your music career is a marathon, not a sprint. You want to start slowly and build it gradually and a great way to get going is with the smaller subsidiaries that will be more likely to check you and your music out.
You can also look at independent record labels, also known as indie labels that aren’t owned by any of the big three and record independently and even deal with music distribution and licensing independently. These are more likely to sign new artists as they usually have a smaller roster of artists to begin with.
If you don’t know how to research record labels, you can start by looking at an artist you like who makes music similar to yours, and then you can find out which record label they are signed to. You can usually find this information on their musician’s website or even in the bio section of their social media accounts, such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube.
If you can’t find it there, you can look on streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, or YouTube Music, as they often display label information on their artist’s profile page.
Once you have your list of dream labels, you need to consider how to submit to them, including any label policies on unsolicited demos, as well as the format required and the right person to contact.
3. Find the contact details of the relevant person at the record label.
This brings us to our next point, which is finding the right person to contact to send your demo. The last thing you want is to send your work to some random email address ensuring that it never gets found or listened to. To avoid this, you need to spend some time finding the most relevant contact details.
You’ll want to look for A&R (Artist and Repertoire) representatives, who are essentially responsible for finding new artists to sign and then act as intermediaries between the artist and the record label.
To find them, you can either look on the record company’s website and if they have an open demo submission system, they’ll have a noted email address for the best person to contact (bear in mind that if they don’t, they may not accept unsolicited demos).
If you can’t find it there, you can also look for an email on LinkedIn, Twitter, or even on Facebook or Instagram (you might be able to send them a DM asking for an email if it’s a fairly small label).
OK, so once you’ve got the right email address, what should you send?
4. Keep your email short and to the point
Bear in mind that record labels receive a ton of demos from unsigned artists and won’t take the time to read your whole life story if you send it in your email. You have to respect their time and keep your message short but complete.
It’s also a good idea to personalize your email a little and as well as a very short bio, you can include your social accounts to show that you’re actively building a fanbase around your music (but don’t send private accounts as that would defeat the purpose).
To submit your demo, choose two or three of your favorite songs and send a link to a streaming service such as Soundcloud or Spotify. Bear in mind that most record companies don’t accept physical submissions or file attachments (as this means they have to download them and worry about any potential viruses).
Another option is to send all this in the way of an EPK (Electronic Press Kit) so that the reader only has to look at one document to find out all the information there is to know about you.
5. Contact as many record labels as necessary and follow up after an appropriate amount of time
After all, it’s a numbers game and you want to make sure you give yourself the best possible chance at success. However, as we said in one of the previous sections, you don’t want to waste someone’s time by sending them something they won’t be interested in.
Just take the list you’ve compiled, contact the record labels on there and if, after a month or so, you still haven’t received a reply, you can politely follow up to make sure they’ve received it and ask for their feedback.
6. Do the behind-the-scenes work to show that you’re actually ready to work with a record label
If you send your demo to a record label and you’ve followed these steps, chances are they’ll at least take a look at you to see what you’re all about. And the last thing you want is for them to see you doing nothing and having nothing going on.
You need to be actively building your own career and investing time and energy in yourself.
A very important thing to do and something that A&R representatives notice is having a strong online presence as an artist. So with this in mind, you need to regularly post engaging content on your various social media platforms and build a community of fans around your music by constantly attracting new subscribers.
Another thing you want to do to show that you are still active on the music scene is to release new music consistently. Record labels don’t like one-hit wonders that don’t have a catalogue of songs as these artists don’t tend to bring in a lot of money. So you should aim to bring out a new single every month or at least every couple of months. You also need to be promoting your new record with tools such as a great music video.
Live music is also huge and you need to show the record labels you’ve submitted your demo to, that you are busy touring and playing your new music to your fanbase. You can even use live shows and gigs to sell promotional merchandise like CDs, cassettes, T-shirts… and music sales such as these are a great way to make money as an indie artist.
And since streaming music is the most popular way of consuming music nowadays, you also want to make sure your new music is available on streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, or Tidal or other music services such as iTunes.
You essentially need to show them that you’re at that stage in your career and that you are ready to be signed to a record label.
Conclusion
There you have it, a complete guide to submitting your music to a record label in the hopes of getting a record deal. By following these steps, you’ll be able to get your songs into the hands and ears of the right people who can help you.
—
Send your music to record labels and be guaranteed that your music will be listened to 👇
