Most record labels are also listed in the A&R Registry sold at The Music Business Registry. You’ve probably already done this in order to decide which companies might be great fits for you and your bandmates, but you may want to reacquaint yourself with their roster. Use platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter to find out who works at record labels and what they do. You can make the best music, sell a million copies, or even become a viral sensation, but nothing is promised. Home Recording Studio Design: 5 Essential Steps to Build a Quality Studio, The 10 Best Music Schools (2020/2021): Attending College in the Age of COVID-19, Learn Music Theory for Beginners: We Answer Your Questions, Best Free VSTs for Home Music Producers in 2020/2021, Best Drum Machines for Making Beats in 2020/2021, Best USB Microphone for Live Streaming Music from Home. Look For Submission Policies. Do your best to make whatever you’re sending, be it an electronic missive or a package containing your CD (and perhaps other goodies) stand out in any way. Here are a few tips to help you find out which record labels are accepting demos and how you can actually submit to them. CareersinMusic.comPO Box 43562Las Vegas, NV 89116United Statescim_mail( 'info', 'careersinmusic', 0, false ); This site and your information are secure. It’s a shame, but everybody tangentially connected to a record label gets inundated with requests like this, and there are only so many they can tackle (if they do at all). Don’t let this discourage you; it’s just how these things go. This includes personalizing content and advertising. What is an unsolicited demo? Those that listen to them are less. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies, revised. You will probably have much better luck with smaller, more independent labels. Most of the time, these people will not respond to you, because they have heard this all before. The music industry may be changing, but most artists, especially those who are still building their careers, remain interested in signing record deals and being part of a label’s roster. If there are people out there interested in buying your music, streaming it over and over, and seeing you live, there’s a chance at least one record label is willing to sign you and your band up to some sort of deal. Colors, packaging, a headline that catches the eye…do whatever you need to up the chances somebody will actually see your attempt and perhaps give it a listen. As I mentioned in a previous article, Unsolicited Music Demos: How to Get in the Door of a Record Label , the reality is that no one is soliciting to these demos. You’ll need to track these employees down on social media or possibly find their emails and actually reach out to them. This is just your first moment of contact where you should be primarily interested in finding the right email address, website, or perhaps office where you can ship a CD. Once you’ve looked to make sure a specific label doesn’t tell you flat out how and where to send music, your next step is to simply ask. You might be surprised how many names you’ll be able to keep track of after just a quick look, but afterward comes the difficult part: contacting them. He mostly writes for Forbes, where he publishes several stories per day, on average. There are plenty of examples of bands that ended up succeeding in this fashion, so give it your best and don’t expect the world. Having made that clear, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. Labels accepting Demo Submissions... Hi and welcome to our "Labels accepting demo submissions" page . If you’re lucky, and you’ve phrased your message in a way that is quick to read and extremely polite (I can’t stress this one enough), you might hear back and get the info you were looking for. Ask how they went about securing their deal. This can get tricky, but if you’re polite, respectful, and courteous (not to mention concise, which I’ve mentioned before) about your ask, you might get a response, and hopefully it will be helpful. Again, please don’t think you’ll see a high success rate when it comes to this way of operating, but sometimes you just have to suck it up and try! We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. Some of them have specifically spelled out policies regarding sending in demos, and these can either be a hindrance or very helpful. The majority of record labels don't accept any demo submissions at present times, but perhaps they will after some time. The first step is getting your music heard by the right people, but it’s a very tricky first step. An unsolicited demo is a single, EP, or full-length sent to the record label without them asking for it. Because of that reason (among many others), getting your music heard by someone at a label can be incredibly difficult, let alone actually landing a deal. Hugh McIntyre is an NYC based freelance music journalist. In fact, if you can’t spend a tiny amount of time to look at the company’s website first, they’ll probably ignore your inquiry entirely (and with good reason). At the end of the day, this is absolutely not a foolproof way to submit music and to get your work in front of those who can make decisions at a record label, but it’s an incredibly simple way to try. No matter what anybody says, there is nothing you can do to ensure a record deal is in your future. That might not be what you were hoping to see, but at least you know. Your ask is small: How can you get your music in front of somebody? Find the smaller bands listed and start reaching out to them one by one, using whatever method you like. Keep your communications, be they email, mail, or another route, very short, sweet, and to the point. This is almost certain to result in no action and no response, but if there weren’t any suggestions when it came to submitting music and this is your only option, it hopefully won’t be viewed as a nuisance. Before you start sending CDs out, emailing everybody on staff at a company, or calling the headquarters nonstop, try looking at the websites of all of the record labels you’re considering sending music to. Of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll hear back, or that somebody will listen, but if it’s how the company wants to be pitched new music, you should at least start there. Remember chances are, whoever you are contacting is not the person who will be able to hand you a deal, and they may not have any sway when it comes to convincing anybody your art is better or more commercial than anyone else’s.