RWise wrote:Id be interested to see an example of the kind of stuff you would write voidless in a 'cold email' scenario.
Ok. Well, I don't want to sound arrogant, but I rarely cold call, I generally just send stuff to labels who ask me for stuff.
But I did cold call a much respected underground label that has been running for some 20 years now. I honestly never in a million years would have thought to send my music there, just didn't feel on that level.
Here is the email, with some omissions.
Hello there.
I was given your email by my old friend ******, to contact you, I hope you don`t mind.
I don`t normally do this sort of thing, I don`t like cold calling and avoid it like the plague usually, but this feels right so I feel ok-ish about it.
I`m Steve, I`ve been producing Techno for years, releasing on various underground labels for a long time now, mostly the underground/industrial/outsider end of things, as Voidloss (and a few other pseudonyms).
I have recently completed a collaborative project with a friend which is more experimental, with a dark political (punk) and noise/industrial angle, and we both really like it.
We had no idea where it was going when we did it, and no idea what to do with it, but in my head it seems like ******* is the only logical place to send it as I think it fits with the sensibilities of your label.
So.... I wondered if you were interested in hearing the project as a potential submission for you label?
I run a mastering studio as my business so it`s all basically ready to go, it just needs a home.
Again I apologise for cold calling like this, it`s not something I ever normally do, but it just kinda feels right in this one instance.
At the very least, thanks for your time.
Steve V
A loooong wait.
Then reply 1
yeah sure send it over, I like to check it out
Reply after downloading link I sent (no SoundCloud, wetransfer link of zip containing all tracks (10 of them).
sounds really cool, give me a moment to check all out
My reply
of course mate, no rush, I`m happy that you are just taking a listen.
Then
started to check it out, still need a bit, the sound is wonderful
And
you really nailed it with these tracks, I am like thinking artwork, full color, like something beautiful, no gothic industrial techno aesthetic, you want to throw em off
And finally this bomb
OK here is what I envision at the moment: a 12inch (4 tracks) maybe double 12 inch LP sleaves, with 8 tracks, I will let you know which one, but we probably have to edit them a bit as we do not want to exceed the 12 minutes per side too much, I got to recheck with the distributor what they say about the double 12 idea, basically starting with the new ***** release to be released in 10 days we are not featuring any artist/track info on the sleaves or labels, just the label logo, of course all artist related stuff is going to be eventually revealed via the sales/distribution channels on the various websites and through *****, I hope that is OK for you, but it also serves the purpose to put the focus on the music and to create more obscurity, also I think it is going to help to create a bit of a hype, maybe we can also prepare a podcast that we release right after the release or something
I also have to stress this, we can not pay artists as I am usually barely breaking even with the productions, actually now we are only doing 300 editions and even selling 300 isnt that easy, money is really only made with gigs, I think with the artwork we are on the same page, lets begin throwing ideas back and forth, I might have something already, one idea I also had was to use track titles or random parts of the lyrics and to write them on the labels (handwritten), but first of all let me know if this is all ok
I won't go in to the further conversations but you get the idea.
Needless to say my mind was blown, this was in April this year.
Test pressings are finally in their way to me now, release in January I think.
The guy didn't (as far as I know) know who I was.
Total cold call, didn't even expect a reply, ended up signed and fully embraced by the label which is pretty much the only label left I really really wanted to release on.
So it goes to show you can get somewhere with a cold call.