"How to send demos" by Steve O Sullivan (and me;)

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Re: "How to send demos" by Steve O Sullivan (and me;)

Post by terryfalafel »

jordanneke wrote:If anyone's interested, I sent a cold calling email to a fairly big label. Here is what I said.
Hi x,

I'm Jordan and I'm quite hesitant to send you this, but here I am sending.

I really hope at least one of these tracks is up to x's fantastic standards. I was kind of confident when I made the decision to send you the demo, but after re-listening to your releases......

Anyway, here they are below. If they are not for you, then thanks for reading this mail.

If you do manage to listen to them and have any feedback to give me, then I'd be most welcome to that.
They listened to the tracks, AND got back to me.....



Saying 'no'. :D :D :D
I also tend to go for the self deprecation approach in general when presenting something I've made, so I do understand the vibe you went for.

But you pretty much told them your tracks are shit, and not as good as anything they've already released, before they've even heard them.

If you suggest that your music is barely worth the time they're going to invest in listening to it, I suspect that doesn't put them in a frame of mind that makes them want to sign your music.

Hope that doesn't come across as harsh or unpleasant, but frankly your tracks deserve a more confident written accompaniment when you're sending them round, only imho of course...

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Re: "How to send demos" by Steve O Sullivan (and me;)

Post by RWise »

jordanneke wrote:If anyone's interested, I sent a cold calling email to a fairly big label. Here is what I said.
Hi x,

I'm Jordan and I'm quite hesitant to send you this, but here I am sending.

I really hope at least one of these tracks is up to x's fantastic standards. I was kind of confident when I made the decision to send you the demo, but after re-listening to your releases......

Anyway, here they are below. If they are not for you, then thanks for reading this mail.

If you do manage to listen to them and have any feedback to give me, then I'd be most welcome to that.
They listened to the tracks, AND got back to me.....

Saying 'no'. :D :D :D
Ok man, tough love.. That email was terrible. Stop shitting on yourself so much, especially when presenting your work which you should be proud of! First thought i got after reading that email was 'well this guy obviously isnt confident in his work, so i dont expect this to be great...' Not the vibe you want to give off to someone who could potentially sign your music.

Think of it as if you were at a job interview. You're not going to be sitting there at an interview saying to the employer 'yeah i dont really think i am good enough for this job but thanks for talking to me if not anyway..'

I get that it technically all comes down to whether the label like your music but shit, you dont want to basically say to the label you are probably not good enough for them before they even hear your music. You want to confidently present the music to the label.

I appreciate you're being humble but have some pride in your music man. Selling yourself a bit doesnt mean you have to sound arrogant.
Last edited by RWise on Sun Oct 29, 2017 3:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: "How to send demos" by Steve O Sullivan (and me;)

Post by RWise »

Ill quickly make an improvement edit of your email to show you a better way of going about these things... Its 2:20am and i am a little drunk so it wont be perfect...
_____________________________________________

Hi x,

I'm Jordan and I'm a producer based in x.

Here are (x amount of tracks) i would like you to listen to.

If you have any feedback to give me, then I'd be most welcome to that.

I hope my sound resonates with the label and thank you for your time.

Best,

Jordan
________________________


Just some shit like that man would do you a lot better than the original email you sent. Just be polite, to the point and dont be self-deprecating in the email. Just show that you have tracks ready for them to hear. (Just remember, labels arent shit without music and them people are the creators, who are people like me and you!) ;)
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Re: "How to send demos" by Steve O Sullivan (and me;)

Post by Lost to the Void »

RWise wrote:Ill quickly make an improvement edit of your email to show you a better way of going about these things... Its 2:20am and i am a little drunk so it wont be perfect...
_____________________________________________

Hi x,

I'm Jordan and I'm a producer based in x.

Here are (x amount of tracks) i would like you to listen to.

If you have any feedback to give me, then I'd be most welcome to that.

I hope my sound resonates with the label and thank you for your time.

Best,

Jordan
________________________


Just some shit like that man would do you a lot better than the original email you sent. Just be polite, to the point and dont be self-deprecating in the email. Just show that you have tracks ready for them to hear.

Gives me no idea why the person wants to send the stuff to me as a label.
That's literally no better than typical: My name is DJ Dagnut, here are some tunes I would like to release.

That email would get deleted straight away if it was in my inbox.

You don't need to be self deprecating for sure, or cocksure, but as a label owner and having dealt with a lot of labels, in general it is nice to know why people are trying to connect with your label, or wether you are just spamming shit in to get a release and a platform.

If I understand why people are trying to connect with my label, then I am more likely to listen. And it's pretty much worked for me when sending to labels, some of which I have had a lasting relationship with.

Making a connection with a label and finding a home for your music, rather than just some place to splat out a release and then on to the next one, is more beneficial in the long run, it's also more pleasant.
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Re: "How to send demos" by Steve O Sullivan (and me;)

Post by RWise »

Lost to the Void wrote:
RWise wrote:Ill quickly make an improvement edit of your email to show you a better way of going about these things... Its 2:20am and i am a little drunk so it wont be perfect...
_____________________________________________

Hi x,

I'm Jordan and I'm a producer based in x.

Here are (x amount of tracks) i would like you to listen to.

If you have any feedback to give me, then I'd be most welcome to that.

I hope my sound resonates with the label and thank you for your time.

Best,

Jordan
________________________


Just some shit like that man would do you a lot better than the original email you sent. Just be polite, to the point and dont be self-deprecating in the email. Just show that you have tracks ready for them to hear.

Gives me no idea why the person wants to send the stuff to me as a label.
That's literally no better than typical: My name is DJ Dagnut, here are some tunes I would like to release.

That email would get deleted straight away if it was in my inbox.

You don't need to be self deprecating for sure, or cocksure, but as a label owner and having dealt with a lot of labels, in general it is nice to know why people are trying to connect with your label, or wether you are just spamming shit in to get a release and a platform.

If I understand why people are trying to connect with my label, then I am more likely to listen. And it's pretty much worked for me when sending to labels, some of which I have had a lasting relationship with.

Making a connection with a label and finding a home for your music, rather than just some place to splat out a release and then on to the next one, is more beneficial in the long run, it's also more pleasant.
Yeah i agree its still a little bland but if the label have gone as far as opening your email, then something along the lines of what i wrote above wont deter them from clicking the soundcloud link and listening at least i imagine. (not from my experience in the past anyway)

But i dont know what jordans connection with the label he was sending to is. I agree that it would be good to add a little bit of how you feel you connect with that label though.
Last edited by RWise on Sun Oct 29, 2017 3:59 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: "How to send demos" by Steve O Sullivan (and me;)

Post by RWise »

Id be interested to see an example of the kind of stuff you would write voidless in a 'cold email' scenario.
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Re: "How to send demos" by Steve O Sullivan (and me;)

Post by jordanneke »

All points taken, but in my defence, they did at least listen to the tracks, which is way more action than any previous email.

I also sent a mail first asking if the label took demos.
I'm Jordan from Antwerp and to say I'm a fan of x is an understatement.

I have a few tracks that I'd absolutely love to share with you, so I have to ask, are you accepting any new music? Would it be worth sending you some?

Anyway, even if the answer is no, then thanks for reading this..
And that worked (Well, he has yet to reply about the tracks)
Hey jordan,

Thanks for reaching out! Just send them over as a private SoundCloud set to me at andrew@x

Always like to hear new stuff.

I’m going on holidays for a few weeks so don’t worry if it takes me a bit of time to reply. We listen to everything we’re sent.
Don't know why I didn't think of this before. It's pretty obvious when you think about it.

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Re: "How to send demos" by Steve O Sullivan (and me;)

Post by dubdub »

I wouldn't sweat it, at this point in your life you aren't in a hurry to get music out there, no? The right label will pop up eventually, do you even want to work with people that treat your demo submissions like a nuisance?

Btw, what kind of stuff have you been sending? I think your house-y stuff has a better shot because it sounds more unique but that's also going to make it an awkward fit for a lot of labels because it's too house-y for a lot of techno labels and not anal-log enough for a lot of straight up house labels. I guess you could put it some vintage warmer and fake vinyl crackle on that shit and it'll fly off the shelves with all these lo-fi house labels :lol:

Have you tried the likes of Hyperclour, Don't Be Afraid, Aus Music etc.? Mabye even Rekids... They probably all get a shit ton of demos but they release a lot of stuff that's more techno-house hybrid.

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Re: "How to send demos" by Steve O Sullivan (and me;)

Post by jordanneke »

Man, I fucking love me some techno, but also house.

Turns out people prefer the house that I make. Which I don't mind. I just wish I could make techno that people equally liked!

Although it could be that I produce house on a techno forum, so you lot wouldn't know if it was good or not... ;)

Just as long as no-one calls my stuff Tech-fucking-house.

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Re: "How to send demos" by Steve O Sullivan (and me;)

Post by jordanneke »

dubdub wrote: isance?

Btw, what kind of stuff have you been sending? I think your house-y stuff has a better shot because it sounds more unique but that's also going to make it an awkward fit for a lot of labels because it's too house-y for a lot of techno labels and not anal-log enough for a lot of straight up house labels. I guess you could put it some vintage warmer and fake vinyl crackle on that shit and it'll fly off the shelves with all these lo-fi house labels :lol:

Have you tried the likes of Hyperclour, Don't Be Afraid, Aus Music etc.? Mabye even Rekids... They probably all get a shit ton of demos but they release a lot of stuff that's more techno-house hybrid.
Lol about the analog stuff. Indeed some labels only accept music make with only gear, rescued from the basement of the paradise garage, or bought second hand from a dealer when Larry Levan pawned everything for heroin.

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Re: "How to send demos" by Steve O Sullivan (and me;)

Post by P0607r0n »

jordanneke wrote:
dubdub wrote: isance?

Btw, what kind of stuff have you been sending? I think your house-y stuff has a better shot because it sounds more unique but that's also going to make it an awkward fit for a lot of labels because it's too house-y for a lot of techno labels and not anal-log enough for a lot of straight up house labels. I guess you could put it some vintage warmer and fake vinyl crackle on that shit and it'll fly off the shelves with all these lo-fi house labels :lol:

Have you tried the likes of Hyperclour, Don't Be Afraid, Aus Music etc.? Mabye even Rekids... They probably all get a shit ton of demos but they release a lot of stuff that's more techno-house hybrid.
Lol about the analog stuff. Indeed some labels only accept music make with only gear, rescued from the basement of the paradise garage, or bought second hand from a dealer when Larry Levan pawned everything for heroin.
Just put it through tape saturation vst (Void mentioned the good one some time ago) and make a selfie on some gig with your mates table of vintage gear, and you're in tha game booooy. :lol: (after release publish your DAW project where you made the track. Buy popcorn. Enjoy)
Does any actual label do that?! Would you like to be released by someone like that?

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Re: "How to send demos" by Steve O Sullivan (and me;)

Post by Lost to the Void »

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.
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Re: "How to send demos" by Steve O Sullivan (and me;)

Post by Monreal »

Step 1: Have a great material
Step 2: Profit

:D

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Re: "How to send demos" by Steve O Sullivan (and me;)

Post by Hades »

Monreal wrote:Step 1: Have a great material
Step 2: Profit

:D
I don't think step 1 is really necessary nowadays... ;)
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Re: "How to send demos" by Steve O Sullivan (and me;)

Post by mainst09 »

Lost to the Void wrote:
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.

bro u can tell us, you are releasing on brocode!
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Re: "How to send demos" by Steve O Sullivan (and me;)

Post by Lost to the Void »

Obviously.
I developed a new production technique for it.
What I did was I reduced any of my desire to make something with artistic merit, or anything even vaguely individual, then I dissolved my integrity, got my teeth whitened, and learned how to wear sunglasses at night, indoors, and invested my money in a professional photographer to make monthly black and white promo photos of me staring into the distance.
And that's how I got signed to Dumbcode.
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Re: "How to send demos" by Steve O Sullivan (and me;)

Post by Mono-xID »

jordanneke wrote:If anyone's interested, I sent a cold calling email to a fairly big label.

They listened to the tracks, AND got back to me.....



Saying 'no'. :D :D :D
Did this once with a well known label (not dumbcode) when I was in my prime moments (vinyl releases, big players played my stuff etc.).
Told them who I am, where I released already and why I wanted to release my music through their label. I was confident about the tracks and I am still confident about them until today.

Their response was: " Hello, yeah we know your music and we really like the tracks you sent us. Unfortunately you already released on too many smaller labels which we don't want to be associated with. But good luck for your future bla bla bla".

That was the last demo I sent, everything I released afterwards was on label request until I stopped completely with releasing my music.

Though I understand the urge of getting releases out (preferably by good labels) I honestly can say that nowadays I give zero fucks about all of this even though it would be dead easy for me these days as I know a few people in Berlins a-grade techno industry on a "good mate"-level.

I has a few beers with Shackleton a few weeks ago in my best mates studio. We jammed around,I showed him my stuff etc. He said he could give some tracks to this or that guy and so on. I told him I don't want to put out a record just because he's my mate. I fuckin hate these kind of politics to death where connections weights more than the music. He completely understood my point and in the end we all agreed that all of this is just bullshit.

Honest feedback from from artists I admire is giving me more buzz these days than a release on (insert your fav label here).

That said, last week Steve Bicknell started to follow my soundcloud. I was shocked and wrote him the next day that he is one of my main inspirations since old Tresor days and we had a small chat about the old basement. Seems to be a decent and humble person.

Can I say that for a second I was thinking about of asking him to send him some of my unreleased tracks? :shock: :shock: :? :P
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