[edcampos]

Originally Posted by The Byre

Some points for all of you here (from an old hand who has been in this business for 40 years or more!) -

1. Play your song ONCE to some old relative. Now ask them to whistle it or sing the chorus. If they have forgotten it already, bin it. It does not pass the famous 'old grey whistle test.' (This was the test publishers at the Brill Building in NY used with the old doorman there!)

2. Nearly all labels bin all demos sent through the mail for legal reasons. They even state this on their websites. They also bin them for the obvious reasons that they just do not have the time to go through hundreds of demos every day - and the simple fact that anybody can knock up a fantastic demo. That doesn't tell them much.

3. All labels I have ever worked with look at local TV, concerts, festivals and that sort of thing for their next new talent. I was with somebody last night from a label and she was watching the Gaelic programmes and a band came on that played a local festival that she had missed. "That's the sort of thing we are looking for!" she said. She will get an aid now to talk to that band.

4. If a label likes you, they will start to investigate your fan base. When they go to a concert, they are more interested in the audience, than in you.

5. Don't expect anybody to be interested in an act that does not play live.

Bingo!