Promoting your music/Where to get emails of Djs ?

[DJ 1UP]

No one else wants to divulge secret promotion techniques? Aww!

[ohmicide]

Oh another thing, blogs. I just got one of my tracks featured on Dubstep.net and I've been getting a bunch of attention!

[ScratchNSurf]

^what he said

Submit to as many blogs as possible with the soundcloud link. If its good it'll be shared.
send your music to labels too! Labels are great at promotion, thats why they exist

Sent from my DROID Pro using Gearslutz.com

[Reptil]

I've merged this thread with another, since it's the same subject.
and is now a temporary sticky.
please keep the tips coming?
cheers!

[ohmicide]

Well since these two discussions were merged then I guess I'll kill two birds with one stone. I think the ultimate answer is to hire a PR company. Their job is to hunt down DJs, blogs, magazines, etc and promote you and your release. This is what my label is doing for my upcoming EP. They asked my label to provide my artist links, biography, press kit, free downloads, DJ mix, past show dates, upcoming show dates, info on the release (including cover art, track listing, supporting acts, etc.) and the release itself. They're doing the rest of the work, but of course I'm also going to get it out there as much as possible through my own contacts and such. This is my first time dealing with all this stuff so I don't even have my full press kit or DJ mix. Neither have I played any shows as of yet, but I do have a small US tour planned starting in February. Hopefully it'll all go well.

[deft_bonz]

Considering all those very good tips, I think I'll hire a beautiful assistent, who will do that for me


Promotion is time and money consuming. If it would be easy, everybody would be successful.

Got to know 2 famous DJs from Germany last weekend. For a client I produced an EP and a remix for their label. They told me, that they get around 400 emails with links, tracks, etc... PER WEEK! First they hardly have the time to listen to all of them. Second they don't listen to the 2nd track if the first doesn't persuade. I can't blame them.

Nevertheless I sent them my own demoes yesterday and they answered instantly.

So go out, get to know people that know people that know people, meet them next time in the club again, talk chit chat with them, order some drinks, take some good looking cool sympathic girls with you, etc etc etc. If you send them your demoes after you got to know them this way and had a good time with them, they will listen for sure.

I prefere some reserve / coolness. I don't like to impose. That needs more time of course. But until now, for me it was more successful. It's just my style.

[ohmicide]

Originally Posted by LaLa

perhaps this works for us rockstars and popstars ... but for edm?!? i dont know such a pr company doing it well for edm.

So far I know about these two

Infectious PR: music promotion to specialist media
Push Promotion

I'm sure there's a lot more

[amorant]

the promo list thing is a really tough way to get your stuff noticed.first off you need to make sure that your tracks are good enough to be handing out.nothing worse than a producer slinging his mediocre tracks out to everyone in the world.all that does is set you back,in the worst way.Dont come flying out of the studio and start sending your songs to everyone,stick it on your ipod,listen to it for a few days,and then make that decision.personal networking is the way to go.most of you know someone who knows someone,get them to pass the songs along for you.and in fact i think smaller digital labels are the way to go,you may not make any money,but,getting your name out there and getting releases under your belt will do wonders.the likelyhood of you getting your tracks on a big label right off the bat are very slim.

[Boreal]

I would definitely push to music blogs. That and Youtube are how most youngsters get their new music fix these days.

For finding music blogs with similar taste (that would want to post about me) I normally check Hype Machine, a music blog aggregator. You can click the pictures on the left to be linked to the blog where the songs are posted. Getting to the popular section of Hype Machine usually means you're a big deal (or at the least made a mashup of Skrillex and some other pop song and everyone under 13 loves it)!

You can also use the search function to find artists that are similar to you and see what blogs are posting about them as well if your genre isn't as mainstream as what normally appears in the "Popular" top 20 section.

[artech909]

Too many people believe in some shit like "labels don't listen any promo".
This is total bullshit guys because that's how they make money! They need hits, they need you if you can make some good money, so they need to listen all this shit promos to find something good because for example small/mid label simply can't afford AVICII for next release. This is business for label they need to SELL something good or they will sink. So don't trash labels so fast.

[deft_bonz]

Originally Posted by artech909

Too many people believe in some shit like "labels don't listen any promo".
This is total bullshit guys because that's how they make money! They need hits, they need you if you can make some good money, so they need to listen all this shit promos to find something good because for example small/mid label simply can't afford AVICII for next release. This is business for label they need to SELL something good or they will sink. So don't trash labels so fast.

Absolutely true. It's not trashing. For newbies it just seems that way.

Most of the labels listen to (mostly) all demoes. Maybe sometimes it needs time. But most labels can't give a feedback to all of them. And most of the times, if the first couple seconds don't persuade, they won't listen to the next track.

Years ago, I've never received feedbacks. But nowadays I know a couple of labels and a lot of people. When I send demoes in, I also get a feedback. And to get there it's a hard job.

[kacperson]

guys someone here wrote that we should first register our rights as original creator of a certain track and then send to label. so...how we register,what the heck it means and what it is all about ? i am totally clueless with it

[Reptil]

when you've got a bunch of good songs together, register them as an album
see post 16 for the link (it's quite easy)
any creator has automatically copyright, from the moment of creation.
however being right and being the one that's recognised as copyright holder (and getting paid) are two different things.

alternatively you can also have your work filed at a barrister's office (in dutch Notaris). I do not recommend with important things to mail it in a signature required letter (dated!) TO YOURSELF, and then not open it. For small peas that might be an easy cheap solution, but if it's about big money, invest in some legal help.

here's more info on the situation of PRO's
these cash in royalties for you.
search for more info yourself https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfor...s_organisation

[kacperson]

ok thanks man

[Artist4]

no big plan

work hard, work hard and some day, life is going to give you success just in the way that you are NOT thinking

good luck!

[pedrogoya]

As a label owner and dj (that gets tons of promos) I have to admit these:

1 - The records I DID NO PROMOTION where the ones actually got bigger sales.

2 - I started to delete ALL digital promos I receive in my mailbox...it is just too much music, info, links, feedbacks...I would have to spend hours just to check them all and to select my favourites and I still love searching music for myself instead of being pushed to play something that is screaming for attention.

3 - Very important: Do not upload your track onto social networks or Soundcloud if it's not out yet. I've realised the more you do this (probably you'll get some nice comments, but it wont be revealing in sales or plays from djs).
I've realised this by listening to others. There are some tracks I found really really interesting (I add them to my favorites) but enventually never end up buying it because I forget it while its not released. The ones wich came out on the day it was uploaded I eventually added to my Beatport / Whatpeopleplay basket due to the simplicity and comodity of the "BUY" button.

4-Try to do something physical (Vinyl or Cd) - Of course this will be dispendious. But your workflow will change suddenly and you'll realise you have to treat your digital (ONLY) as a fine piece of wax that costed you thousands...So, it has to WORK! You'll run off the computer and start delivering music directly to other musicians.

5- There is no miracular mailing list that does the job. It's all about personal relationships, good music...and a LOT LOT of LUCK

My 2 cents

Hope you're all fine and healthy

Pedro Goya
Pedro Goya

[timogrady]

The problem is wanting to get signed to a label? What can a label do for you these days that you can't already do for yourself? All you get from signing to a label now is a loan with an extremely bad interest rate, a few extra years living at your mom & dad's house and access to the same social media marketing that you already had access to before you signed with them. It's great to get your songs airplay, but if you're doing it to get signed, rethink what you're actually extending your efforts towards.

[timogrady]

Originally Posted by LaLa

it releases your tracks on itunes, beatport, juno etc. and uploads them to youtube.

for that "hard jobs" they take at least 75% of your sales.

That's why labels are destined for failure. Companies like TuneCore allow you the same digital distribution as any major can these days and takes a much smaller percentage all while allowing you to keep all of your publishing and everything else.

[pedrogoya]

LaLa you just said it all correctly. I do not invest more in my label (despite having physical releases on it) due to the lack of breakeven. I barely recover the invested money wheater in digital or physical sales. I would earn a good amount if no distributor was attached, but nothing that would pay my bills.

Ive seen you mention tunecore, but as an electronic label there are some "must be in" websitess like beatport or whatpeopleplay or boomkat. I did not see any mention of those websites over tunecore website. They mention a lot itunes (in wich I am also being distributed) but honestly it is not
My main web sales target as Ive seen over the years that electronic music is not much purchased there due to the lack of quality on the mp3s.

I really have all the hard work and see the distributor taking more than I do when all they do is to deliver something Ive delivered them! Its non sense!!

Tunecore would be great for my record label (in digital matters) IF they were connected to those sites ive mentioned above.

So you know anyone in the same situation as Im in?

Thanks!

[deft_bonz]

The labels main part should be the promoting and marketing. If they do it good and intensively, it's fair they take their share.

But I don't get, why distributors should get that much share... they do not do THAT much, but maybe I just don't know it better. From my point of view, it looks like earning much and doing little.

[Reptil]

example how NOT to do things
‘Natalia’s Song’: did Zomby even write it? – FACT magazine: music and art

[Fifstar]

Originally Posted by timogrady

The problem is wanting to get signed to a label? What can a label do for you these days that you can't already do for yourself? All you get from signing to a label now is a loan with an extremely bad interest rate, a few extra years living at your mom & dad's house and access to the same social media marketing that you already had access to before you signed with them. It's great to get your songs airplay, but if you're doing it to get signed, rethink what you're actually extending your efforts towards.

In the edm scene the money is only in gigs, and you only get gigs when you have releases on somewhat relevant labels. Nobody really gives a shit if you self release your music, no matter how well you do it. Being on a proper label means that big DJs will actually listen to it, play it and show to other DJs, while they will ignore you otherwise most probably.

[Barfunkel]

Originally Posted by Fifstar

In the edm scene the money is only in gigs, and you only get gigs when you have releases on somewhat relevant labels. Nobody really gives a shit if you self release your music, no matter how well you do it. Being on a proper label means that big DJs will actually listen to it, play it and show to other DJs, while they will ignore you otherwise most probably.

This pretty much much. You'll have to get extremely lucky to be noticed, if you release it yourself (or have an actual marketing budget). It's difficult enough to get a few hundred plays on free music on Soundcloud, I can't even imagine how hard it would be to get a few hundred people to actually pay for the music, without being on a famous label or being a household name already.

[Kindred]

If you wanna get your stuff out to as many djs as possible use a professional promo service. There are a few but Press&Play springs to mind for house/techno

I try to avoid using these services though as I don't want people to get in the habit of expecting the tracks on my label for free. Plus I have seen a perfect negative correlation between doing a big promo mailout and the eventual sales - which I can only surmise as being due to potential buyers getting sent the track for free in the mailout...

[rebecca moss]

Promoting your music online has never been as easy as it is now. Using social media to promote music online is a very popular and a useful method.

[Barfunkel]

Originally Posted by rebecca moss

Promoting your music online has never been as easy as it is now. Using social media to promote music online is a very popular and a useful method.

And how exactly does it work? I mean really, just posting "I have records to sell" on your Facebook doesn't work, unless you have thousands of friends who are into buying music. Most don't.

You need to get a big fanbase before social media promotion works. Getting the fanbase is the hard part.

Blogs don't work either, my (free) music was recently featured in the relevant blog of it's genre. The blog was the first to come up with google when typing ""x genre blog", so it's supposedly popular. I didn't get that many plays from that.

Never used twitter, but if I understand how it works correctly, you need a big fanbase on that too.

[hypergiantmusic]

I find that most DJ's, the ones I listen to anyway are just everyday normal people that are usually more than happy to have a chat. Just a few months ago I was at a Party with a certain DJ and we spent our time talking about wasps : )
Just add them on facebook, add the labels on facebook, network. If your productions are up to scratch they'll be picked up on eventually. Have a look through some DJ's ''likes'' and try to find a small label. Send your stuff there. It should be the job of the label anyway to get your music more exposure.

[Acid Mitch]

Originally Posted by timogrady

The problem is wanting to get signed to a label? What can a label do for you these days that you can't already do for yourself? .

If I try marketing and managing my music suffers.
One doesn't get any time to work on music when one is doing everything else.

[aaliasmith]

I think the best way is to find the famous dj's on google after that contact them ,if anyone is interested in your tracks then search all about that dj after that confirm it for your tracks.

[ohmicide]

Two words, Facebook ads

If your music is good and you target the right audience, you'll get your money's worth