Umm..........record label????!
Question: well........i don't remember when.....but i was at the hotel lobby in florida.......and like i thought that nobody was around to hear me.......so i was like singing........by the way, i was waiting for my dad to get our room keys.....well...then, this guy...who works at the hotel.....came up to me and told me that i have a good voice.....then he called this other woman....i think her name was tanisha......and she asked me to sing for her....so i did.....and she said that i should try contacting local record companies....and send them demo cds....
well my question is basically...where should i send the demos and what do i do....and like some record companies u would suggest..........and also....like do i have to write my own songs.......or can i just sing any song that is already out there????
or any other..........
Answers: well........i don't remember when.....but i was at the hotel lobby in florida.......and like i thought that nobody was around to hear me.......so i was like singing........by the way, i was waiting for my dad to get our room keys.....well...then, this guy...who works at the hotel.....came up to me and told me that i have a good voice.....then he called this other woman....i think her name was tanisha......and she asked me to sing for her....so i did.....and she said that i should try contacting local record companies....and send them demo cds....
well my question is basically...where should i send the demos and what do i do....and like some record companies u would suggest..........and also....like do i have to write my own songs.......or can i just sing any song that is already out there????
or any other..........
Finding contact info for record companies isn't the hard part. Getting them to accept your material unsolicited is nearly impossible. For someone at a label to even listen to your submission, you need to have someone on the inside invite you to submit your material.
What else can you do?
Well, if your'e really serious about making a go at it, try to make a record label's job as easy as possible. They want to minimize risk, so if you can develop a local following as a performer or show a track record of independent record sales, they are more willing to sign you. However, if you're successful at selling records on your own and have a local following, do you really need a label? Today, all record labels are good for is national record store distribution and marketing power....and that's if you're one of the rosters on their label that are a priority.
I hope this wasn't too much of a downer, but I didn't want you to spend too much time prepping material to submit to a label if you didn't have someone on the inside waiting for it.
For some reason, people think that going to a record label is the best way to "make it" but that line is blurring in recent years. If you write an AMAZING song and have a few people hear it that tell their friends...and they tell their friends...and so on...you will have national distribution in no time. If you happened to be selling your songs on iTunes, you now have a store where you can earn money too--without having to give a label a cut.
What I would recommend doing is finding a local studio or a friend with some decent recording gear (and a good mixing ear!) and cut a 3-song demo. Send it to www.discmakers.com and have a smaller run created. They will automatically distribute your CD to cdbaby.com, iTunes and Rhapsody for you! Then, you can post your songs out on Garageband.com and get some critical feedback. Maybe you have some talent worth checking out?
If you have your own stuff, sing that - or just sing your favorite song you know really well.
Local record companies are in the phone book.
Funny that Tanisha didn't have one to suggest.