How to get a record deal
Hi everyone, I’m Jen Anderson and I’m a major label A&R, manager, lecturer, tour manager and all round music industry person here in the UK. I’m going to write a series of blog posts to try and give budding musicians some information about the dos and don’ts of the music industry. I’m going to start off with a big one…
…One of the main questions that I get asked the most is “how do I get signed by a label?” And I tell all musicians the same thing “don’t send your music to record labels.” That’s right – DON’T. One of the main mistakes that musicians make is to record some demos and send them to record labels either as a CD or mp3s in an email. I get numerous emails every single month that all start the same way
Hi
This is an inviation to check out my music…….
Blah Blah Blah
Yours sincerely
This band
Now email etiquette is a completely separate topic all together that you can learn about in my Press, Radio and Blogs – Getting Exposure Course but why would anyone want to listen to your music from this email?
Let’s look at this from another angle. Let’s say that a local restaurant emails you saying that their meals are great and you should check it out, would you? How about if you read about this great restaurant in the local paper, would you visit then? How about a friend who has a great taste in food says “oh my god that restaurant was awesome, you should check it out.” What are the chances of you checking it out then?
The music industry is no different – a musician emails an A&R a generic email asking them to check out their music; an A&R reads about a band on a blog or hear it on the radio; or someone they respect the musical tastes of, tells them to check out this great band – which of these is likely to make them listen?
So how do you go about getting a deal – well you put some work into it. Think about the places where A&R discover music and you get your music featured or reviewed on there. Start with getting your songs on the radio, reviewed in blogs, featured on a well known Spotify playlist or Youtube channel, get interviews in newspapers and magazines and/or any other place you think an A&R may look. Now if you are thinking “where the hell do I start with this stuff?” then the good news is that I cover all of this in my Press, Radio and Blogs – Getting Exposure Course and it is the cheapest around. You could alternatively book a consultation to talk through your own musical project.
