I want to get my music exposed. What should I do?

[Kaifeng]

I mean really, what should I do? A lot of people are saying that many labels barely do any work with respect to pushing their artist's music and that record labels are kind of useless now days. I don't want to spend a lot of time submitting stuff to labels if it's not going to be very beneficial. There's record labels, there's starting your own label, there's sites that let you release stuff online without a label, etc... (( confusion ))

I really know nothing about all of this. I DO know that my tunes are more than good, unique, and would sell if they got publicity. I just need a direction to go, but i'm a bit lost.

[Technologic]

I mean really, what should I do? A lot of people are saying that many labels barely do any work with respect to pushing their artist's music and that record labels are kind of useless now days. I don't want to spend a lot of time submitting stuff to labels if it's not going to be very beneficial. There's record labels, there's starting your own label, there's sites that let you release stuff online without a label, etc... (( confusion ))

I really know nothing about all of this. I DO know that my tunes are more than good, unique, and would sell if they got publicity. I just need a direction to go, but i'm a bit lost.

Join the club mate. I'm investing in production and need advice on how to put out my music too. I do plan on starting my own labels but i want to get records signed as well.

Starting my own label seems like the best option for me, it's going about getting it live i'm stuck at.

[teknonotice]

If you guys are looking at the digital domain then enter Teknonotice Digital..

Have a look at Teknonotice Digital is a leading global distributor of dance music, record label and online store. Music, videos, Records Features, articles, artist interviews, music technology reviews: (TDR) Digital DJ store and online label, for the digital DJ, MP (http://www.teknonotice.com) then let’s have a chat...if you don’t release with us, or use us we will still give you completely unbiased independent advice on the various channels available to get your music out there and heard.

You can also check out the new part of our site (online store/forum/video and photo community) here:

Teknonotice Digital Recordings Blog. Mp3 next generation producer, label, artist and DJ services. Online store, music distributor, record label (http://www.teknonotice.com/digital_music_distributor_label_online_store/)

Promotion, in our opinion is the responsibility of all involved and Teknonotice proactively works on behalf of artists and labels in the promotion of your audio and visuals.

Refs available.

[Igneous]

It depends a little on whether you want to sell you music or not. Its easy to expose your music if your giving it away.

Get some space on a server sorted out & do weekly/monthly podcasts with widget thingies.

Send links to your tunes to all the relavent internet radio stations, send your tunes to all the jocks you can think of, send it to all the lables you can find, set up a myspace, facebook fan page, sound cloud, etc & bassically spam the **** out of the internet.

Hope some of that helps.

[Technologic]

It depends a little on whether you want to sell you music or not. Its easy to expose your music if your giving it away.

Get some space on a server sorted out & do weekly/monthly podcasts with widget thingies.

Send links to your tunes to all the relavent internet radio stations, send your tunes to all the jocks you can think of, send it to all the lables you can find, set up a myspace, facebook fan page, sound cloud, etc & bassically spam the **** out of the internet.

Hope some of that helps.

What i'm talking about is getting my music on to beatport, juno etc first as these are excellent marketing tools and very helpful in getting raport; and a huge step in establishing a new label. There doesn't seem to be any advice or links on the sites on how to go about this.

Once i have a release date , that's when the "spam the **** out of the internet" campaign begins. Along with promo's to magazines, radio stations, dj's etc.

Until then i'll hold on to my tracks for my own personal use as i like to have that exclusivity in my dj sets.

[Mindful]

1: write good music
2: put it on line and send to labels you think it fits
3: BE PATIENT and keep doing your own thing
4: don't spam people... truly if your music is good and different, and you believe in it then do you really need to force feed it to people?
5: be sound and not a knob... 70% of being a 'success' in music is based on the friends you make in music... knobs don't make many friends.. well.. because they are knobs

[Mindful]

What i'm talking about is getting my music on to beatport, juno etc first as these are excellent marketing tools and very helpful in getting raport; and a huge step in establishing a new label. There doesn't seem to be any advice or links on the sites on how to go about this.


It sounds like you think thats the way to establish a label... You need to establish the label before you take that step (If you plan to get on Beatport especially)

[Mindful]

I DO know that my tunes are more than good, unique, and would sell if they got publicity. I just need a direction to go, but i'm a bit lost.

Where can I hear your music?

[Technologic]

If you guys are looking at the digital domain then enter Teknonotice Digital..

Have a look at Teknonotice Digital is a leading global distributor of dance music, record label and online store. Music, videos, Records Features, articles, artist interviews, music technology reviews: (TDR) Digital DJ store and online label, for the digital DJ, MP (http://www.teknonotice.com) then let’s have a chat...if you don’t release with us, or use us we will still give you completely unbiased independent advice on the various channels available to get your music out there and heard.

You can also check out the new part of our site (online store/forum/video and photo community) here:

Teknonotice Digital Recordings Blog. Mp3 next generation producer, label, artist and DJ services. Online store, music distributor, record label (http://www.teknonotice.com/digital_music_distributor_label_online_store/)

Promotion, in our opinion is the responsibility of all involved and Teknonotice proactively works on behalf of artists and labels in the promotion of your audio and visuals.

Refs available.
Interesting, so what's the deal?
And what are your music policies?

I've got allegences with SUF which is where i aspire to release music, but i have other label plans that doesn't conform to an acid ideal, it's an experimental concept that i want to take to a wider audience, it's just getting the press to gain that recognition and (without trying to sound too egotistic) increase my credibility as an artist.

[Technologic]

It sounds like you think thats the way to establish a label... You need to establish the label before you take that step (If you plan to get on Beatport especially)


So what do i have to do to establish the label?

[Technologic]

1: write good music
2: put it on line and send to labels you think it fits
3: BE PATIENT and keep doing your own thing
4: don't spam people... truly if your music is good and different, and you believe in it then do you really need to force feed it to people?
5: be sound and not a knob... 70% of being a 'success' in music is based on the friends you make in music... knobs don't make many friends.. well.. because they are knobs

True that.

You could call any form of marketing as "force feeding", i think it's just about doing it with credibility.

Marketing such as spamming emails etc is something i do not have the time or energy for. All these fan pages etc, it's just not working for me atm, damn i must blog my myspace once every two months, if i don't have the energy to do that more often then how am i going to find the time and energy to go the whole hog?

It's all about the promo's and how i want my music to be released at the end of the day, definitely finding a system that works for me.

[Mindful]

True that.

You could call any form of marketing as "force feeding", i think it's just about doing it with credibility.

Marketing such as spamming emails etc is something i do not have the time or energy for. All these fan pages etc, it's just not working for me atm, damn i must blog my myspace once every two months, if i don't have the energy to do that more often then how am i going to find the time and energy to go the whole hog?

It's all about the promo's and how i want my music to be released at the end of the day, definitely finding a system that works for me.

Well there is promotion and there is the pretty vulgar kind of spam that seems to be the norm right now with a lot of artist and labels. Im all for promotion but when it becomes that sort of forced overdose of crap, I think that can become pretty tiresome pretty fast.

I mean for example when I get sent a track from some random on Soundcloud that Im not even following and I see its been shared to 3000 other people or whatever then Im just going to delete that straight away. If its somebody Im 'following' then thats a different matter because I actually have an interest in this artist or label in the first place so Im glad of the info.

On Myspace nothing on there pisses me off more than somebody whos never even said hi or tried to spark up some kind of communication with me just goes and fills my inbox with their shit or uses my comments board as a place to advertise their latest mix or track etc. To me thats just bad form regardless of if the musics any good or not. It just stinks of 'Mass marketing' in the hope that a few people of the thousands who see it will buy or listen. To me you have to take the time and get to know groups of people/artist/DJs etc form relationships and then let them know about your work or label or whatever. This way there is a general interest from the people your sharing it with and then other people who respect them or know them or whatever may take an interest also and seek you out. This way it becomes about people finding you and not about you throwing a million promos out in the hope that some fish may bite. Like I say, to me thats just kind of vulgar.

This is music and hopefully you want to be dealing with other people interested in good music and not a 'target market'

Of course both ways work and this is strictly based only on my taste in the matter, but you have to ask yourself what your goal is.. do you want to be a star and make a bunch of cash or do you want people who actually give a shit and take an interest in your music to hear and buy it.

[Mindful]

I should point out that although I have this huge long winded opinion about it... I don't run a label so my opinion probably counts for shit ;)

[morbid]

Its not rocket science

If you want to sell your music - get signed (ie. approach labels that have your sound, send your tracks off and hope / wait) or set up a label to release on, sign with someone like Chris or the many others offering digital distro services and sit back and watch the millions roll in. :)

If you want to give your music away - all you need is some webspace and some muppets to download your tracks

What are you trying to achieve? You want your music out there or you want to be paid for your music? - there are around 20,000,000 others in the same boat as you right now, at the very least get a soundcloud, myspace and a webpage sorted so people who want to can listen to what you do.

Im not trying to be a wanker or anything but it aint that hard if you have good, well produced music of the kind that people want to hear. The whole music scene is so saturated with bedroom producers (myself included) that its hard to find your own voice in the sea of spam and shitty music thats out there. Concentrate on your music and the rest will fall into place. Leave the rest to people who have been doing it longer than you and learn along the way.

[teknonotice]

Teknonotice Digital can distribute your music into approx. 300 online stores including mixmag, juno, trackitdown, djtunes, Tesco LOL, HMV digital and loads more. chk out the following link to give your self an idea:

teknonotice digital speaker damage ep various artists - Google Search (http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=teknonotice+digital+speaker+damage+ep+various+ar tists&meta=&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=)

This has taken a lot of time and work to set up with so many stores (approx 18 months)

We have a number of options available to set up accounts to distribute:

No set up fee - 60% Royalty rate -25€ threshold

25€ account set up fee - 70% Royalty rate -25€ threshold

Threshold is defined as how much you have to sell before you will be paid by us.

Set up fee is not payable by you - it is taken from your royalties if and when you sell. So make no sales and we are distributing for free.

There are a lot of distributors charging more than this - there are some charging less.

Check out:

Amphead Entertainment - Digital Distribution (http://www.ampheadmusic.com/home/services/digital-distribution.aspx)

:: THE ORCHARD :: Distribution Options (http://www.theorchard.com/clientSignup/cdDistOption.php)

Tunecore: Digital Music Distribution (http://www.tunecore.com)

Some distributors will pay a higher royalty (like tunecore) but charge you per album releases - you will then have to renew it after twelve months - what happens of you dont renew? your music will stay online and tunecore will keep getting paid - you wont.

Going directly: Juno will pay 50% royalty rate less any music author soiciety charge (approx 10%) if the artist is registered.

Junos threshold is £50 sterling.

Juno, and other stores may also under their agreements sell your single tracks as part of a compilation - in this case you will probably get a very small %.

Chk out beats digital also for similar deals.

Other deals Teknonotice Digital are currently offering:

Host your web site with us for a year for just €60 and get 70% royalty rate and no set up fee. 25€ threshold

Employ Teknonotice to design and host your web site for just €300 and get 70%, no set up fee, no threshold. Web sites built with Joomla and includes full training of how to control yourself.

I have numerous copies of store agreements here if that will be of any help in choosing who trust with digital distribution.

It is a bit of a minefield. We developed teknonotice digital for ourselves and to get our music out there..along the way however other artists and labels have used us cause our deal, and service is really very good.

Im in a rush, so will write more later..welcome any specific questions on the subject. if you could post some links to your music that would be great..

the whole promo question is a new,convo as is how to get into beatport. new labels/artists with low volumes will struggle unless you got a mate on the inside or your spanky new track has recieved high acclaim in the right circles.

In our and our digital store customers opinion Beat port has lost grip on the scene and is providing high quantity, low quality music.


regards,


Chris Knight
Teknonotice Digital

[teknonotice]

neither is brain surgery!!


Its not rocket science

If you want to sell your music - get signed (ie. approach labels that have your sound, send your tracks off and hope / wait) or set up a label to release on, sign with someone like Chris or the many others offering digital distro services and sit back and watch the millions roll in. :)

If you want to give your music away - all you need is some webspace and some muppets to download your tracks

What are you trying to achieve? You want your music out there or you want to be paid for your music? - there are around 20,000,000 others in the same boat as you right now, at the very least get a soundcloud, myspace and a webpage sorted so people who want to can listen to what you do.

Im not trying to be a wanker or anything but it aint that hard if you have good, well produced music of the kind that people want to hear. The whole music scene is so saturated with bedroom producers (myself included) that its hard to find your own voice in the sea of spam and shitty music thats out there. Concentrate on your music and the rest will fall into place. Leave the rest to people who have been doing it longer than you and learn along the way.

[teknonotice]

Other issue with going direct is the time it takes to keep uploading the same release to loads different stores. This is timely, consuming and annoying to say the least, specially after you done it the first few honeymoon times. Ask any label who sells directly what they spend most of their time doing...uploading multiple times is boring!!

You also have to sell more as you have thresholds over all stores, not one covering the whole. IE with teknonotice your threshold is 25€ across 300 stores. if you have 10 direct store agreements you will have 10 thresholds to hit before you get paid!!

If you are an unknown artist then use the numbers game - you will have more chance of selling if you have a blanket distribution deal complimented by 5-10 major well known stores that any punter can access easily. These handful are the ones that you concentrate on promoing in all your PR and marketing.

Since our development and growth into so many different online platforms sales have improved - and from markets where we are unknown. Nothing really special but simply because we are in so many places increases the chance of someone finding us, liking the music, and clicking buy.

[teknonotice]

ps - check out Label worx also - up to 60% and no set fee- or so i'm told by a good mate - unsure of sales threshold

[morbid]

neither is brain surgery!!

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~jacko/web_articles/neurosurgery/DumCover.gif

[Igneous]

I've got allegences with SUF which is where i aspire to release music, but i have other label plans that doesn't conform to an acid ideal, it's an experimental concept that i want to take to a wider audience, it's just getting the press to gain that recognition and (without trying to sound too egotistic) increase my credibility as an artist.

Now I read this bit I'd say it might be best to get your tunes into some of the top jock's boxs/CD wallet. If they play it out then it should build some momentum & make some sales, get you gigs etc.You never know, one of said Jocks might want it on his/her lable. You could just approach SUF direct.

I think the days of having a 1 off really great tune to get you credibility might be over cause of the ammount of tunes out there & the changes in the music industry over the last 10 years. Just cause you've got a tune onto beatport doesn't mean you can get to a really wide audience. I think its usually more down to leg work like putting good club nights on, playing loads of DJ gigs, producing with other artists etc that get you crediblity & a good fan base these days.

Regarding download sites, I think Juno & Beatsdigital are a bit easyer to get your tunes on & are maybe held in better regard by people into underground music. Beatport are quite strict on who they will put on there, its more based on sales than quality & you usually need to be an established artist. Quite a lot of folk who are into underground music boycot them for that reason.

Good luck with it all anyway.

[The Overfiend]

Send to labels that match the material.
Don't start a label until you've built up a name for yourself.
DO NOT SPAM
Promote yourself humbly, let the music speak first man.

[DannyBlack]

^^ what Tony said.

Also; this thread is full of WIN!

[Kaifeng]

Haha ok guys, thanks a ton for the input.

Here's links to some of my tracks in case you were wondering.

YouTube - Kaifeng - Dont Mess (clip) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ya932WibH7c)

YouTube - Kaifeng - Earth Rations ( clip ) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jgz5JEJQHfU)


.

[teknonotice]

Regarding download sites, I think Juno & Beatsdigital are a bit easyer to get your tunes on & are maybe held in better regard by people into underground music. Beatport are quite strict on who they will put on there, its more based on sales than quality & you usually need to be an established artist. Quite a lot of folk who are into underground music boycot them for that reason.

Good luck with it all anyway.

It isnt all about beatport ..a well known DJ/punter over on SJ told me teknonotice store has more choice and better pricing than beatport..

to get on beatport is a mission unless your a name or long established label/artist with a lot of volume..they have also told some that you must have 1000+ friends on myspace ..they also dont pay so well (approx 33-40%) then minus any music author society charges.

I think more important to concentrate on the promo as a start - as long as punters can listen and buy your music from a trustworthy source IE your own site or a handful of online stores then that will suffice. With time you can grow and employ more stores. Its good experience dealing directly with stores, there tech support etc etc..you get an understanding of how it all works..

Time well spent is networking with potential buyers, and presenting them an avenue to purchase..

Facebook & groups, myspace, twitter, even linked in has some good groups. Use the forums..use the net..this and a well presented and trustworthy web site are all components to build together over the first 6 months..dedicate time to each, and keep it consistent.

[Technologic]

It isnt all about beatport ..a well known DJ/punter over on SJ told me teknonotice store has more choice and better pricing than beatport..

to get on beatport is a mission unless your a name or long established label/artist with a lot of volume..they have also told some that you must have 1000+ friends on myspace ..they also dont pay so well (approx 33-40%) then minus any music author society charges.

I think more important to concentrate on the promo as a start - as long as punters can listen and buy your music from a trustworthy source IE your own site or a handful of online stores then that will suffice. With time you can grow and employ more stores. Its good experience dealing directly with stores, there tech support etc etc..you get an understanding of how it all works..

Time well spent is networking with potential buyers, and presenting them an avenue to purchase..

Facebook & groups, myspace, twitter, even linked in has some good groups. Use the forums..use the net..this and a well presented and trustworthy web site are all components to build together over the first 6 months..dedicate time to each, and keep it consistent.

Excellent feedback mate!

For the promo side of things i want to get press releases and interviews as i do honestly believe i have a worthy concept that pushes producers to explore sound engineering with a totally experimental theme.

check my soundcloud tracks and myspace blogs for more info...

Alan Badger (Alan Badger) | MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/teknocity_online)
Centurian - Tracks - SoundCloud (http://www.soundcloud.com/centurian)

i will be contacting mixmag, djmag etc and see if i can get more exposure there. i think i need to get a few more productions under my belt before i can launch the label properly, so it's just a matter of researching to get the ball rolling faster atm.

[judas_beast]

make some really good tracks.

+1 on the don't be a knob, I learnt tht the hard a few years ago when I burnt some very useful bridges. was funny though..... kinda

[Technologic]

Well there is promotion and there is the pretty vulgar kind of spam that seems to be the norm right now with a lot of artist and labels. Im all for promotion but when it becomes that sort of forced overdose of crap, I think that can become pretty tiresome pretty fast.

I mean for example when I get sent a track from some random on Soundcloud that Im not even following and I see its been shared to 3000 other people or whatever then Im just going to delete that straight away. If its somebody Im 'following' then thats a different matter because I actually have an interest in this artist or label in the first place so Im glad of the info.

On Myspace nothing on there pisses me off more than somebody whos never even said hi or tried to spark up some kind of communication with me just goes and fills my inbox with their shit or uses my comments board as a place to advertise their latest mix or track etc. To me thats just bad form regardless of if the musics any good or not. It just stinks of 'Mass marketing' in the hope that a few people of the thousands who see it will buy or listen. To me you have to take the time and get to know groups of people/artist/DJs etc form relationships and then let them know about your work or label or whatever. This way there is a general interest from the people your sharing it with and then other people who respect them or know them or whatever may take an interest also and seek you out. This way it becomes about people finding you and not about you throwing a million promos out in the hope that some fish may bite. Like I say, to me thats just kind of vulgar.

This is music and hopefully you want to be dealing with other people interested in good music and not a 'target market'

Of course both ways work and this is strictly based only on my taste in the matter, but you have to ask yourself what your goal is.. do you want to be a star and make a bunch of cash or do you want people who actually give a shit and take an interest in your music to hear and buy it.

The goal is to be an independent, credible artist. Simple as that really.

Money isn't really a motivator for me, never has been, my ambitions are my motivation, i want to be innovative and move myself and my interests forward. The majority of cash i make would be put back in to taking everything further, i'm already investing and of couse having a return on those investments is something i wish to have. But i want achieve that with credibility rather than becuase i spammed the nation.

[Technologic]

make some really good tracks.

+1 on the don't be a knob, I learnt tht the hard a few years ago when I burnt some very useful bridges. was funny though..... kinda

Yeah, not being a knob is important. I think it's a matter of moving with the right cicles anyway as other peoples behaviour is a catalyst on how we react.

[Technologic]

You could just approach SUF direct.


They're already an integral part of what i'm doing!

A trip to Hackney is on the cards for tomoz.

Thanks for the feedback!

And top thread!

[teknonotice]

Haha ok guys, thanks a ton for the input.

Here's links to some of my tracks in case you were wondering.

YouTube - Kaifeng - Dont Mess (clip) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ya932WibH7c)

YouTube - Kaifeng - Earth Rations ( clip ) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jgz5JEJQHfU)


.

good work mate - look 4ward to hearing more

[teknonotice]

The goal is to be an independent, credible artist. Simple as that really.

Money isn't really a motivator for me, never has been, my ambitions are my motivation, i want to be innovative and move myself and my interests forward. The majority of cash i make would be put back in to taking everything further, i'm already investing and of couse having a return on those investments is something i wish to have. But i want achieve that with credibility rather than becuase i spammed the nation.

setting any type of target and achieving it equals success IMO. lucky money isnt the motivator - there isnt much of it around..

Look forward to hearing how things pan out for you..loving the mix on SC!

[Technologic]

setting any type of target and achieving it equals success IMO. lucky money isnt the motivator - there isnt much of it around..

Look forward to hearing how things pan out for you..loving the mix on SC!

Nice 1!

Will have to get another mix online at some point.

[teknonotice]

Nice 1!

Will have to get another mix online at some point.

cool, make sure you link us up mate!!

[DannyBlack]

make some really good tracks.

+1 on the don't be a knob, I learnt tht the hard a few years ago when I burnt some very useful bridges. was funny though..... kinda

ouch! that just made me cringe a bit. I'm hoping to god I never become a knob, or have been a knob.... :-|

[Kaifeng]

investigative BUMP.

so I found a label called U&A recordings (check out their stuff here -> https://www.beatport.com/en-US/html/content/label/detail/5853/uanda_recordings)

They classify themselves as a "tech-funk" label, but they release tech-house, techno, breaks, and music that falls between those catagories.

If any of you happen to know of any other labels similar to this, please let me know. thanks a ton

[The Overfiend]

Totally forgot to +1
The do not be a knob.
While it's always good to have your name discussed.
negative feedback will hinder bookings and connections because this techno family is a very SMALL world.

[Kaifeng]

I'm definitely not a knob, although i do think the word knob is hilarious.


knob.

LOL.

[BloodStar]

quality of music is on second place, tho. having friends (connections) on the right places is much more important, i guess.

[MARK ANXIOUS]

best way to get your music exposed?

1) make good music
2) learn business
3) take your show on the road!

many moons ago, 2) was taken care of by the record labels. these days of course, there's no money in music so anyone who's remotely intelligent does get involved it lol. i suppose that's kinda why the industry is now full of digital labels, substandard releases and throwaway music.

imho, if you understand business and make good music, you're way ahead of anyone these days. these days it's up to the artist to promote, market and sell their own music to make THEMSELVES a success. one you've got your good music, get a good foundation - get your website, social network site, logo, your own label, all looking wicked and super pro. and if you cant learn how to do it all yourself - pay someone.

then once you've got this, it's all alot easier. you HAVE to gig - whether it's DJing or PA's, and promoters will take you serious, you'll get more bookings. that will be invaluable in helping get your sound out there.

long gone are the days when you can just sit in your studio, lock the door and focus purely on your art. i really wish those days were back, but with that came greedy record labels, artists who had no control and alot of ppl getting ripped off.

take the bull by the horns mate, sit down and write down a list of things you must do to get YOUR product out there. then follow that list to the letter.

good luck man.