Hey there!

Before we start, we'd like to show you our Spotify Playlist "Trapical Fruits". ❤️You can listen and follow here: ❤️http://spoti.fi/2nqLpOM ➕... and submit your music here: ➕http://play.soundplate.com/trapical 😎 Big Thanks! What most people don't understand: A label-choice is most likely a choice for life or at least a long long time. So you gotta be careful where you sign your act. There is nothing worse than loosing an act to a label you don't wanna work with anymore. Email addresses of labels are really easy to get nowadays. What's harder is to get their real attention and stand out of the masses. Still - your mindset is "I am a really good artist. A big label should be happy to sign my music." The most important thing at the beginning: ONLY send genre-relevant, commercially marketable and super high quality music out to A&Rs. If you mess up once, they will never listen to your music again. You gotta be REALLY careful with what you send out, once you obtain an A&R address. Here is a little summary of the most important labels in the world:

The major labels

- Universal - Sony & Ultra - Warner & Spinnin' Records https://steemitimages.com/DQmZVKm6B5YaEETzaN1m1KXJRpkxgN9Ja1UYERW7zZfMCnr/major-labels.jpg These three major labels have sublabels in each country for any commercially successful music there is. So you gotta network and see, if anybody of your friends has some hot addresses of major label A&Rs that are responsible for your genre. Usually it is not too hard to get them if you already have spent some time making music and know some people in the business.

The other good ones

This is a website where you can get a lot of A&R addresses: https://labelsbase.net/ It feels like there are as many labels out there as there are producers. Basically the question is: Which label is good enough for you and what is a GOOD label?

Good labels pay

No matter how much attention, reach and plays labels could make you - if they don't pay, they are not a good address and you gotta avoid making deals with them. Before you close a deal with a label, you gotta open your eyes and ears and ask other artists of that label if they recieve a royaltystatement twice a year and if they think that this royaltystatement is done correctly.

Good labels have a big reach

Most important nowadays are certainly the own labels Spotify playlists. If a label has no big playlists, it will be very hard to get plays on your songs. Of course social media like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are also very important and relevant.

Good labels don't do adhesion contracts

Yes - the business is hard. A good and big label is in great demand and could easily set up contracts that will totally rip you off. However they should still not do it. How much time would you be bonded to the contract? How much % would you get of the income? The more manpower a label has, the more % of the income it will of course take to pay these people. Wheather a contract is OK for you, or not, you need of course to decide for yourself. You gotta be happy with your share and all other contract-conditions.

Good labels have manpower

It is close to impossible to promote a song well and effectivly with just one man - or maybe one man and another one for accounting. One-man-show-labels are most likely not a good choice. If there is just one person promoting your song, you can better self-release and promote it on your own. If you release on a one-man-show-label, you should get at least 50-60% of the income. If it's a big company, this will get down to 10% sometimes. Ask yourself if the size of the company justifies the size of the cut and if that's OK for you.

Thumb-rule

Have a look at the labels latest releases. How many Spotify-plays have they done in how much time? Is that enough for you? Now ask other artists, which are signed for longer on that label about their experiences. Are you satisfied with your cut of the income compared to the size of the label? It is a good sign if there are artists signed to that label for a long time and actually make a living just from making music.

Submit your track to that label

Nobody likes a wall of text. In a submission you gotta be short and precise. This is a version of how a submission could look like. >Hi * NAME OF A&R*! > >This is *YOUR NAME* from *YOUR ACTNAME* and I would like to show you my/our new production. >*SECRET SOUNDCLOUD LINK* > >The track is... *ONE SHORT SENTENCE WHY THIS SONG IS GREAT AND DIFFERENT AND BETTER FROM ALL THE OTHERS.* > >You might have heard of us... *ONE OR TWO SHORT SENTENCES ABOUT YOUR ACHIEVEMENTS SO FAR CONCERNING PLAYS AND FAME* > >Thanks a lot for your time, >greetings >*YOUR NAME*

NOTES:

- Try to know the real name of the A&R. If you don't know the real name, replace it by "*LABELNAME*-Team!" - If you don't get an answer, this means "No, thank you.". If you are REALLY convinced by your song, you can write a little reminder one or two weeks later. >Hi *NAME OF A&R*! > >A few days ago, I have sent you a demo submission. Maybe you missed it. It would be great to hear from you. > >Greetings >*YOUR NAME* Then quote your last mail. If he does not reply to that, just hope for better luck next time. - If you have a Soundcloud Pro Account, you can see wheather the A&R at least listened to the track! - If you get a negative answer, then this is already great. Don't discuss. Try to get on a personal conversation level with him. >Hi *NAME OF A&R*! > >Thanks a lot for your time. Hope we can make it happen next time! > >Greetings >*YOUR NAME* On your next demo-submission a few weeks later, you can respond to his last track-feedback in your track description and show him that this time you really delivered something he wants. For example if he told you that the track is missing vocals, the next demo HAS to be with vocals and tell him that after the last feedback you now deliver a track with vocals. Or if he told you that your track is missing a great hookline, you tell him that this time you made sure it has a killer-hookline. - The Soundcloud-link has to be secret and freshly uploaded. Nobody likes old material which is lying around for too long. - Of course in the end, your track just gotta be dope, unique and fit to the label. If your track does not do that, then all this won't have any impact. We really hope, this helped you, Love Max & Nick!