Emu XL-7 & MP-7 User's Group

sorry for this sort of non xl inquiry, but rEalm, just curious how you 
first got 'people' to hear your music, and eventually a label deal. 

>>>No problem man, it's a good question and definitely one I've asked 
others many times myself. <<<

i like your tunes (the 2 i've heard). there are such crap out there...same 
old euro trance especially, with silly 4 bar riffs over and over and over, 
no musical development, no depth, no imagination, 
that are on record labels, and then there's those tunes that are the same 
drum loop for 6 minutes, and an occasional vocal sample here and there...

>>>I hear you, one of the reasons I cut back on my DJing was I got sick of 
going to buy records (especially trance, which I use to love) and hearing 
like 20 crap records for every good one.  It's like, who the hell is 
signing these?   Anyway, while I agree that there are a lot of really 
simple tunes out there, for some reason those are the ones that seem to 
hit people the hardest on the dance floor.  Or maybe I should say those 
are the ones that LABELS seem to think will hit the hardest.  It's a catch 
22 I always find humerous (in that frustrating way admittedly), the labels 
all want fresh new tunes full of different ideas, as long as they sound 
like every other record they know will work.  :)   If you take too many 
chances and get a bit too out there with your music, then it's harder for 
them to justify taking the risk on signing your tune.  It is a business 
after all, and one that isn't doing the greatest on the whole nowadays. 
They want to be assured that they'll see a profit on their investment in 
you. <<<

in my opinion your tunes easily surpass that euro popular boramma, and i 
think your stuff could easily replace that shit, but is it just luck? or 
is it people you know? 

>>>A lot of it is definitely luck, and a lot of it is just plain 
persistance.  It's not who I know, because in this case the label is in 
Switzerland, and I've never even been there.  They were asking for demo 
from producers for a mixed CD they were going to be putting out, and since 
I was sending a round of demos out that week anyway, I sent them one as 
well.  So yeah, I got lucky. 

I do think it pays to do your best to get to know the people involved in 
the scene you're interested in though.  I make it a point to visit and 
participate in forums or on email groups where I know people who I want to 
hear my music visit.  For instance, there's an email list dedicated to 
'pro' breaks producers that I post on all the time.  They may not have 
given my demo a second listen before I joined, but now they know I'm 
pretty fluent in production skills based on my conversations there, so I 
know I get closer listens when it's demo time.  Same thing with my DJing, 
it wasn't until I started getting to know the big promoters that I started 
getting bigger gigs, even though my DJ skills weren't really any better 
and I wasn't sending out more DJ demos than usual (less in fact).  So 
yeah, know the right people (and having the right attitude, there's a fine 
live between friendly and pestering) can definitely help, but it's not 
neccesary.<<<

would love to have y'all take a listen in near future...i make music for 
the love of it, but those that get a listen easily think my tunes are from 
'legit' releases by labels...funny i guess. but yeah, how did you get your 
'start'???

>>>Like I said, it's just persistance, never giving up no matter how many 
times you here "we like your music, but it's not really what we're looking 
for".  It can be really hard, really disheartening to hear that after you 
just spent $100+ mailing out a bunch of demos you spent months creating. 
More importantly, songs and art that really, really mean a lot to YOU. 
Been there myself too many times, let me tell you!  I'd say I sent out 
probably 300+ demos in the last 2 years before I got a track signed.  Most 
of those I never got any feedback on one way or the other. 

So you need to be in it for the long haul, and for the right reasons.  If 
you love your music and even just the act of creating it, then that should 
be enough to get you by until you get your break.  Just keep working at 
your music and doing everything you can to make it better, always honing 
your skills and trying to get as much feedback from others as you can. 
Take it with a grain of salt too, not everyone is going to give you good 
advice, or unbiased adviced, and you need to learn how to differentiate 
between the two. 

Anyway, once you think you have about 3 or 4 really good songs that are 
similar in style (with maybe one other track in a different style to show 
them your capable of variety), put together a demo to send to the labels. 
This is where you REALLY need to do your research or your just wasting 
your time and money.  Try to get a list of as many labels as you can that 
might be interested in the style of music you write.  As a DJ, it's was 
fairly easy for me to go through my record box and see what labels were 
putting out music I liked and thought was somewhat close to mine.  You can 
do the samething at online at online record stores too.  Once you have 
about 30 or so labels, then you need to start doin some research, what are 
there website, phone numbers, and addresses.  Make a call or drop an email 
and ask if they're even accepting demos and who you should send them too. 
Make SURE you put your name and contact information on everything you send 
them, the CD, the case, a business card, whatever.  Labels have habit of 
loosing these things, so don't make it hard for them to reach you if they 
like the tunes.  Then spend the next week of your life filling out all the 
mailing envelopes and customs stickers (if they're going over seas) and 
send them off.  Wait a few weeks and make some follow up calls if you 
don't hear back, but don't keep calling.  One call is enough.

Hopefully if you're lucky it works, if not, keep writing anyway and do it 
again when you have more songs ready. Maybe Jesse can chime in too, he's 
far more well known than me, lot's of releases under his belt.<<<<

rEalm





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