A wise man once said "If wishes were horses were horses, beggars would ride.
" In this case, if music were easy, we would all be entertainers.
Getting signed is not only hard, it is hectic.
You have to go through the process of writing and composing a great song.
And after that, you have no choice but to find ways of getting people to listen it and hopefully sign you or your band on.
Getting your band noticed entails just as much hard work as writing and composing your songs.
In fact, it can be harder work because writing, composing and arranging songs when inspired can be a breeze.
After creating your demo package -and make sure it is really good- you want to be sure that the A&R reps are looking for what you have to offer.
There are some steps you can take to ensure that the necessary Artiste and Repertoire Representatives take a look at your music and notice you or your group.
1.
Do Your Homework Nothing is "lamer" than not knowing who the A&R rep is for a certain record label.
Get to find out who the person is and if there is a department, contact them to get all the necessary details.
Before you call them, have a list of questions you want to ask them.
Questions such as whether they are accepting new submissions are important as you do not want to waste your time sending your demo CD to people who would not even listen to it.
2.
Be sure that They Would Want to Hear Your Music If over 90% of upcoming artistes would only do this, they would not have to spend so much money-particularly when they are on a budget- on producing more demo packages than necessary.
No A&R rep is going to listen to a Rap album if his record label deals with Jazz.
It's not going to happen unless there is a rare case of a crossover as in NAS and Dele Olu.
Most upcoming artistes often send their demo CD's to different record labels which have nothing to do with their style of music in the hope that they would mention it to their colleagues in the other genres.
This isn't likely to happen folks.
Artistes and Repertoire representatives have their time fully booked and cannot afford to listen to anything unrelated to their style of music.
3.
Make Sure The Address Details are Correct Artistes and Repertoire representatives are often egotistic.
That position is often coveted and they do not like having packages addressed to their predecessors.
So, get on the phone with the record label's A&R department -if they have any- and get the correct details of the address and name of the A&R rep.
This is just to ensure that they correlate with the data in directories the CMJ Journal which may not be updated at the time you want to send your music out.
And if they do not, at least you have the latest information.