Indie 2003: Why Most Demo Recordings
Are Rejected
By Christopher Knab, MusicDish.com
"Getting a deal" has long been the goal of
many would-be artists and bands. For mostly naive reasons,
most new talent feel that by securing a recording contract
with a significant major or independent label, success
will be guaranteed. (Talk about naiveté) To get this 'belief
system' up and running, many musicians figure all they
have to do is send off their music to a label, and a recording
contract will come their way shortly.
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The following list of 10 Reasons Why Demo Are Rejected was
gathered together after years of listening to comments made
by Record Label A&R reps at music industry conferences and
workshops, as well as from personal interviews with reps,
and from many interviews A&R reps have given to the press.
In addition, I can verify that these observations as true
from having personally listened to thousands of demos over
the years.
The purpose of providing you with this information
is to at least improve the odds that your music will get
listened to when you submit your demos. This list will
look at the most common mistakes musicians make when either
shopping for a record deal, or trying to get the attention
of A&R Reps with their demo recordings.
10 Reasons Why Demos Are Rejected
1. No Contact Information on CDR and/or
CDR container: put your name, address, email, and
phone number on both.
2. Lack of Originality: Just because
you can record, doesn't mean your music is worth recording.
3. The Music Is Good, But The Artist Doesn't
Play Live This applies to all genres of music except
electronica and experimental music.
4. Poorly Recorded Material: So you
bought ProTools ... so what!
5. Best songs are not identified or highlighted
on the CDR: Give the folks a break. For demos-send
only 3 or 4 songs and highlight the best ones.
6. Sending Videos In Place Of CDRs: Keep
it simple, in the demo mode. All anyone wants is to check
out your songwriting and musicianship.
7. Sending Unsolicited Recordings: You
sent them, but they never asked for them.
8. Sending The Wrong Music To The Wrong
Label: You didn't do your research to find out what
labels put out what kind of music.
9. Musicians Can't Play Their Instruments
Competently: This is so basic, but you would be astounded
at how incompetent most start-up musicians are.
10. The Music Sucks: This criticism
is as old as music itself. You may think your music is
the greatest thing since frappacinos, but most demo recordings
the industry receives are as bad as the first round contestants
on American Idol.
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by the MusicDish
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It 2003 - Republished with Permission
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