How to send demos to labels the right way in 2020

Are you still waiting for an answer to that demo you sent to Spinnin’ in 2013?

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It’s time to turn things around: in this article we’ll share with you some advices that we’ve experienced over time and that helped us to always get answers from the labels we contacted (yes, also from the majors!)⠀

1. You must have a good track: it seems obvious but most of the time the main problem is related to the song you send to labels. Does the song reflect the releases of the label? Is the genre the right one? Is the production level suitable? Sometimes aiming too high prevents you from releasing music, be careful and avoid entering the loop.

2. Before submitting your song, ask for feedback to artists who have already released music on the label you’re writing to: who better than them can tell you if your song is suitable for the label? As well as being able to change the song, improve it, make it fit A&R expectations, you can also include the positive feedback in your email to impress the A&R team.

3. Do your researches: don’t send your demo to the first email you find on internet. Especially for majors you can find a lot of useful information and contacts on the web. An extra tip can be to ask the artists who have already released music on the label advices about how to submit your song. Not everyone will answer you, but sooner or later someone will help you, trust me. Asking is the secret, always, don’t be afraid to!

4. If you have the right song, enough feedback and contacts to send the song to, it’s time to write your email. Be concise and kind, write a personalized email for the label, briefly describe who you are and attach a private SoundCloud link to listen/download your song (download enabled with mp3 file).



5. Before sending the email run a spam check. By sending the email you wrote to free services like isnotspam, you can immediately check whether your email will end up in the spam folder or not. The service also gives you tips on how to modify your email to make it as spam-free as possible. It sometimes happens that labels don’t receive emails because they end up in spam. ⠀

6. Make sure you are submitting at the right time: labels are companies, they have well-defined working hours. Never send your demo on Friday night, Saturday or Sunday, during holidays recognized all over the world. Pay attention to the time zone, send your demo at neutral times, try to make sure it’s not too late or too early. Some labels receive thousands of emails a day, you need perfect timing to get a chance.

7. Wait, it’s not time to send yet: use services like mailtracker to track your email. You’ll be updated in real time and you’ll know exactly if and when the A&R team has read your email.

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8. As soon as you send the email, remember that your work isn’t finished yet: labels are busy, if you don’t receive a reply soon send an additional email to see if there is any news. Do this carefully, do not send 10 emails per day, send one email every week or two, for a couple of weeks. With all the tools I’ve given you, you should be able to figure out if something is wrong and eventually fix it. They didn’t reply to the email? Let’s go back… did you run the spam check? What does the mailtracker say? Did you send at the right time?  ⠀

9. Not all labels answer: understand when it’s time to let it go. If you’ve done your best but haven’t received a reply, despite all the effort, consider sending to another label.

Do you know any other secrets? Share them with us!

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