Finding a good label is not easy, especially if you don’t know where to begin. Therefore, these are a couple of techniques that I’ve been using that will help you find your perfect labels
4 THOUGHTS FROM ME
1. Make a list of 10 songs you like and are similar to what you’re producing and find their labels. Go on Spotify and select ten of your favorite songs and put them on a playlist. Now, go into each track and write down their label, and Bam! You now have a list of labels that you’d like to sign your tracks to. What if they are all the same label? Then, go to playlists that feature your style of music, or those 10 favorite songs you selected, and get the labels from other songs you like the most. Do this until you have a list of 10 labels you’d like to sign to and rank them from most to least attractive based on feeling. At this point, it’s your turn to make quality music for them!
2. Do your research and make sure the label has something to offer to you. Whether it’s an ego boost for signing at your dream label or a lot of stats on streaming platforms, the labels have to bring something to you that would be better than just self-releasing your song. Therefore, after you list the labels in step #1, you gotta be able to justify why they are where they are in your list. A couple of things you might be assessing these labels for are: Spotify stats of similar songs, how much support their songs get from Djs (via 1001tracklists), who are the top artists within the label, how well known is the label, and if they have artists touring as well. After that, update the order of your list from most attractive to least attractive.
3. It’s time to find the A&R emails from these labels. You know where you want to send your songs, but now it’s time to find a way to submit your songs to these labels. Your first option is SubmitHub and LabelRadar, but I feel they are a bit impersonal. The second option is finding emails, and to find emails, first, try to go to their website, Facebook page, or Instagram and look there. If you haven’t found it yet, try sending a message via Instagram or contact form, and they often will let you know the right email. If you don’t get an answer, check for possible friends that might have that email or who the A&Rs are in that label and message them. Recently, for example, I was looking for the email of a label and emailed the guy I knew was the A&R saying his songs were really cool and that I’m looking for the A&R email, and he said thanks and sent me his A&R email (Jackpot!!).
4. Stick to the labels that are the best for you. After you start sending your songs to labels and hopefully releasing with them as well, you’ll start to develop a better relationship with some A&Rs and you feel more at home in some labels than others. Not only this, but some labels will perform better than others, and ‘perform’ will vary a lot based on what you are expecting from that label. After a few releases, revisit your choices and stick to labels that are happy to have you releasing with them and that offer the ‘release package’ you’re looking for. A dream label that doesn’t deliver what you want can be worse than a good label that over-delivers, so understand which label will be the best for you in the long run and build a relationship with them.
1 QUESTION FOR YOU
What is your preferred way of submitting your tracks?
1. LabelRadar or Submithub? The good is that you have a LOT of options here, but often feels impersonal as you can’t establish a relationship with the A&R;
2. Label’s Demodrop? A bit better than LabelRadar as it’s a bit more directed to that label. Often they will answer back to you and you can try to get some insights from it;
3. Email? This is my preferred way since you can often establish a relationship with the A&R and ask questions on how you can make your song better and, therefore, develop yourself.
