Why are labels ignoring your demos and not listening to your songs?

Did you know that sending your song to a label email inbox, and then being ignored, is not the only way to get signed?

There are plenty of other ways that you can increase your chances of successfully getting signed, and here are some of them…

4 THOUGHTS FROM ME

1. Stop trying to get in your favorite labels through the front door.

Instead of barging into a label through the submissions door, there are plenty of ‘alternative’ ways to be signed by a label other than just directly submitting songs to them. First:

1. Understand the best way to send your songs to labels. Some labels have their demo box while some prefer to use platforms like LabelRadar, but some also just like using emails. Ask them what is their preferred way through their contact form, or look for this on their website, and send it that way, as that is normally the best way to send it.
   If you’re already sending songs to labels and not getting responses or even plays, then you have to shake up your game;
2. Collaborate with someone in the label. When you’re doing a song with someone who is already signed by the label, your song has a higher chance of being listened to by the A&R, especially when it’s sent by the producer already inside the label. Befriend someone already releasing on the label online and offer to collaborate with them, and that often is more effective when you have a kickass idea;
3. Meet the A&Rs in person. It’s a lot easier to ignore someone you don’t know, but when you meet someone in person and have a nice connection with them, they will likely remember you, which increases your chances of being listened to. For that, be strategic with your networking and go to big events like Miami Music Week, or especially ADE, where all labels have some sort of event where you can meet the people who work for the label.
   Again, having a friend who is already on the label can help you get better access to these people;
4. Join the label’s Discord and community and be helpful. One of my friends is a moderator at This Never Happened’s Discord and another one at Spinnin’s Discord, and when I asked them about demo submission, they all knew a ‘better way’ to submit demos. Being that person who helps organize the server can get you closer to the label and closer to knowing a ‘better way’ to submit demos

2. Don’t be an a** when talking to A&Rs.

One other reason why your tracks are being ignored is that you might have done something wrong to this label or to the A&R, and they might have blacklisted you. To avoid being blacklisted:

1. Be polite when writing your email. Introduce your song, yourself, and don’t presume anything. “Hey, how are you? This is my song (link).”. Then, briefly describe yourself and tell how excited you’d be or how much of an honor it would be to sign on this label, period. When you presume and say “This song would be perfect for you”, you can put the A&R in a defensive mode if they find you arrogant, and just skip it, so avoid it;
2. Don’t send attachments or just a link. Some A&Rs are instructed to ignore submissions like this as they are rude and unpolite, so don’t do that;
3. Follow up one or two times, but don’t go overboard. When you over follow up, you can sound obnoxious and be blacklisted in the future. Once every week is polite for two weeks until you get a response, then you can follow up twice again;
4. Don’t send your song to two labels at once. Send it to your top label first, then send it to the second one. Why? If both of them approve your song, you’ll have to turn down the offer from the other label, which can leave a bad impression for the future and I know labels that have blacklisted artists for that;
5. Don’t be an A**. Anytime that you try to sound ‘arrogant’ by undermining the quality of the music, the reputation of the label, or the A&R, you’re going straight to the blacklist. Remember that you’re trying to barge into their house, and even the most important person in the world will be unwelcome at your place if they are rude to you. To avoid that, always make sure to double-check your message with a friend to get their impression as well;
6. If you feel you’re already blacklisted, create a new alias and email, and try to send it this way. They still may not sign your track by submitting it this way, but at least you can do a test to check.

3. Level up your music.

After establishing some ground rules, and also finding alternative ways to be answered, if you’re not getting responses, then it’s time to look inside and make sure that you’re delivering quality material to them. To start:

1. Get external feedback, hopefully from artists who are already within this label. Ideally, you’re going to ask 2-3 people you respect and get their response. If they say you need to fix anything, then fix it. But, if they don’t have anything to say, then you’ll need to go deeper;
2. Analyse songs from this label. Pick 10 songs you love from this label you’re trying to reach out to, pretend you’re the A&R, and you can only sign 3 of them. So, after picking these 3 songs: what can you learn from them? What is the mood? Are they complex or simple in terms of instruments? Are they long or short?
   Try to find similarities between them, and also what makes them stand out, and implement all that you’ve learned with this to your next songs;
3. Focus on ideas more than anything. A big problem with producers is focusing on mixing and mastering more than the idea itself. While Mixing and Mastering can certainly be a problem, even if you nail it, they won’t fix a bad idea. And, more often than not, an exceptional idea is more important than mixing and mastering itself.
   For that, revisit your ideation process, and focus on developing more ideas than songs. Create 5-10 ideas (simple 8-bar loops), test them with your friends, and only develop the ones that are best to you and to your friends;
4. Don’t think too much outside the box. You must strive to be unique for the label while still maintaining its sound aesthetic/profile since, if you’re too far off, it won’t fit within their catalog. (5) Ask your friends to listen to your song like an A&R. Ask your friends to listen to max 15-30s to your song and get their impressions from that as that’s normally how A&Rs listen to songs. If they are not convinced, maybe you have more work to do still.

4. Do your research before sending songs to labels.

Another reason why you’re not being listened to, or sometimes just answered back, is that you’re not doing your proper research on the label. Here are a few things that you can do to stay appealing to labels:

1. Be aware of the trends in your genre. A song that is released today in Anjunadeep was likely signed 1-2 years ago, so what is ‘fresh’ today as a release might not be what they are signing since labels are often thinking ahead of time. Learn how to anticipate trends and be bold with your composition choices, as this is what will make your songs appealing;
2. Understand the right periods to send songs to labels. This year, I was dumb and I sent a song on Day 1 of ADE, and guess what… It took two weeks for them to answer me, after two follow-ups. Stay clear of periods where labels are busy as they tend to slow down responses to focus on other events. Some periods you should avoid are:
   • Before any major event by the label (look on Instagram for that);
   • Before, during, and one week after ADE, Miami Music Week;
   • From Dec 20th until the second Monday of January due to holidays;
   • During or 1-2 days after any major holiday, like Thanksgiving in the US;
3. Discover your desired labels on your own. Go to Spotify playlists like “The Grand Sound” or “Chill Tracks”, find songs that are similar to yours, write down their labels, and then rank them from most to least wanted, and you’ll then have a list of playlists. If you DJ, check your purchases on Beatport, or Bandcamp, and see which labels you’re using in your DJ sets, or, lastly, you can ask your producer friends for recommendations

3 QUICK TIPS FOR YOU

What else could you do to maximize your chances of being heard by a label?

1. Use tools to track your submissions:
Email trackers like Polymail and Mailsuite can track clicks and email opens that help you keep track if the label is clicking or opening your email; Use Dropbox Pro or Soundcloud and track when your song is accessed and played;

2. Build your Resume first:
If the top labels (top 3) are not answering you, consider going to your Tier 2 (4-7th) labels to build a portfolio, and stop after that. Sometimes going further than that to your 8-10th choice may not be the best choice with your song.

3. Make yourself attractive to labels:
Chris Luno started doing DJ mixes on YouTube the same year his first Spotify release was out, and as he grew as a Youtuber, his influence over labels grew as well. Of course, the quality of the music has to follow along as only content or social media won’t make the cut into a label, but it certainly helps to get labels’ attention and be heard