What it takes too get a record deal

We get asked all the time here at Music Clout; how can I get a record deal? The answer is somewhat complex in this day and age within the music industry. With so many things changing at neck breaking pace, record labels are often changing their approach when looking for artists to sign to their label. However, there are some fundamental things acts can work towards that can increase their chances of locking down the record deals they dream of.

We’re going to lay out the 3 basics of what just about every label that is still in business is probably looking for. You’ll probably agree that these things are very simple and what artists should be doing to constantly be evolving with their music. However, with so many music acts out there that are not growing and following these steps, it sometimes makes the most sense going back to the basis.

Ok, so here are the three basic tips that are at the core of how you get a record deal.

Having The Best Music: I know this goes without saying, but you’d be so surprised by the numbers of acts that just don’t pay enough attention to their actual music. Most people end up getting blinded by the truth, because of close friends giving them praise for the music they’re putting out. Always look for people who can give you a non-bias opinion about your sound, and don’t be afraid to take criticism. It’s always honestly that makes you grow the most. Also, make sure your current sound is somewhat in line to what’s popular within your actual style of music. Record labels aren’t looking to go too far outside the box when it comes to their current and future signings. Always make sure that the music you’re putting out is the absolute best it can be, and if you feel like it’s not ready, just be patient and release the music when it is ready.

Having A Ton of Fans: Nothing will get a record label more excited than signing an act that has a ton of fans. Actually, if just this one area is strong, everything else can be overlooked, including having great music. However, don’t count your lucky stars that this is going to happen to you. Most of the time stories like that are made from “American Idol” finalists and rarely translate to your everyday average up and coming music act. Regardless, acts must always try and work on building a solid and supportive fan base for their music because it’s going to be a main factor in helping the acts build their careers and eventually receive a record deal.

Be Proactive: Being proactive is underestimated and totally underused. If you’re working on growing your music career five days a week and someone else of equal talent is only putting in three, there’s no doubt who’s going to make the most moves forward to get a record deal. One of the best things an act can do to increase their chances of getting a record deal is by breaking up the responsibilities to various members of the group. This technique ads accountability for actions and also increases the overall productivity of the bands growth. Once you start to make strides in all areas of your career, you can then be very aggressive when it comes to really learning how to get a record deal. Start off by finding the labels you would want to get signed to, learn their contact information and start being proactive by contacting them and making them aware of your music.

So now you know what to say if ever asked: how can i get a record deal. 

Brought to you by Dagrahyndmusic News

Check out this interview with Jason Bourne on GTV

CHECK OUT MY INTERVIEW WITH Lynk Fam ON GTV

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue4_bqLwwLc&feature=c4-overview&list=UUV4A3lym7T9AwqKTPvhjKHA

Enhancing Your Music Marketing: The Ultimate Guide to Creating Press Kits for Musicians

As a musician, you wear many hats.

I would argue that one of the most important hats you wear isn’t your musicianship hat. Even though playing live is probably the most fun you will do, that’s not the most important hat you wear.

It’s your marketing hat.

You see, marketing your music has become such an important part of this new music business we’ve found ourselves in that anyone gigging regularly and working as a successful musician must become amazing at promoting themselves.

And at the center of your marketing process is your press kit.

The Musician’s Press Kit

A press kit is the musician’s résumé. It is a quick summary of everything you are about. And just like a résumé, make it simple and to the point. Busy bar owners and bookers aren’t interested in your life story. They’re interested in whether your music fits their atmosphere, if you will draw a crowd and how much beer you can get your fans to buy at their bar.

They might love your music later down the line, but everybody is always thinking:

“What’s In It For Me?”

Your Press Kit needs to answer this question. Let’s break it down into two different press kits: the old physical press kit you hand to someone, and the electronic press kit you can create online.

The Physical Press Kit

The physical press kit is a little trickier than the electronic one. You only have so much room for your information so everything needs to be super concise. You can add more “stuff” to your electronic press kit(EPK), but a physical press kit needs only the most relevant information.

Bio

Think of your biography like your elevator pitch. It needs to be short and interesting while still selling the reader on the idea of who you are.

Don’t tell your origin story unless it’s amazingly original. And believe me, it probably isn’t. You guys probably got together and decided to make music. Nothing to see there.

No, what’s interesting to the booker is what’s in it for them. Have you sold records? How long have you played? How big is your following and do you have any press?

If you’ve sold 100 records of your EP that means that the music is probably pretty decent since nobody has 100 friends and family willing to buy your album. To the venue-booker, that means 100 people thought your music was good enough to buy.

How long you’ve played tells the promoters that you probably won’t go up on stage and play like you just bought your guitar. If a band has been together for over 6 months with regular practice it is safe to assume that they play well together. It says nothing of the quality of music, but at least they can get a well rehearsed band onto their stage.

If you have a track record of bringing 80 people on average to your show, TELL THEM THAT. If half of those people come in and buy one beer that’s about $200 in revenue with no extra work on the promoter’s part.

Bars like that.

This article has a pretty good explanation on how to write your bio with the reader in mind. Obviously, as the article states, it’s hard to come up with something juicy if you’re just starting out. But try to put all of your musical qualities into benefits for the venue booker.

Just make sure that whatever you do, keep it short and simple and tailored to what’s in it for the reader.

Your Music

Image by: thomselomsen

Your product is your music. And since your press kit is basically the same as a demo of a software, a coffee sample or one of those perfume pages inside a magazine, you need to include a sample of your product.

How much music you include is up to you, but most people don’t have time to listen to a full album or even a 4 song EP. Think of it like a single, with your strongest, catchiest song to capture the listener and a B-side that shows a different side of your music.

Say, if you have a really catchy pop song you can include a ballad. If you’re a metal band that is very aggressive, consider adding one of your more melodic songs to show your different musical identity.

I would even point out the fact that people don’t listen for longer than about 30 seconds if they have a lot of press kits to consider. So if your awesome sounding single with the catchy chorus takes a long time to start, consider creating a radio edit that showcases that catchy chorus immediately.

Your Contact Information

This is the most important part of your whole press kit. Do not screw this up. Even if your bio sucked and the promoter didn’t have time to listen to your music they might still contact you if they have an opening they can’t fill in time.

Email is easiest, but be sure to include your phone number and website address as well. It’s easier for a promoter to send out a bunch of emails to bands instead of doing a bunch of phone calls, but if the venue needs to book somebody right now a phone number can get you on the ticket immediately.

Recent Press & Reviews

If you have space to spare, 3rd party, unbiased press or reviews are always great to include. If you had an awesome show or somebody wrote about you in a magazine, take the most favorable snippet from the article and include it like a testimonial. Nothing sells a product like a favorable review, and your music is no different.

Packaging

Now, people keep advising that you should use manila folders or some crap like that and I think that’s ridiculous advice.

I think a manila folder looks very unprofessional for a band because it’s simply not cool enough. It looks like something an intern working for a Fortune 500 company needs to bring to his boss, not a package from an awesome sounding band that wants to rock out at the new concert venue.

So what’s my advice?

The typical DVD case. Think about it, it’s large enough so that you can print out and include an insert or a small brochure inside with all the information we’ve talked about above. It also stands out and allows you to create a consistent design throughout your press kit, from the cover to the insert.

And best of all, the convenient CD holder for your music.

As in the example to the right, taken from Adhesis’s article on creating press kits, you can set up your DVD case with the name of your band on the front,  a picture of your members on the back along with any contact info.

On the inside you can include your biography and relevant press(if any) along with your music.

Business Cards

Business cards can also work in a pinch if you don’t have any press kits. They should include your band name, type of music, contact info and website address.

The downside is the lack of music and biography information inherent in the small size of a business card, but if you design your website well enough, both your bio and available music should be easily available on the first page of your website.

And that’s where your EPK comes in.

The Electronic Press Kit

An EPK is simple to think about. It is simply the electronic equivalent of your physical press kit. The advantages of an EPK is that you’re not constrained by space and can include more information and media to showcase your music.

Think of it like a landing page where everything should be readily available.

Just like your DVD case should have the band name, contact and music right there at their fingertips, all the information on your EPK should only be a click away.

Reverbnation can create a great EPK for you after you’ve created an account and filled out a profile.

Click the image to see it enlarged.

It takes all the stats from your Reverbnation profile and creates a handy landing page with all the relevant information on the first page, along with additional media such as videos, photos, extra songs and a longer biography tucked away for those who have more time.

Notice how the contact button is highlighted? It’s designed to call attention to itself because you want people to contact you.

And that’s the great thing about your EPK and/or website. You can modify the landing page towards a specific action.

Some things are more important to you than others so customize your EPK to highlight what’s so special about your band.

For instance:

• Your music - If you think your music is the most important part of your band, focus on making the music player the most prominent part of your EPK/website.
  
• Your performance - If your live performance are awesome and you can really get the fans going on the floor then a video should be the first thing the visitor watches.
• Your picture or bio - If you really do have an interesting back story, or you all dress up like Slipknot or Kiss, then a picture of the band in full garb should be up front and center.

All these things are attention grabbers. They’re designed to keep the visitor engaged. Whether the visitor is a potential fan or a booking agent, the most interesting part of your band needs to be the first thing they see.

After you’ve captured their interest, the next thing to do is get them to take action.

For a fan, this could be signing up for an email list to be notified of concerts. For a booking agent or bar owner, this could be a “Book Us” contact form.

Whatever it is, don’t make the visitor leave without making them take action.

Of course, automatic systems and music networks don’t allow you to customize your EPK so extensively, which is why a dedicated band website should always be a big priority.

But that’s a topic for another day.

Conclusion

Think of your band as your brand, and treat your press kits as a crucial part of your marketing efforts. Take the time to create a good press kit and you’ll come off as more professional than a good portion of other bands in your area.

Lastly, if you want to enhance the sound of the music that you put on your EPK, use your recordings and start a competition between our community of engineers. With our competition model you can choose from a variety of mixes of your song from engineers all over the world.

Start your competition right here: http://www.crowdaudio.com/start-a-competition/

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Crowd Audio helps you take your music to the next level. They connect independent bands and musicians with excited audio engineers eager to help them with their music.

If you’re a musician, Crowd Audio gives you access to a community of audio engineers eager to mix and master your music, giving it that professional sound.

If you’re an audio engineer, Crowd Audio creates a community of like minded individuals looking to gain experience by doing the audio work they love.

Through community and crowdsourced competition, bands get a professionally produced sound while audio engineers get exposure and experience.

Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman and the Black male

Wow. Let me say it again, WOW!  In the wake of the verdict of the Zimmerman trial which was put on to adjudicate his killing of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin. We all know the story surrounding his death so I wont go into detail here and as I'm sure you are aware at this late date, George Zimmerman was acquitted in his trial.  Many people of all backgrounds were surprised at this verdict, I was not particularly so.  The tragedy of the young mans death and the and the subsequent trial played out in the state of Florida which has a law commonly known as "stand your ground".  The law basically states that if engaged in a confrontation you have no obligation to attempt to retreat and may use deadly force if you feel threatened during the confrontation.  Florida is not the only state to have this type of law on the books.  Currently twenty two (22) other states have some version of this law on their books.  The stand your ground premise comes out of another concept known as the "castle doctrine", as in one's home is their castle. The castle doctrine states that in your home you have no obligation to "retreat".  This is because your home is your ultimate retreat.  It is the place which we all retreat to daily after our dealings with the outside world.  In many states this concept has been expanded to outside the home.  Stand your ground was initially invoked in this case. (it later to morphed to straight forward self defense)

Initially that was to be the end of it, case closed.  It was not until 44 days after the shooting that the wheels of this justice system began to turn.  Now lets be clear, the police department in Sanford Florida had no intention of investigating this case.  The prosecutors office had no desire to try this case in court.  They were forced into doing so because of public pressure, nothing else.  The usual reaction of an individual or group of individuals being forced into doing something that they had no  intention or desire in doing is to do so grudgingly.  The paces will be gone through, the appearance will be given of the work being done but the quality of the work will be sub par.  Both the police department and the prosecutors office fix that description.

It became glaringly apparent to anyone who watched the trial for any amount of time from the very beginning. There was no real passion for the prosecution of this case because as I stated above, they were forced into it.  Even worse than that they appeared unprepared, there was no obvious direction to their questioning of witnesses, no order. No theory was developed, there was no narrative on the prosecutions part of what happened that night.  They did not give the jury a clear vision of their case and consistently hammer home key points.  Much was done in the presentation of the states case that was counter productive.  Evidence that was favorable to the defense was in effect put into the case by the state!  The witnesses that were put on the stand by the prosecution were either entirely unprepared or very beneficial to the defense.  Much ado has been made of Rachel Jentel who was billed as the star witness for the prosecution.  Ms. Jentel was on the phone with Trayvon while he was being pursued by George Zimmerman.  While many have labeled her as uneducated and worse due to her style of speech while testifying she was in fact compelling, direct, honest and stood her ground on key points while on the witness stand. That being said,  from the minute she stepped onto the stand it seemed to me that she was had not been at all prepared by the prosecution as to what to expect during the actual trial. Other witnesses seemed to overpower the prosecution and go off in their own direction.  While I could not watch the trial in its entirely I watched as much as I could and saw a good portion of her testimony in particular and the trial in general.

 The prosecutions performance that I witnessed in this case was pitiful.  Actually it was shameful, almost criminal itself.  To use an analogy, if this was a sport you would say they threw the game. This is the thought that was continuously in my mind as I watched the state present its case to the jury. It wasn't so much that the defense won the case as it was the state giving it away.  The case now has been adjudicated and a decision rendered. That decision must be lived with.  While some have spoke of possible  federal intervention or civil suits that remains to be seen.

This case also served to show again the racial divide in this country.  For anyone who may have harbored the delusion that we were past race as a country this should serve as a wake up call.  From Zimmerman initially thinking that rayvon was "up to no good", following him and ultimately killing him to the police response and prosecution of the case to the many hateful statements posted on many web sites by people who are apparently White Americans it was all about character.  The perception of Trayvon Martin's character or more precisely the lack thereof as an individual and by extension every Black male in the country.  From the time he was killed his character was also assassinated. I've seen this tactic employed on many other cases and I'm sure others have also.  We watched in this case as everything from school suspensions to facebook photos were used to place in the minds of the public justifications for his death.  It was used to help portray him as a basic thug, a wanna be gangsta as many have called him.  They were used to imply that his killing was not criminal and was justified and that he was violent and had it coming to him.  Trayvons actions which included nothing more than talking on the phone while walking home were considered to be suspicious. Truly this was not because of what he was doing but because of who he was.

This is applies to every single Black male in America regardless of  whether you are engaged a criminal act of not.  Your blackness has already criminalized you.  You are to be both feared and loathed.  

Into all of this steps President Obama.  A week after making a brief statement following the verdict he surprised everyone by coming out unannounced to a press conference that was supposed to be conducted by his press secretary Jay Carney.  He took no questions but instead used the opportunity to speak out further not just on the case itself but the larger issues that I touched on above.  While his words were measured he spoke about the perception that the larger society has about young African American males while putting it into a larger historical context. President Obama spoke about his own personal experiences prior to being a senator and now President.  He also had what I will call his Bill Cosby moment.  Black folk were not left blameless for the current state of affairs.  The President spoke very clearly about young Black males being disproportionately involved in the criminal justice system as both perpetrator and victim and that being used as a rationale to enact laws.  He said that statistically Trayvon was more likely to have been killed by one of his peers than by someone else.  He asked communities to come together and begin to construct how to do better for young black males whose unemployment rate is  astonishingly high.  

As even minded as this was he was nonetheless raked over the coals by the usual bunch of right wing  extremist commentators. For what he said, the context he said it in and underneath it all the fact that he had the nerve to come out and say what he did at all. Doing what many in the Black community were looking for him to do since his first term, to speak not just as an American but as a Black American.  Many felt that it was past time for him to speak not just in the capacity of President but as a President who yes, is Black and to speak directly to Black America and to White America for  Black America.

The venom that was spewed by many both in the media and the public toward Trayvon Martin,his family, Rachel Jentel et al underscores the utter disdain that all African Americans including the President of the United States are held in by many whites.  This makes it still necessary even in the 21st century for parents to give their sons and increasingly their daughters "the speech".

                                                                            

written by DRTYBSMNT MULTIMEDIA

NBA PLAYER TIM DUCAN MAY BE GAY

*Wow. Who would’ve ever think that mild mannered and basically boring NBA star Tim Duncan‘s name could even be remotely associated with the word drama?

Well, if you believe online chatter that’s circulating, he’s definitely involved in some domestic mess that is straight drama.

Here’s the deal. A new report regarding Tim Duncan’s divorce claimed that Duncan’s estranged wife, Amy, had concerns that the NBA All-Star was in a relationship with another man.

According to gossip site Hollywood Street King,Tim Duncan lived with another man four years after attending college at Wake Forest University together. During the first two years of Amy and Tim’s marriage, the unidentified man was living in the same house with the couple before the San Antonio Spurs star reportedly purchased an apartment for dude. The HSK report also says that TD is seeking to have a gag order placed on Amy, as the couple’s divorce proceedings move forward.

A source claimed that Tim and Amy’s relationship has been on the rocks because both of them were cheating on each other.

“Amy treated Tim like a bi*ch throughout their marriage because she knew he was f****ing his BFF. Tim knows Amy was cheating on him but he’s willing to give her whatever she wants, because he doesn’t want Amy to tell the world that he’s bisexual,” the source told Hollywood Street King.

Earlier reports indicated that Amy, initially filed the divorce back in March, stating that the couple’s marriage was “insupportable” because of discord and conflict. The San Antonio Express newspaper noted that prior to the divorce proceedings, Tim hired a private investigator to spy on Amy.

So far, Tim Duncan has not spoken about the rumor or commented on his impending divorce.

Boosie Bad Azz Presents

by BAD AZZ MUSIC SYNDICATE

http://t.co/y0zdEcnrZA

                B.WIL "Ridin' Stealth"

       by BAD AZZ MUSIC SYNDICATE

Another New coming from bad Azz Ent with a whole smooth sound, don't sleep on this artist cause he is growing strong every day... And his sound is different than any other sound you have heard before ...

Country singer Justin Blake (@blakejustincma) has announced he will no longer be playing in the state of Florida

Today country singer Justin Blake (@blakejustincma) has announced he will no longer be playing  in the state of Florida any more. Until the laws of stand your ground has been changed. " Don't have too be a rocket scientist too see George Zimmerman is guilty "  and I thought we were ending racism among us - @blakejustincma