This site is a blog for musicians and music industry people. It is a free educational resource and it is also the way I advertise my music consulting services. I am an entertainment professional with deep roots in the music industry. Throughout my music career I have been a major label A&R representative, a music supervisor, an artist manager, a reality show producer, a bass player and the head of a digital record label.
How do I get a record deal?
How do I get my band signed?
It was 1996 or 1997 and I was on a panel at the Burlington Music Conference sitting next to Trey Anastasio from Phish and several other musicians and music executives talking about the music business. Several of these questions were asked and we answered to the best of our ability.
It is now 2009 and after all that has changed in the music business I am still confronted with the same exact questions- and I’m not alone!
The Local Search volume for “Get a Record Deal” in Google for the month of July 2009 according to Google AdWords was 14,800. The Local search volume in the same month for:
“get better shows”
“license my music”
“get my music heard”
“How to book a tour”
“how to get more fans”
was (drumroll) “Not enough data” Meaning these are not popular topics to search for.
People, we are asking the wrong questions. I have said it before and I will say it again the music business is much more about M&A (Mergers & Acquisitions) than it is A&R (Artists & Repertoire). This means that labels know that the votes of music consumers mean more than any single executive’s opinion.
I’m not saying it doesn’t happen that people get signed off a random demo sent to an A&R executive (it still happens but is more and more rare), I’m not saying you shouldn’t reach out to music industry people and get feedback from them but what I am saying is that you should never stop improving your music and your products and building a fan base on your own. You have to start thinking of yourself, your band and your brand as a start-up company. It is much easier to raise money from a Venture Capitalist or an Angel when you have a business that is making money and demonstrating growth rather than a blueprint of something that might work.
It isn’t easy but it can be done… People are building their music brands right now. Find out who they are and learn from them… And if you do it right you might be able to tell a label, “thanks, but no thanks”…
Tags: Get a record deal, get signed, What A&R people want
June 16th, 2010 at 8:16 pm
HI my name is Abbi and i am 12 but i like to sing and i need some thing for my band and i need a manager but i need help i got my parents to let me be in a band when i was 10 and now i just need help. what do i do? can u help me? and i need some one famous on my CD but i would like it if justin bieber will be on it.
June 17th, 2010 at 10:04 am
Abbi, Keep studying music and ask your parents for help if this is something you really want to pursue.
September 15th, 2010 at 10:44 pm
Hello, my name is Morgan and I am a teen musician trying to make her dream of being in the music industry a reality. I play drums, guitar and piano. I live in a very small town. What’s your advice on getting discovered. Also i try to make my music different, it’s not cookie cutter pop, is that what record labels look for?
September 16th, 2010 at 5:37 am
There are over three hundred pages of advice on this blog… In general though spend some time trying to be one of the biggest acts in your small town and see what happens after that.