If you are a Band, Artist, Singer/Songwriter, welcome to the grimy underworld of Demo tapes and A&R! It’s not a pretty sight and it’s certainly not just about winning friends and influencing people. It’s more about money, plain and simple – about your music, more specifically meaning if they like your music and how they (music industry) want to milk it. Okay, so not everyone is like that – there are still many true audiophiles out there in the music business who appreciate music as music and try to provide a benevolent service to upcoming bands and artists that reflects that. Unfortunately, it’s not always the case, so, you need to get your demo music and presentation right, absolutely right because you’ll only get one chance.

But before we start, if you are one of those who still don’t know what A&R is, here’s a quick intro.  Artists and Repertoire (A&R) is the division of a record label or music publishing company that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists and songwriters. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label or publishing company; every activity involving artists to the point of album release is generally considered under the purview, and responsibility, of the A&R department.

The purpose of this post is to help artists to understand what a good A&R demo requires while approaching record labels. A recent trip to one very well known dance label revealed that of all the demos they received last year, only “3 or 4” tracks were ever released! It’s a tough competitive world out there and you are one of the million artists peddling their music around.

Now let’s face it, music is often down to personal taste and that’s no different in the world of A&R; with the possible exception of recognizing “commercial viability” – or the fact that while a track may not be to that individual’s taste, it will sell! Now each genre has its foibles, but as broad generalizations go, some of these points may well help. They certainly give an insight into what the A&R folks think when playing out your demos. The same logic also applies to most Music Bloggers, Music Magazines and TV/Radio stations when you submit your music to them for consideration.

In this day and age, the sheer volume and ease of music has undoubtedly raised the expectancy levels. It has to be said that it is more “usual” than “unusual” these days for A&R folks to hear a well-produced track on a demo. A typical demo session will often entail listening to quite a number of tracks in one go, this means that the best tracks often stand out from the others with the downside that a good track can sometimes be sandwiched between excellent tracks and therefore get overlooked. It also means that as the listening session goes on, human nature tends to take over, by which we mean that if the listener is having a disappointing session hearing track after track that doesn’t fit, the patience threshold gets lowered as the session goes on, which brings us to the important point number 1.

1: “Take care with your intro” – The first minute of a track will usually give the game away to any experienced A&R exec. For example, poor patches or disjointed arrangements, boomy production or poor kick drums will leave a bad impression. Likewise, if the intro does not give a true reflection of the track to come, or build up to it in a way that keeps the listener attentive, the track is less likely to make a good impression. Our tip: make the intro no longer than 30 seconds and make it interesting – build the interest. of course, if the track, for example, is a progressive tune or over 5 minutes in length, you may feel a long intro is necessary and you may well be right… which brings us nicely to important point number 2.

2. “Submit the shortest fullest mix you can” – Its true, your nine-minute epic-yet-crafted progressive trance piece may get the dance-floor pumping by the second minute and yes, it may twist and turn from the fifth minute but you may have lost a portion of the audience that matters – the labels/tv people or radio programmers that are checking the tunes out. Hopefully, the hardcore boys of trance will recognize what is happening and give it time but you can make just as much dosh from an advert as you can from a vinyl release on a small independent label. so here’s a hint: create a radio mix that shows off the elements in 3.5 minutes and rely on that to sell the song: use your 9 minute job as a remix for the release once you’ve secured it.

Fine, so we have our radio mix, we have a short but interesting intro but is that it? Nah. there’s more. Another common “human nature” problem crops up with multiple submissions. Traditionally your average label asked for 3 tracks maximum. Today we have mp3s but often a reviewer hears a track by an artist that just doesn’t cut it. 10 minutes later he comes across another cut by the same artist and his sub-conscious kicks into life gently knocking on your brain with a message about once-bitten twice-shy. Sure, they may likely still listen but once again the patience threshold may have been lowered and this track may only get 30 seconds to prove itself.

The hint here? well there are two: first up, don’t tag your mp3s with your artist name unless you really have to, and secondly – and far more importantly – only submit your very best 2 or 3 tracks. If you submit your best tracks now and they get rejected, wait until you come up with a couple more that you feel are better and try again. There is no rush. the label isn’t likely to just disappear overnight, so why hurry through all your tracks and leave that lasting impression that you’re not suitable. It’s a great thing if a label gets to know your name but make sure they associate it with quality work and not just opportunism.

so there you go… it’s not the be-all and end-all for A&R and Demo submission as every person who listens to your music is different but the points above should help: at the very least with most A&R folks, music bloggers, journalists, and reviewers.

To recap, here are the main points of the news once again:

1) Keep the intro short and interesting
2) Don’t submit long tracks that take time to build
3) Submit as few tracks as possible
4) Only submit your best stuff
5) Keep your name out of the spotlight as much as possible in the short term
6) Make sure every sound/patch used in a track can “stand on its own feet”

Nonetheless, in spite, of all your precautions, you will get rejected at some point. Like it or not, you are going to have to learn to live with that so respect the fact that each reviewer wants to hear something different and don’t get despondent. If one turns it down, that’s not to say another won’t jump on your back and fuel your ride into the viral charts and sign you up! Just keep doing what “you” think is right but do it right. All the best.