Submitting Your Songs to Record Labels

So much has changed in just about every area of the music industry. More and more artists are becoming their own producers, building their own recording studios, taking responsibility for their own publishing, and even handling their own performance bookings.

And the music industry continues to change so rapidly that if you want to keep up you must constantly educate yourself. There are so many questions that aspiring artists are asking. But those that are successful aren't just 'giving away' the answers freely. So, how do know what to do, and how to do it? And, is there a basic set of rules that would apply in every situation?

With most music industry issues there are few strict rules that are 'carved in stone'. For instance, when submitting a demo a few common questions come up. Such as:

How many songs should I record for submission?
How many songs should I submit?
Should I send them what I think are my best songs, or should I mix them up?
How long (or short) should each song be?
What if they ask for multiple songs, and I only have one recorded? Should I send it anyway?
I have a demo CD already with a set of songs on it. Should I send that same demo to every company that asks for it?
What if I have an entire album project pressed and ready to go, but a label asks to hear just a few songs; should I just send them my whole album?
Does the order of the songs matter?

And the list of questions go on and on to infinity; really. But, let's explore some solutions for the questions we've listed:

How many songs should you record? Most labels and A&R people will want to hear 3-5 songs, so I say record about 10. You'll need enough songs to select from. Think about it: If you only have 3 recorded you've GOT to send those whether they're all great or not.

How many songs should you submit? It's a good idea to send only the amount that is requested. The answer to question 7 will explain why.

Should I send my hottest cuts, or mix 'em up? All label want to know if you can turn out a hit song. But, they also need to know how diverse you are. So, you should send as many different 'feels' of songs as possible. Just make sure you send songs that appeal to that label's main genre.

What length should the songs be? The rumor you've heard about industry execs never listening past the first minute of most songs... IS TRUE. The versions of the songs you submit for demo should be short and to the point. The first 15 minutes need to be unique and captivating, and the listener needs to be able to understand the point of the song in the first 60 seconds. A good rule of thumb is to keep all songs between 3:00 and 3:30.

If you don't have the amount of songs requested, should you send what you have anyway? Yes! You've got nothing to lose. In the meantime, you can get back to work on more material.

Should you send the same demo to everyone? Not if you can help it. You should submit a special demo for each company with the type of songs that may appeal more to what that company puts out, with the exact number of songs requested. Remember the answer to question 1; you need to have enough songs to pick from.

Should you send your whole album project if they only requested a few songs? NEVER. They don't need to hear EVERYTHING you're able to do; just what you can do for them. Remember: exact amount requested, focusing on that particular company's style.

Does the order of the songs really matter? Not so much with CDs. Back in the days of cassette tapes, song order was more important because tapes had to be rewound and fast-forwarded. If you want, you can still put your most unique and creative cuts first on the CD.

Hopefully, this helps to answer some of your questions. Happy tracking!