How to Get Noticed by a Record Label

It is daunting, not meant for those who doubt themselves. If you thought you can sing alone in a bar, get seen by a record manager and become famous overnight, you got yourself a nice little fiction piece that can be made into a movie. But even that won't be original, there's already a million movies that go just like this one. What I'm trying to say is that the music industry is harsh; you may not find your way in and if you do, every turn you take can lead to a wrong place. Something like getting noticed by a record label is a very important job to do. It is life-changing and thus needs that much attention and grit. What I write below are just words that don't really mean much if you don't have the brain, the attitude and the personality to get big.

Getting Noticed

You will be one artist or band among thousands, and I'm just talking about your genre. If you don't want to get lost in the waves, follow these simple but grueling tasks that will require your undivided attention. Being a vocalist, all I really want to do is just sing. But singing alone in a studio is not going to get me anywhere. No matter how unlike you these tasks may seem, they are important to you and not to anyone else, so let's get to it.

Socializing
Perhaps the most important thing you need to do. Call it mingling with the right crowd or whatever, this needs to be done. Your network of people already in the music business will determine how popular you can get and therefore, temper your chances of getting noticed. What you need to do here is get some research done; follow-up on the better managers, Djs, radio and TV personalities out there. Find out what's going on in your local music scene, get to know other artists. You may hate someone else's music, but there will always be something you can learn from, whether it pertains to what you should do or shouldn't. Whatever you do, do not stagnate and stay behind. Always follow through on whatever contacts you create, without being too pushy or an egoist.

Making Your Demo Tape
Next up, is making yourself a demo tape. Keep it simple and just get two or three songs on it. What I did in this case is to get two songs - the one that the audiences liked and my band's personal favorite. The audience favorite is the one that makes the money, generally the simpler one that is easy to follow (unless you're a psychedelic band) and your favorite is the one that you really enjoy playing and therefore, perform better. That one gets the manager's attention.

When your music is concerned, this will be the first impression you put on most managers and producers out there. So be sure to make the tape of your best recording and best songs. Even if you do compromise on the output quality a little bit (budget problems or whatever), don't hold back on the style and energy.

Spreading Your Music
Your exposure to people will get them interested in your work. Take the opportunity to show it to them. Spread your tracks through radio stations or a DJ you are in good contact with. Even if five people listen to the track, one of them has to be paying attention to it. If he/she likes it, congratulations, you got yourself a radio fan! You can also try to get noticed through the Internet.

Always keep spare CDs of your demo stored just in case. Take one with you wherever you go and store the rest. You never know who you're going to meet and whether they are going to ask you for a demo tape again. My point is, why take the risk? The trick here is to get people to know your music, not your song; you don't want to be a one hit wonder now, do you?

Knowing Your Genre
This is some very serious self-discovery stuff. It's okay in the beginning if you tell people that you like to experiment and that you may use distortion but you're not really metal. But it is now time to face the music, literally. Give yourself a good listen and figure out what genre you fall under. If you think getting tagged under one specific genre will mean you getting lost in it, you would be wrong. If you think calling yourself 'alternate' just because you don't want to go mainstream is valid, there are tens of thousands of artists out there saying the same thing, which means you have just as good a chance to get lost there or 'become mainstream'. Seriously, lose the hipster attitude and decide once what kind of music you want to play. It will be the genre you will eventually stick to, like and define. Of course you have all the space in the world to experiment, but drifting to far away from one genre would only mean losing the fans you earned in the first one.

Demonstrate Your Ability to Make Profits
This is very important to the manager. Think about it, if you make music for the heck of it, you shouldn't mind staying underground. But if you want to make it big, you'll need money. Nobody is going to give you that, you need to earn it for yourself. A good manager understands the balance between art and cash flow, and if you reciprocate the same attitude, he will be impressed.