demos

At the risk of sounding like a geezer; here is my experience with the recording/festival/demo biz.

I work for a Blues festival promoter from Texas. We review thousands of Bands/solo acts/wannabes that want to participate in the festival. Applicants send us a demo CD [no tapes please]. Here is what we look for in an applicant and their accompaning application.

1. Presentation. Neatness counts. Quality photos for advertising purposes.
Important!! Self addresed/stamped return envelope for return of your photos and CD. If this is not included we DON"T even review the application. we just throw it away. If you don't even care enough to want your stuff back just how professional can you be?

2. CDs I read on another thread that quality dosen't matter. The reviewers can tell if you got chops. BSBSBSBS. when you review thousands of CDs you only listen to the first 10 maybe 15 seconds. If this first 15 seconds dosen't grab you; its back into the return envelope with the "Thanks but no thanks" letter. Put your strongest stuff on first!! Quality recording is imp. If it sounds bad you dont even get 10 seconds.

3. If you have a press release send it.

4. If you get accepted. SHOW UP!! aND DON'T SHOW UP BAKED!! Be professional, and keep the musician arrogance to a minimun.

5. This company also has a small but popular recording label. All of the above applies to getting signed.

6. If rejected, keep trying & polish your presentation. Apply to every venue that you hear about. It's simple but its not easy. GOOD LUCK!!! Peace

> when you review thousands of CDs you only listen to the first 10 maybe
> 15 seconds.

This is one of those things that really bugs me. People who's business it is to listen and critique music for a living get so jaded that they'll only listen to the first 10 seconds of something before tossing it in the garbage heap if it doesn't 'grab' their attention.
Music is more than just blowing somebody away in the first few seconds.
It's about well written lyrics, good melodies, musicianship and a dozen other things that requires you to listen to a song and judge a band as a whole.
Maybe this is one of the reasons why there's so much crap on the radio these days... all the bands are trying to cookie cut the same 'attention grabbing' demos for jaded music business types, that they all end up sounding the same.
I'd hate to think what would have happened if an A&R rep had only listened to the first 10 seconds of Van Halens 1st album and then just tossed it away before getting to Eruption. Or hearing Dark Side of the Moon and rejecting it because the intro with the coins was too boring.

Don't care enough to want stuff back ??

What when postage costs more than the burnt CD / photo-prints ???

I'm sorry if this system bothers you! I didn't make the rules I just thought I'd pass them along to give a little "heads up"

The intro letter explaines these things; such as SASE.
It's simple, if you don't like the format, don't apply.
I know 10/15 sec. isn't much, but it's purely economic. Would you pay the salary for someone to listen to the complete demo. 1k times?
This is a small company without the resources of the big dogs.


By the way, the bands that do get accepted to our festivals are paid well, treated with respect, and get to play in front of more people in one weekend than they would see in an entire year of bars.

I think you guys should "lighten up" ban me if you want!! Peace and Groovyness

Don't take it so personally man.
We're all smiles here and just stating our opinions so just state your case and everything's kewl.

All I'm saying, as a guy who's personally both sent and received demo's for about 25 years now, is that you can't judge a band based on just 10 seconds of a demo. And yeah, I do pay someone to listen to full demos. I insist on it because I know that even a rough recording or a badly started song can suddenly turn into magic once you get used to listening to it. Sometimes it takes more than one listen. Sometimes the band is average but the vocalist blows you away. Sometimes you're just not in the right mood to listen.

The rest of your advice is fine. It's basically common knowledge in the industry when sending out demos to follow certain rules.
Unfortunately, the way you've presented them sounds very condescending to seasoned musicians. Referring to people as "wannabes" or saying "we DON"T even review the application. we just throw it away" or "keep the musician arrogance to a minimun" isn't the kind of attitude people are going to respond positively to. As somebody who's in the business full time, I wouldn't deal with any 'professional' who treated other musicians like that.
No matter how inexperienced a band or musician is, they still deserve to be treated with respect.

Schmange,

From your 25 ys of experience; how do you deal with "professional" musicians that show up hammered, and saying "your'e lucky I even showed up to this light weight gig". If this isn't arrogance, what is it. I personally don't deal with it very well. If "professionals" want to be treated like "professionals" then act like one. Pity is some of these "professionals" play better hammered than I would ever hope to. Thank God I'm finally becoming jaded so that when faced with immature behavior even from "professionals" I can step back and say the serenity prayer and not of even think of beating them senseless with a mike stand. Growth eh.

In your 25 full time years have you ever encountered this?

Keep it light & friendly and communicate on their level. Don't escalate a situation by injecting your own emotion into it.
You can show disapproval and dissappointment; and you should because this is your business that you're running. However, the person you're dealing with is eventually going to sober up and if they have any shred of decency in them, hopefully they'll realize how much they screwed up. They'll not only apologize, but tell their friends how great you were and what a great time they had.
Again, you've diffused the situation by being friendly, you've shown your disapproval. And preferably in a private conversation, let the person know that you are running a professional organization (not just in words but in actions and visually in the way your organization is run and the people who work for you) and that the person is being disruptive.

If it gets to the point where somebody is being totally unreasonable or abusive, well that's what the 250 lb guy in security is for. Take yourself out of the situation and let somebody who deals with this sort of thing for a living try his hand. (again.. this is somebody who you've hired and is capable of diffusing situations in a friendly manner yet remain forceful that they're going to be obeyed no matter what)
If the situation gets dangerous, hopefully you've hired some private cops for performance night. Just their presence alone can put a stop to most situations but hey, he's the guy with the gun and that's what he's paid for.

Originally Posted by: ake

1. Presentation. Neatness counts. Quality photos for advertising purposes.
Important!! Self addresed/stamped return envelope for return of your photos and CD. If this is not included we DON"T even review the application. we just throw it away. If you don't even care enough to want your stuff back just how professional can you be?

2. CDs I read on another thread that quality dosen't matter. The reviewers can tell if you got chops. BSBSBSBS. when you review thousands of CDs you only listen to the first 10 maybe 15 seconds. If this first 15 seconds dosen't grab you; its back into the return envelope with the "Thanks but no thanks" letter. Put your strongest stuff on first!! Quality recording is imp. If it sounds bad you dont even get 10 seconds.

1. First off, I would like to say that I completly understand the business aspect of the music industry... you are reviewing these applicants to potentially make money off them. So, in turn, you are trying to get somebody who will represent you in the best way possible.... so you would like to see their marketability through their recording and their photos... that's understandable. But if I were sending stuff to you... why wouldn't I want it back? Because I probably have a billion copies of the cd and a ton of copies of the photos... It's not like I'm sending you my Led Zeppelin vinyl collection... I mean, c'mon man... You can keep my demo and my pictures. Besides... any major label wouldn't send it back even if you did send a self adressed stamped envelope.

2. I understand the 10-15 second thing. If you are promoting a band through radio play that first 10 seconds is critical... most people will simply turn the station if they don't know the song, little-lone if they've never heard it before... So that 10 second period is key in hooking somebody into listening to the rest of the song... What happens when you come across a band that can write good intros but can't sustain a whole song?? But any industry professional that I've ever talked to has said that when listening to a recording... if the person has any talent, they should be able to make a decent recording and make it sound good. But sometimes that person doesn't have a high dollar digital recorder or high dollar editing software. You CAN tell a musician when you hear one.