Promotion,self promotion,getting started tips

[przechuy]

Ok.

So lets assume you have your track(s) ,that you are proud of and 100% satisfied (dunno if it is possible?).Now ,as you are begginer,amateur,you wonder what to do in order to reach some audience,show what you have done.

Internet gives dozens of possiblities ,building website,myspace,sending tracks online to some labels hoping you gonna get signed etc,sending tracks to djs hoping that they gonna play your track on some gig.

Thats,what you can read or stumbble upon when browsing the internet.

We have here few estabilished producers,

What are your advices,tips when getting started with it etc etc.

I think it can be interesting topic

[djglenn]

Strangely, I was about to ask something along these lines (2nd time this has happened! *L*); particularly in regards to promotion. For myself, I start feeling like, the time I spend promoting myself or my tracks would be better spent "in the studio". I kind of feel guilty spending lots of time in forums promoting my tracks. So to be honest, I would think it would be great to have a 'manager' or 'promoter' (read: girlfriend/wife/better half) do all of this.

On a side not though...I've been thinking this: If your track(s) is really good, then in theory (assuming you have done due diligence with finding a label) you should be able to find a good label for it. If they're good, then I would assume they would do all the promoting of your track for you. If your song(s) is good, then people will buy/steal it, play it and it would kind of snowball from there. So basically, you wouldn't have to do much promoting short of putting up a webpage with your bio and discography so people know who you are. Basically, people will find you because you're awesome.

On the other hand, if your music is not up to par (as is probably my case) then you'll find yourself with a not-so-good label that doesn't really promote. In which case, you gotta promote yourself. Maybe this kind of tells you something about your music. (if an established label doesn't want it, maybe you should hold off from releasing it on "DJ Local Guy's Label")

I'm making a lot of assumptions here. Am I off base? I realize there's a lot of music out there that's great that doesn't get the recognition that they should get, but I'd like to think that if you have a good solid track, then you wouldn't have to promote so much yourself (if at all).

My unprofessional opinion....

[przechuy]

basing on what i hear often,i can say that promotion is huuugely important,if anyone ever wants to try to live with music and earn on it,get some giggs etc.

There was dozens of times where reaaaaally enormous piece of shit was hugely promoted and made succes,and some minor less known guys that had no idea what to do with himself,but had great track ,had to stop his hobby as it was too much time consuming and start to live in real world bit more and close his passion in a wardrobe.

I think it is especially important in electornic music,where there is a loooot of people that try,like to produce as nowadays it is much easier then lets say 15 years ago.From technical point of view obviously.You d not have to posses 1 milion dollar studio.For some guys laptop and pair of headphones is enough to make club banging hit.Thats why if someone has good material i believe promoting himself is a must,to stand up from a mass of producers.

[sven hauck]

I'd love to agree with djglenn and honestly wish it was this way. The thing is it requires a combination of things to get a good track noticed. There is so much good music that never sees the surface and is buried deep within the bowels of Beatport or any other distribution site, that it's virtually impossible to rule marketing out.

[djglenn]

You've both made some good points.

I'm not sure I made my point completely....so let me throw some examples out there...

Marketing is certainly needed for any new music. That's not the issue. I guess what I was trying to say is that, all these top labels (let's take Defected, for example), if they get a hold of my track, and they think it's good enough to release on their label, then more likely than not, it's a damn good track. Not saying that Defected is the best judge of talent, but given their track record (and other labels like them) there's a damn good chance that their opinions are good ones. So a label like that is going to promote the hell out of the track. So you wouldn't have to promote yourself (to a large degree). Of course you'll put it on your myspace or whatever music social network, but you wouldn't have to hit every single forum and email everyone you've ever known.

Granted, even if you have a great track, it still may not catch their interest...for whatever reason. But there's still many other top-level labels out there who are great judges of talent. (going back to the due diligence) if you send you track to all of them and none of them want your track then, to me, that's a good sign that maybe it's not a great track. And there's a lot of good labels out there, right? If your track does slip through the cracks and you can't get a decent label for it, my *assumption* is, it will often still be found. I've seen plenty of "never heard of them before" labels charting on beatport. (something I learned in the military: When you 'assume' you make an ASS out of U and ME. *L*)

Guess I'm also taking this from a business standpoint. If I own my own label and get my hands on a shit-hot track, I'm sure as hell gonna promote the shit out of it. It's money in my pocket. And even if it's not shit-hot (let's say lukewarm) I'm still gonna promote the shit out of it. Main thing is, it's my label....and I should care about what I release. If I don't care about what I'm releasing and not promoting them, then what does that say about me (label owner) and the tracks I'm accepting/releasing? And as a label, I shouldn't be having so many new releases out at any given time that I don't have time to properly promote them. If I do have a ton of releases and aren't making enough money to pay someone to help me promote them, then again, what's that saying about the music I'm releasing?

To recap:

Promoting is necessary. But who should be promoting is the issue. If the track is good, labels, dj's, punters will 'help' you promote. If it's not so great, then you'll end up on a not-so-great label and have to promote yourself. Things slip through the cracks. If yours is one, then by all means...promote like a mofo.

Think I'm forgetting some main point....shit. Guess I shouldn't drink and post....:p

[djglenn]

Damn, just remembered after I hit post.

How many big names do you see promoting themselves? When's the last time you got an email from deadmau5 promoting his latest track or saw Eric Morillo posting his new album in a forum? Of course they're huge and they don't need to do that themselves. If you did see something like this, it must have been from their label or fan mail. My point is, people know their names and look for their tracks, so they don't need to promote much. Even if people don't look directly for them, if they come across their names in the New Releases list, fans will have a listen. This goes for smaller guys too. I remember the names of the labels/producers I play and when I see them again, I have a listen. I was on beatport a month a ago and was browsing the "people who bought this also bought..." and saw Medway's name on a release. I immediately gave it a listen. (I admittedly didn't buy his track....sorry Medway! Was nice, but a bit too dark for the crowd I spin for. But I did buy the original that he remixed. )

So yeah, my feeling is, if you produce good music, people will find it. It may not be the track you just released, but eventually you'll be heard; and when you are, those older tracks that everyone missed will be revisited.

BTW, I'm not trying to discourage anyone from promoting by themselves. If you have the time and the need to do it, then I think you should.

[przechuy]

Wow,what a great discussion,Glenn amazing posts .

But still,i believe that nowadays you cant hope that if you are good people will find you.I mean, there is such posibility,but i believe you have to help your luck if you want to ever be really recognized.

And i would like to know what some more experienced producers like Hauck or Medway can say in this area

[przechuy]

Damn, just remembered after I hit post.

How many big names do you see promoting themselves? When's the last time you got an email from deadmau5 promoting his latest track or saw Eric Morillo posting his new album in a forum?

Actually i read once that first real deadmau5 boom started when people fell in love in his song,that he posted on youtube (i tihnk it was faxing berlin),though he was producing since longer time ,i think thats one of the ways of self promotion.Famous swedish house mafia could do it otherway,they were all djing and they were playing each other tracks .
And i think more and more exampels we can find,but honestly,i never studied any biographies in this area,just some stuff i remember from dozens of interviews etc

[djglenn]

Ok, I'm off my beer high. *L* I sure as hell said a mouthful! hehe....

I guess the whole thing is really difficult to measure. Without doing some marketing research to see if your promoting efforts are really working (and how feasible is that) then who's really to say what works and what doesn't? I guess if you're consistent with good releases, then you should be discovered....promoting or no promoting. But if the majority of your releases are mediocre, and then you have one great one, I suppose it could be difficult for people to discover it. When they see your name (if they even remember) they'll think "Oh, that guy. His stuff is average." and won't even listen. In that case, hopefully you got it on a good label and their reputation will get people to have a first listen.

Enough on my thoughts...time to let someone else weigh in.

[djglenn]

BTW.....my wife surprised me with some Samuel Adams the other day. (had a co-worker bring some back from his trip in the US) We can't get it over here....the best we can do is some Belgium beer and misc stuff from around the world. Anyhow...I went a little overboard on it last night! God I miss GOOD beer!!!!