How many songs shoujld I put on a Beat CD Demo?

Jut

Member
ill o.g.
classic said:
im not speaking from hear say , im speaking from experince i have sent my stuff to a number of lables(indie and major's) and have number of close friends in the busniess. Most of the times, lables will not take stuff unless its coming from a manager or someone in the industry. If they listen to your CD without proper representation that can make them liable for a number of things. I have experinced this first hand on numberious occsions, thats why my goal right now isent to shop beats( i have plenty). Its very dicculty to shop beats to serious lables or artists without a decent manager or some sort of respesentation. Also the fact that ur mailing stuff makes things a little harder since people tend to go on face to face interaction or word of mouth. Have u seen the amount of CD's even small indie labes get in the mail???

Again i cant speak for every situtaion casue i aint everywhere at once, im just giving my experince, which is what u asked for anyway.

Do you regardless...

class....


I feel u and I appreciate the help man really.. But I mean the labels are saying they accept unsolicited material so thats what im going buy... I could imagine some shit would just get tossed out at random, when theirs an overload, but Ill take my chances, I aint losing nothing but a 40 cent cd, a 40 cent stamp and a 20 cent envelope, thats 1 buck per demo lol..

BTW, I want your advice on getting a manger... Like, how would a nobody like me get a managers attention?
 

classic

I am proud to be southern
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 90
Jut said:
I feel u and I appreciate the help man really.. But I mean the labels are saying they accept unsolicited material so thats what im going buy... I could imagine some shit would just get tossed out at random, when theirs an overload, but Ill take my chances, I aint losing nothing but a 40 cent cd, a 40 cent stamp and a 20 cent envelope, thats 1 buck per demo lol..

BTW, I want your advice on getting a manger... Like, how would a nobody like me get a managers attention?

Well the key is not just gettin any manager, but finding somebody who has connections and will work for you. If u get a good manager, they can take ur music where u never thought it would go. The main thing i have noticed so far is to have a good busniess sense and the talent to back it up, besides that its just hustle, im still in the process now so i cant really comment to much.

class....
 
E

Equality 7-2521

Guest
NNXT: im going by second hand information from my teacher at SAE collage. ive never sent a demo to a lable.

Classic: it depends on the lable man. If some form of representation IS needed, you can just ring up and pretend to be representing yourself i.e. pretend to be a third party. thats pretty common nowadays.
 

Ambition

ILLIEN
ill o.g.
There is a good article in the new scratch mag about a perfect beat cd by Zach Katz a entertainment-lawyer turned music manager for Hi-Tek, Denaun Porter and J.R. He said 15 tracks just to answer your ?
 

shadeed

Go Digital or Go Home
ill o.g.
Jut said:
Title

How many songs? Im not just gonna put 4 of course like a regular edemo...

15? 20? 25? What yall think?


You would get a LOT further by establishing a relationship of some sort with that label,
sending in a "blind demo" when you aren't established on any albums is a sure fire way to NOT get your music heard. Sending a beat CD to an A&R is comparable to showing pussy to a porn star, them muthaf---s do this all day long, and they really don't got time to sift thru thousands of demos. But if you feel that's your only shot, then shit make sure EVERYTHING you are puttin out is FIRE and have contact info and take things from there.
Good luck!
 

inrctyhoodmusic

Muzik Militant
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 5
what you guys should do is try to set up meetings with a&r's....some may tell you to send your material 1st but if you're in nyc don't send it ..Take there and try to set up a meeting for a later date...Trust me a lot of these guys listen to what they get from a person who goes through the trouble of bringging it themself it's all part of the grind you have to find indi labels they'l meet with you ...but if you don't grind you wont pass the level that you're on......


And beat cd's should be between 5 and 7 tracks if you send 50 an artist wont know what he wants to use 5 to 7 of your best beats and if they don't like them send another 5 to seven...that also keeps them wanting more
 

Donovan

ILLIEN
ill o.g.
The first local act I worked with (and are buying beats left and right) I burnt them a cd w/ 6 tracks from my laptop right infront of them... 3 songs where I produced and sang, and 3 tracks that I produced to sell. They're buying 2 of my singles and 1 of the beats on that cd, and bought a beat I produced for them already...

Quality > Quantity

Do 10 tracks that show your different producing personalities.

-Donovan
 
S

Svenghali

Guest
Svenghali

No more than 15. Ten is the number that industry cats have thrown at me.
 

young_keyz

ILLIEN
ill o.g.
I would say 5 to 10 beats. No more cause if your first five beats don't catch there ear then the next 5 most likely won't also. Its not like they are gona buy all ten beats anys, cause they most likely got a budget and other producers line up. Just remember this what is the point of putting a lot of beats on a cd and they don't like any of them. If you put 5 to 10 beats on a cd and they are feeling most of them and you, don't worry they'll ask if you got more. 5 to 10 works.
 

OffSet

HIpHOP
ill o.g.
Send in A Demo with as many as u want , the only thing is to keep it short at least a minute or two, that way the don't get bored of your sound and also if the find one they like it wont all day to find it !
 

bknot1

Beatmaker
ill o.g.
i have talked to a few producers..and they say 5-7 no more, of your best tracks.. 1st impression is everything..and when sending track to artist no more then 10..if they want more they will ask..
 

bigdmakintrax

BeatKreatoR
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 123
exactly, the 2 people I work with that own their own production companies in NY get meetings just about anytime they want......it is who you know, but I was lucky enought to be in a position to have some of Rich Harrisons People listen to some of my joints at my lab in person, they thought I had fire, but the first thing they asked before they would go to the next step to have him hear it when he got back in town......is it copywritten? I really don't agree with the fact that they dont listen to your music......there are two types of things to consider.

A meeting is always better than sending in a beat CD unless you have talked to the people that tell you they will listen to it and possibly give you some feedback....you need a beat CD in many cases to get a meeting unless you have produced some artists they know about.

Types of submission material

Solicited-Yes they will listen if they accept unsolicited

Unsolicited-NO they generally will not open the cd to hear any of your music so you wasted your money. (labels are afraid to hear your beats because if they have a song produced by their producers that even sounds remotely close to your beat they feel a copyrite situation might arise because you provided the idea)


Classic is somewhat correct, I mean I been sending CD's off with the hopes that most producers have for a few years but I was lucky enuff last year to meet my business partner, that was signed with The Inc, he worked with Ja Rule, Outlaws, Crooked eye and The Game and also my other partner who is inside of labels 3 or 4 times a week playing beats at will for projects and any of my worthy Joints also.......I got hipped to a lot of misconceptions on that whole issue of playing beats just last year and its really something that not only us lower level producers have to do but a regular thing all producers for the most part do as a part of doing business.....some are just in better positions where they either have their managers shop beats or they are inside enough where they can take beat CD after beat CD in until the artist or A&R finds what they want.....that is also an advantage of being in NY and also knowing the right people after you have made a name for yourself first.

So I may not have had anything placed on a major project yet but I work with enough people that have or know what is needed and had enough lower level meetings to get the idea.....

Bottom line on a Beat CD...... 7-10 HOTTTT joints.......use your best beats and dont go off of your own feel on the beats....play the beats out in the club or somewhere other people can give reaction....the main thing about songs on a beat CD is they should make people react......if you cant get average listeners to react, bob their heads or go hey that is dope....forget about it....you wasting your time.....go back to the drawing board and try again.....

Your CD needs to sound like a pro instrumental, KNOCK and be bananas....not just some mediocre lukewarm or average Joe hot beats.......think about how a Just Blaze beat CD might sound...LOL.....that sounds crazy but thats what I hear when I submit joints....they want MC ready, finished instrumentals.
 
Top