If you’re in a band, or a producer, there is always one important question – how am I going to get a record deal?

It used to be a simple formula but things have changed. The onus is now on the band to work it themselves – to come to the label with a finished product. In the past, a band would get signed on a demo and the record company would pay for the band to go into the studio. Not anymore – the music business landscape has evolved so quickly that the industry has struggled to keep up.

(But this is not just a music industry problem. Any industry who experienced such a dramatic shift in the way they do business in such a short period of time would be left playing catch up).

My name is David Silverman and I own one of the leading music PR companies in the UK, Outpost. This isn’t the time or place to go into how I actually came to work in PR, but lets just say it came from being an artist myself – being in a band, a producer, a DJ. I also own a record label and music publishing company, 3 Bar Fire.

I’ve been on the frontline of the industry for the last 10 years and I’ve seen the changes in the industry first hand. I want to share my 13 GOLDEN RULES to make it in the music biz if you’re an up and coming band (or established for that matter!), a manager, distributor, DJ, agent or anyone else that would be interested in knowing how to generate the kind of promotion you need to get noticed…

The number 1 rule. If you haven’t got a great product to sell, then people are unlikely to want to buy. I think the polite phrase is you can’t turn a sow’s ear into a silver purse – or words to that effect. Go away and come back when you have some decent, new, relevant music to play – not a copy of someone else’s and not something that’s dated. Don’t trust what your friends/girlfriends/brother/mother/sister says. You need proper honest feedback.

Just set one up. How? – because I just set up a record label and its called ‘This is My Record Label’. It’s that simple. You get a website saying www.thisismyrecordlabel.com, you get a myspace with the same name. You set a release date and you get 200 promo CDs made up (you can do this yourself, just make sure they look good!). Then you start sending them out (see sections below).

Now instead of being unsigned, you are signed to ‘This Is My Record Label’ or whatever name you choose, and you’ve immediately lost the stigma of ‘unsigned’ which is loaded with negativity.

What tracks do you put on the promo CD? Release a single – one main track plus one other, 2 tracks in total. If you can get any remixes done then do so, no more than 2.

This needs to be 2 MONTHS away (see later for why). Say today is March 1^st, then set your release date for the first Monday in May (records are always released on a Monday, don’t ask why, that’s the way it is).

If you’ve got some music to play, then get some kind of show/live date lined up to play it. Tell people about the dates. Hell you can even sell some of your CD’s from your new record label there. Set the gig up as close to the release date of your single as possible.

If you’re in a band you need to look cool. You’re aspirational, you’re a product and consumers need to believe that what they’re buying into is some way going to rub off on them.

And this isn’t you against a graffiti strewn derelict house/disused railway line. If you can get some great, creative shots done then this is a big advantage – magazines and websites need their pages to look great. If you’ve got great shots…..then you’re doing their job for them.

Pick up the mags that are relevant to you and your music. Pick out the reviews editors, news editors and features editors. Send them the promo CD with a PRESS RELEASE (a one page description of the music with the date it will be released, short background on the track, the band/DJ and anything else that is interesting or newsworthy).

Now, this is the reason you have set your release date 2 MONTHS away – monthly magazines have a minimum 6-8 week leadtime. That is, they need to get your CD, listen to it, send to their reviewers, get the written review back, send to designers, add pictures, get mag signed off, get to printers, get to distributors, get in shops, BEFORE the record is out! That takes about 6-8 weeks. Hence if you send a release to a monthly mag with a release date only 4 weeks away, they probably won’t do it. For a weekly mag, you’re looking at about 4 weeks leadtime, for a daily publication around 3 weeks.

NB – Send CD’s to magazines, not MP3’s. Make sure full details and contacts are on there. Make it stand out from the crowd – make it look like they should listen to it.

You need to listen to the radio and pick out the shows that play your type of music. Then, you need to find out who PRODUCES that show, and send them the CD, not the DJ – the producers decide what gets played. Include your press release as described in point 7 above for press. Lead time here is 4-5 weeks before release date! So send this AFTER you have sent your copies to press.

Goes without saying these days – get your videos/filmed performances up on YouTube and keep your Myspace up to date. Make a ‘Fan’ page on Facebook. Twitter to your friends. Which web magazines do you need to hit? The ones that cover your genre so hit them with your promo CD from your label (with press release). They will take it seriously because it’s not a ‘demo’.

Sell your downloads on your website, Myspace – have a look into digital distribution (sometimes called digital aggregators) to get your music distributed to download stores all over the web.

Flyering. You’ve got to promote your gig and your releases – invest in some help from some friends. Pick gigs of similar artists and flyer outside after the gig. Put in shops and bars. If you don’t market yourselves and don’t have a marketing plan, then no one is going to know about you, simple as that.

Hit them up – not all the time so you annoy them, but maybe once a week or once a fortnight – make sure you have something interesting to say so people want to read it and not just delete it.

Take strategies from the business world and translate them into a musical context. You’re a product – you need to market yourself like the brands market their products. You may not have their budgets, but if you get into this way of thinking, you can find lots of cost effective ways to promote yourself.

What your trying to do is to get everything to happen at the same time. Radio, Press, Online, flyers, e-mails, gigs – you need to CO-ORDINATE your campaign – just as you would if you were running a business. You need everything running in snyc – create a diary, plan it out – and in this way, you will be able to build your profile, develop new and beneficial relationships and get the coverage you want.

Not famous yet? It takes time. You need to do this over a period of years – its rare people just become stars over night – it happens but is the exception rather than the rule. The ones that appear to have come from nowhere have actually been following the above rules for a long time…They’ve paid their dues, nothing comes easy.

David Silverman
www.outpostmedia.co.uk

Tim Donaldson is the Technology Operations Manager for Global Radio, the home of the UK’s leading commercial radio brands including Heart, Capital FM, LBC, Classic FM, Gold and XFM.  

Here are Tim’s Top Tips for getting an applicaton noticed:

”I cannot emphasise how important your first approach to an employer is, and you have to give it your absolute best shot.  If you mess it up you won’t get a second chance.  Adopt an approach adapted from Formula One (where the only question that’s important is ”Will what I’m doing make the car go faster?”), and ask yourself at every stage of preparing your initial email or letter ”Will what I’m doing give me a better chance of getting noticed?”.  Remember that the employer has what you want (a job), but he/she knows NOTHING about you, and so he/she needs to know that you want to have it (as well as, of course, knowing that you are suitably qualified for it).”

(1) Read the advert.  That sounds SO basic, but I am amazed by the number of applications I receive where it is blatantly apparent that the writer has not done so.

(2) Respond to the advert.  Don’t use a generic email application that could have been sent to anyone. It’s so transparent and will get binned. If you have an automated system for applying for jobs, don’t use it.  You might be lucky enough to find an employer who’s courteous enough to reply and clarify, but I suspect they’re few and far between.

Editor note – When applying for jobs through UK Music Jobs do not forget to tailor your covering letter and CV. You can now add as many CVs to your profile as you like and then chose which one accompanies your tailored covering letter.

(3) At least TRY to tailor your initial response to what the ad says. Pick out a few points and write about how well you would meet them. Remember, you have to tell your prospective employer the story of who you are, and, in the end ’sell’ yourself.

(4) Spell check carefully.  Don’t rely on your computer to do it for you.  Read and re-read your initial approach before you send it.  Spelling and punctuation errors make your application look sloppy and, whatever you might like to think, it really makes a difference.

(5) Make it ABSOLUTELY clear what you are doing in your initial approach – are you applying for the job there and then, or are you asking for more details? I would always advise the latter – job adverts are often no more than thumbnail sketches of what is contained in the Job Description. Your application should therefore be based on the longer document.

Editor note – Following the job description is always best however always take note of what the employer is requesting in the particular advert.

(6) Make sure that you can provide evidence for everything that you put in your application as you may be asked for it.  If you tell lies you will be found out sooner or later.  For example, if you say you are confident and outgoing and turn out, at the interview, to be shy and monosyllabic, or if you say you have skills which (it later transpires) you don’t you will have wasted your time as well as that of your potential employers.  You won’t be invited back next time there is a job going.

(7) Most jobs are in a particular location.  If you live miles away, make it clear that you are happy to relocate.

(8) If you are foreign applicant, make sure that you have the right work permits to work in the host country, and say so in your initial approach. Questions about this left undealt-with head on at the outset only present your possible future employer with a problem when he/she wants only solutions.

(9) If English is not your first language, ask for help in preparing your application, or get it checked.  A letter written in poor English will not reflect well on your undoubted abilities.

”Finally, the jobs that I, as a very specific type of employer, have rely on team work and communication as key skills.  It is useful (and something that I look for) that you demonstrate those.  Team work can be demonstrated not only by your past employment history but also by your hobbies and interests.  I am naturally going to be more attracted to someone who plays in a band, a football team or who does amateur dramatics than someone whose interests are more solitary.  That’s simply because people who take part in team based activities know better how to pay their part to a greater goal, and can understand how to take direction, again for the benefit of all.  If you don’t have such an interest take one up!!”