Ian

I really appreciate this article. I’m the singer in a Proggressive Rock/Metal band and we’re looking to get signed (who isn’t?), but really had no idea where to start. This answered a lot of questions I had and gave me quite a few ideas on how to approach our current problem: getting noticed.

Would it be okay if I e-mailed you a couple of our songs to check out? You mentioned bloggers in your list of “whose opinion counts’ and I’d like to hear what you think…

Much appreciated sir,

Ashton

There are several directories that you can get hold of that list music companies – the best one for you is probably the Billboard directory – http://www1.billboard.biz/bbbiz/directories/index.jsp

Other than that, it’s all about hustling – look at who the people you are after follow on Twitter. Generally they only follow a few and some of those will be friends / colleagues at the label. You can often get to them that way. Or try calling up somewhere that you can get a number for – maybe a main label like Universal – and use a story to get the number you need. e.g. – you have a package that you just sent to the wrong address and you need it to get there for a studio session or something – if you’re a good ‘blagger’ as we call it in the UK, you may well extract the number that you’re after from the receptionist there.

Basically, buy a directory, and chase them down. You can reach any of these companies if you try hard enough – whether you’ll get to the right person and get a reply is a different question though!

That’s all about giving them a great pitch on what you have to offer. Remember that they get free clothes all day long so work out what you can do that is different that makes them realise the ‘what’s in it for me’ answer. They won’t promote your clothes for you unless there is something in it for them that they aren’t already getting from someone else!

Thanks in advance!!
Brandy
http://www.facebook.com/theartistvegas

The Rap game is the toughest game in town – everyone thinks that they can rhyme over a beat and that’s it.

Your stuff sounds OK to me but I’m not an expert in it.

Mixtapes, getting blogs to write about you and building your own fanbase from your own site is still the way to build momentum as we talk about on the site – no matter what type of music you make.

All the best with your music.

Ian