How to get signed?

[Juho L]

Originally Posted by Panopticon

I really would have no idea about how to go about it in electronic music; I'm in industrial/alt-rock in the US, and it's pretty easy to pick up an idie label deal and get endorsements, etc, if you know the right formula to follow. But they don't pay the big bucks; you still have to get a major label deal for that; and a major label deal is still difficult to attain. Like Juho said, it works a lot better if you're able to meet someone who's connected (versus all the people who 'say' they have connections).

Yes. It's fairly easy to get signed on a very small labels, but that way your releases will be very limited like in author's editions. Hardly no marketing or advertising and very narrow distribution network. If you plan to make a living with your music, tiny labels are useless and more like "releasing for fun" companies.

But tiny labels can be a good place to start from. If you build name on the small labels and for example sell few hundred records (which is very good on a tiny label in mariginal music), it's very likely that a bigger label will contact you (good sales on tiny label is usualy a sign of a talent).

Edit: And as you mentioned about a rock band, in that case the importance of live performance is very high. I've heard many times about cases where a band has got a contract just by a live performance. No demos, just word of mouth. A record company bloke heard about a good band, went to see the live performance and then contacted the band and signed a contract. That's very usual case in basic band section.