i think the lack of interest in 'demos' at labels like t+g has little to do with whether or not they are 'shitty'

it has more to do with what motivates the band

if you are motivated to make music by creative impulse, you'll be doing it as full-bore as possible regardless of label interest etc.

in other words, you'll be playing live and recording and making those recordings available for public consumption by hook or by crook

those are the kinds of bands that might develop some 'in' or another at a decent record label: the ones who are not making that 'in' a priority

sub pop used to have a pretty cool thing on thier site about accepting demos (how they didn't) that essentially said, listen, if you're good enough to be on our label, we would have heard of you from one of our friends, or bands or whatever.

also, didn't t&g throw out nirvana's demo as well? although, you know, maybe starting this thread is enough. maybe someone reading this sent a link to someone at touch and go saying, hey some dude is asking about sending us a demo...

can you start playing out somehow with that music? i know it isn;t your normal rock club stuff, but still there have to be avenues you can take. isn't that the most effective way of getting your work noticed and in the public eye? someone locally could take note then you could make a record, get some reviews, then perhaps t&g would read them and perhaps be interested in the future. black heart procession didn't start on t&g.

i think small independent labels like the ones you'd want to be working with are kind of based initially on a personal relationship, and that's something that's nearly impossible to foster blindly sending a package. but, i'm sure one of the clients of your studio runs thier own label, and even if you press 100 of them and send them to zines and stuff people will start to take notice. maybe you'll meet someone at the show who tells thier friend who's making a film and knows someone and so on... it's a tried and true punk rock tactic - put it to use in your genre.

it sounds great by the way - i don't mean to be discouraging about sending to t&g - what do i know about that - but i mean to be encouraging about doing your creative thing regardless of who puts thier blessing on it - t&g, another local indie or putting it out yourself. tons and tons and tons of people started out this way - you gotta start somewhere. that's what sub pop was getting at.

i think a label who sees a band (or artist) who has faith in themselves and says, fuck it - i'm doing this whether you help me or not - is a very attractive thing.

best of luck!

nick92675 wrote:it sounds great by the way - i don't mean to be discouraging about sending to t&g - what do i know about that - but i mean to be encouraging about doing your creative thing regardless of who puts thier blessing on it - t&g, another local indie or putting it out yourself. tons and tons and tons of people started out this way - you gotta start somewhere. that's what sub pop was getting at.

Thanks a lot for that Nick, and that was the kind of advice I was looking for. You see, when I was younger I was much more adamant about composition etc. than I am now. In recent years, I've turned almost exclusively towards production (I know many here hate that term, but so be it), and kept my composition to a minimum. I had posted this track as a response to someone else on another well-known forum I am a part of, and got unanimously positive reviews from some other successful AEs, which got me to thinking about focusing more on composition once again.

Production is my main love...I love the studio environment, and I love helping new artists achieve the next step in their development by having a song, demo or album done. I'm fortunate in that I'm well connected with major studios locally, though the market I am located in lacks a well-defined scene.

I will be sending some of my music off to various labels. What was said above rings true as well, though. However, I have to take exception to something Narcoticus said. While I know you were being general, Narcoticus, I think you have a slightly skewered view of how things work. You may just be jaded, which is fine, but if those "ten billion people" didn't send their "stupid songs" anywhere, there would be no industry, bud. There's a lot of shitty music out there. A lot. But don't get the snot-nosed, existential, angst-ridden attitude that one's music doesn't matter and that one tape doesn't mean a fucking thing. Sorry buddy, it does.

Ignorance is one's biggest enemy in this business. If you know the odds and are still passionate about getting your music somewhere, you will...even if you have to work at a fucking McDonalds until you're thirty, your passion, focus and ability will find their way to some measure of success.

Thanks again Nick for your comments...was worth posting just to read them.