Calling Major Label Companies?

[Araillac]

I've had this idea that when I get a band togther or in a band that I really like and we get a good demo CD that I would call a major label company's headquarters. The idea is to see if I can reach someone through the phone line and see if they'd be willing to hear us play or to just listen to the cd and see if we could set up an appointment or something. Kind of like when looking for a job, you're not just hoping someone notices you, you're really putting yourself out there knowing you're there for a reason, you want to be out there. Would this be a bad idea? What would you recommend?

[Tony-bobs]

With a major label, i think this would do more harm than good. I doubt you could call up tower records and just ask for an appointment with the head of talent research (or whatever they are called). With a smaller indy label, maybe, but the big guys would only want you if you can bring in a decent cash flow...

[capnsandwich]

Personally, I wouldn't do that yet. I'd first get a well mixed and mastered single sent to some local radio stations first, get the band to do local gigs on a weekly basis, and then get a good website up. After that, then I'd maybe send some CD's to several labels, both indy and major, and even try to get some contacts down in Nashville, Los Angeles, New York, etc. Also, get several good mixes of your songs on a myspace page and send business cards with links to your page and website on them and get some emails out to some talent scouts in some major cities.

[southshoreconor]

most record labels, major and independent, will say the same thing. "dont call us, we'll call you."

[runmikeyrun]

somehow, the above scenario reminds me of the beginning of the movie Airheads...

most won't look at you until you've dominated your local scene, selling out 800 seat clubs regularly and selling 1000s of your self-produced albums. The A+R guys go to shows of bands who are doing just these things and then contact you. Are you going to have a good chance of getting noticed in Gary, IN? Probably not. If you're really serious about it, you need to move to one of the above mentioned cities after you get really really good, then make some noise. It doesn't help to have friends either, network like crazy. 100,000 hits on your myspace pags never hurts.

[Implosion]

A probable scenarion: the call will be answered by someone at the call center and he/she will not put you through to anyone. You will only be given an address where you can send your demo and there's a great chance that no one will ever listen to it.

[Rudreax]

If such a plan really could work, I doubt the companies would get the chance to talk to you with all the other bands in the area calling at the same time.

[20db pad]

Back in the day when labels were more important and necessary to get music out to the masses, they rarely if ever accepted unsolicited material from artists. It had to be presented to the labels' decision makers by the label's own representatives, or professional management or lawyers procured by the artist.

[TheWolf]

That might have worked in the 1950s but now its about having one killer tune and going from there... I would start with reading this guys blog... lots of good stuff there..

http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/

Yeah that'd be great you could be like 'Hey, I know you've received about 40,000 cds this week, but have a listen to ours, I think you'll find it's better'. They'll be like 'Oh yeah, ok. So you guys must be pretty good - must have a good following and stuff, played some awesome gigs'. 'No, we thought that was boring, so we've just saved both us and you time and have just come straight with the songs, which are 100% guaranteed triple-platinum or you get all your money back, well not really'. 'Okay, would you like a hundred grand advance now?', 'Well that will do for now, and cash is preferred'.

One word of warning though, these record companies are quite cynical - all they're interested in is money and success. They might water down your artistic integrity on the way to exploiting you. You should be careful of this.

[Projectile]

Labels only care what you sound like after you have proven that you bring a crowd, create a fan base, and sell records. This would be a completely pointless and futile waste of effort IMO. It's nice to dream, but this just isn't how record companies work in real life.

Also, you are not the first person to have thought of this. They probably get hundreds of phone calls a week from other musicians trying to do the same thing.

[David1234]

I had a record company guy say to my last band "we're in the business of selling ice, just as the refrigerator is invented"

... he's referring to how giving an advance is what set record labels apart from, say, publishers and distributors. They're VERY conservative at the moment causewith digial copying and downloading they've no faith that any investment can ever be returned, and they have shareholders to be responsible to.

Therefore, at present, those of us in startup bands have to prove that we are already an established indy label with a proven crowd of fans willing to spend money, before most labels will touch us. They're nervous and we have a LOT of competition to deal with who - also - have great songs and can play them well.

So now songs dont' sell. Sales sell. And most of us will need day jobs.

[MindSpark]

Originally Posted by Rudreax

If such a plan really could work, I doubt the companies would get the chance to talk to you with all the other bands in the area calling at the same time.

Exactly ! I don't think he's the first person to think of this.

[dealbreaker]

What do you really hope to gain from the majors anyway? What are you trying to accomplish? Do what thousands have done. Realize that these folks are no longer necessary, arguably irrelevant, and start your own label, assuming that the whole label piece is still necessary. There are a lot of artists out there who've left that business model behind. For what it costs in time and money to gain the attention and support of a major, or even some minors, you can produce your own records.

[hover]

Originally Posted by dealbreaker

What do you really hope to gain from the majors anyway? What are you trying to accomplish? Do what thousands have done. Realize that these folks are no longer necessary, arguably irrelevant, and start your own label, assuming that the whole label piece is still necessary. There are a lot of artists out there who've left that business model behind. For what it costs in time and money to gain the attention and support of a major, or even some minors, you can produce your own records.

Yes. It's funny how many people think the OP scenario is plausible or even necessary. Dude, we need to get SIGNED! We'll just CALL the label, I mean they should know already how awesome we are right? They have nothing better to do, right?

You mean you WANT to get in bed with a company that MIGHT sign you, along with a thousand other artists for little to no deal money, give you a meager budget to record, all of which you owe back regardless, and then probably to almost definitely won't even promote if they don't like the results or feel it fits their projected target demographic any longer, and if they DO, you owe that money back too...yeah, that's an awesome deal dude. Do I have some stories I could share regarding a friend's "deal" with RCA records. It's a hoot. Then there's that legendary story where a new band was recording and the A&R guy came to the studio with beer & chips, and the band later got a bill on their expenditures sheet for the beer and chips....

Oh, but they'll send you out on a non lucrative package tour in a crap spot on the bill making no money and owing all the expenses back...yeah, let's keep doing that too.

I dunno, call me jaded or what have you, but no thanks. In this day and age, DIY it and be creative and you just might go farther.

[Projectile]

Originally Posted by hover

Yes. It's funny how many people think the OP scenario is plausible or even necessary. Dude, we need to get SIGNED! We'll just CALL the label, I mean they should know already how awesome we are right? They have nothing better to do, right?

You mean you WANT to get in bed with a company that MIGHT sign you, along with a thousand other artists for little to no deal money, give you a meager budget to record, all of which you owe back regardless, and then probably to almost definitely won't even promote if they don't like the results or feel it fits their projected target demographic any longer, and if they DO, you owe that money back too...yeah, that's an awesome deal dude. Do I have some stories I could share regarding a friend's "deal" with RCA records. It's a hoot. Then there's that legendary story where a new band was recording and the A&R guy came to the studio with beer & chips, and the band later got a bill on their expenditures sheet for the beer and chips....

Oh, but they'll send you out on a non lucrative package tour in a crap spot on the bill making no money and owing all the expenses back...yeah, let's keep doing that too.

I dunno, call me jaded or what have you, but no thanks. In this day and age, DIY it and be creative and you just might go farther.

This is what a lot of musicians don't realize about record labels. They're job is basically to loan you money. It's a LOAN, they don't really pay you anything (except for maybe the occasional signing bonus). They're like a bank, except instead of collecting interest, they collect on everything you sell. The only reason they promote you is because it is a worthwhile thing to do in order to get a return on their investment. Bands who sign typical crappy record deals can soon find out that the label has little obligation to the band. If trends shift, or the label loses confidence in your project, they can just as easily shelf the album and leave you stranded. Yet, you still owe them the money for recording the album, the advance, and any of the expenses that went along with it. Even worse, you can't go sell your music to anyone else, because the record label owns you for however many albums you signed for in the contract. Sounds like a nice deal, doesn't it?

This is why you hear so many stories of multi-platinum selling artists who are bankrupt. It's not uncommon at all to have a number 1 hit song on MTV and be flat broke. All the glamor is often just a veneer for keeping up a public image. I knew a band who was signed to a major and their album was doing pretty well by any standard, yet they had to find all kinds of loopholes in their contract just so they could scrape together enough to eat and pay their bills while they were on tour. They had an entire behind the scenes racket going where they were buying loads of extra gear for the tour on the record label's dime, and then hocking it at pawn shops and pocketing the money. This is just what they had to do if they wanted to eat, and these guys were successful. They probably made the label hundreds of thousand of dollars. So, what kind of deal do you think you are going to get just by calling a label on the phone a playing them your music?

[Beyer160]

If you're even contemplating a major label deal, you need to read this-
http://www.negativland.com/albini.html

It was written 15 years ago, and things have actually gotten worse.

[milothefultz]

****.

Originally Posted by Beyer160

If you're even contemplating a major label deal, you need to read this-
http://www.negativland.com/albini.html

It was written 15 years ago, and things have actually gotten worse.

[Jehos]

Everything you need to know:

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+to+send+a+d...a+record+label

[dose]

Originally Posted by Beyer160

If you're even contemplating a major label deal, you need to read this-
http://www.negativland.com/albini.html

It was written 15 years ago, and things have actually gotten worse.

really makes you think