Having the right music industry contacts is absolutely essential if you want to get a record deal. As has often been said, it’s not “what” you know but “who” you know and this is especially true in the music industry. It’s also the reason why there are many talentless music artistes in the charts.
To become successful these days, good talent isn’t even necessary but knowing how to market yourself to the right people is.
Finding A&R People Via Google
As you probably already know (but just incase you don’t!), A&R people are the talent scouts of the record companies. These are the guys who receive all the demo CDs and decide if they want to lookfurther into any of the artists or bands.When you send your demos in, you should always get the name of the person who works there. Don’t just put “A&R person” on the top of the address. Itwill be seen as a demo and left to gather dust in the in-tray. But if you address the relevant person by name, it is much morelikely that they will open it and see and listen to what you have to say.
Google is your best friend in this regard. Even if a record company does not want to publicise who their A&R person is, you can frequently find email and telephone contact details buried on a website somewhere that Google just happened to pick up.
Networking
If you want to be successful then you had better start networking. Networking is nothing more than developing contacts and relationships. You meet people in your industry and youdon’t need to pretend to be friends. Have some business cards handy that you can give away too. Mingle in the crowd after any small gigs and get to know your audience and the other bands there. Other artistes may have had more success than you and can give you some advice or a valuable contact.
Talent scouts are often hidden in audiences too. Besides, people in the audience may also have a friend of a friend that could lead to great things further down the line.The key with networking is to be relentless.
If you want to find out more on how to build your career as a musician and performing artiste click here