will having my music for sale on itunes and amazon or tunecore beforehand make labels uninterested in selling my CD? will this interfere with the process?

This isn't the year 2000 any more. Why would you want to sign with a label anyway? These days the only reason to sign with a label is if you think they can do a better job of mixing and mastering your stuff. Other than that you can distribute and promote it yourself to radio stations without the help of a label or brick and mortar distributor. If you're signed up with Amazon Advantage and Tunecore then you already have distribution.

Post or email me a sample.

[[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.junkyard…"]Looking for a record deal?[/]="http://www.junkyard…"]Looking for a record deal?[/]

thank you much dr. willie for your response
i read your webpage and it was VERY insightful

Dr_Willie_OBGYN, post: 367351 wrote: This isn't the year 2000 any more. Why would you want to sign with a label anyway?[[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.junkyard…"]Looking for a record deal?[/]="http://www.junkyard…"]Looking for a record deal?[/]

you make a good point, and i have come up with reasons you might wanna get signed to a label in these new times, its speculative so feel free to correct me, i am open ears

i intend on asking labels directly "why should i sign with you? what are you offering me that i cant do myself? what do you do better than other labels?"
and i know not everyone will take nice to it

but i also think there are business savy people out there who are attempting to come up with new ideas

heres what i can think of:

1. the label has advertising resources that i do not like brute paid for type advertising: banner ads or equivalent commercials on sites like beatport for example, who wont sell any music thats not on a label and wont run your ad if your an unsolicited stanger
2. the label has advertising resources that i do not that are UNIQUE, for EXAMPLE: deadmau5's label mau5trap can put content on its webpage and Facebook page and get TONS is highly focussed exposure of any music they choose, all sorts of labels can do this to some degree, and a few labels like my example, can do it to an EXTREME degree (its rare)
3. they can loan me money, this one generally sucks for a reason, but i don't know many places you can get an monetary advance on music related ventures. and yes i understand about paying it back and i understand interest so im not really exited about this one

all of this would likely come only in exchange for something like percentage of profits of resulted sales
and if its something that will gain me lots of buzz then i can part with quite alot of the profit, i want exposure more than i want sales for my very first album

in fact, i would be willing to give my album out for free, but then there goes my only negotiation card with any label or distro

things are slowly coming together, im learning every day
thanx internet!

Labels will talk the talk, but will they walk the walk? If it ain't in the written contract it doesn't exist.

A long time ago I read a book by Tim Sweeney about self distribution. He noted that for every dollar spent on advertising you will never come close to recovering that dollar back in revenue. From my experience I got maybe 1 cent back for every dollar. So advertising is a total waste of money. The REAL way to go about promoting is to get FREE advertising in the form of radio airplay. Back in the day I bought a copy of the "Yellow Pages of Rock" which had a list of every radio station in the US. I don't think that book is published anymore or what publication has replaced that book. I'm not sure there's many stations that play the trance genre. Sirius radio's Area 33 has got to be the biggest one.

As far as banner ads go, I NEVER click banner ads, so as far as I'm concerned a banner ad isn't worth a hill of beans to me. Is exposure on a record label website worth whatever huge percentage a label takes? I don't think so.

As long as Pirate Bay is around, then your album WILL be passed around for free. They say that 95% of downloading on the Internet is illegal.

i don't see selling a debut-nobodys-heard-of album is realistic honestly either, i really am leaning heavily towards just giving it out for free, my goal is exposure, i believe my music can make money in the scenes that DJ's play (money for the DJ's... not me) and at least make a buzz around certain popular dance scenes, i wanna get my music as far out there as i can and see if can open any paths for me

originally i believed that path would end at a label or something, but i can see now how they may pretty much have nothing to offer me and im almost on my own

but wouldn't you admit, certain people have promotional ability just because of who they are, like big name artists promoting other big name artists n stuff, face book pages and other music hubs like that have alot of legitimate "swarm"?

do you have any reccomendations for exposure? radio is noted
i dont know how else to get on pandora or last.fm unless your on a label

but wouldn't you admit, certain people have promotional ability just because of who they are, like big name artists promoting other big name artists n stuff, face book pages and other music hubs like that have alot of legitimate "swarm"?

do you have any reccomendations for exposure? radio is noted
i dont know how else to get on pandora or last.fm unless your on a label

The music sells itself. If they like it they'll air it. If people like it they'll request it.
Last FM? [="http://www.last.fm/about/contact"]About Last.fm[/]="http://www.last.fm/…"]About Last.fm[/] Send them a copy.
Pandora? [[url=http://="http://blog.pandora…"]Pandora FAQ[/]="http://blog.pandora…"]Pandora FAQ[/]
It doesn't take a publicist. While I sell comedy, I got syndicated airplay on Howard Stern, Comedy Central, various individual radio stations aired my stuff, and write ups in SPIN Magazine, the LA Weekly, etc WITHOUT a publicist or record company. Just did it myself the old fashion way.
Create some YouTube videos with your stuff. Some people use PirateBay as a promotional tool -- not by giving away the farm but by posting some of their stuff.
Post or email me a sample. I like trance.