When you're working on recorded music, it's really important to understand that there are different standards for different purposes. What's this for? Is it just to get a few local gigs? To get a record deal? If you're looking for a local gig, you might be able to get away with slight imperfections and rough edges in the recordings. But if you're looking for a record deal, then the stakes change and the rules are different.

Getting Gigs

If you're looking to score some gigs, you need to do your homework. When looking into clubs, find out what kinds of crowds and what sorts of people frequent the establishments. You need to ask yourself, “What will this owner or booking agent want to hear?” While it would be wonderful to believe the owner is into music for music's sake, you're not being realistic. Live music plays one role—to make the establishment money.

When handing out a CD for a prospective gig, make sure to place your contact info and phone number as many places as possible. Make sure to mark the CD itself, because CD cases often get separated from their contents. Don't assume the proprietor is going to do to your website to listen to music. Always give a hard-copy CD in addition to any online formats you may choose to use.

In turn, you are compensated based on several factors. You may get a cut of the door, meaning that you get paid a percentage of the admission fees. If no one shows up, you don't get paid. You may also get a cut of the bar tab, but this is becoming increasingly rare these days. Bottom line, proprietors want to hear music that fits into their normal mold, and they rarely take chances on new formats and risky groups.

With that in mind, you need to customize your demo to address the most important need for each potential client. What that means is putting what you consider your best and strongest material for a particular client on the first track of the tape or CD. Chances are, the client won't even listen to the second track. It's very common to put together multiple demos with different track orders and song content for different purposes. One size might not fit all in this case.

On the first track, which might get only one minute of play time, the club owner simply wants to hear that you aren't a joke. He most likely won't listen very carefully to your content. The club owner wants to make sure you fit into the mold so that regular customers are happy with your sound and new customers are drawn in by it.

Getting a Record Deal

If you're an ambitious sort, you might want to seek a record deal. After all, your home studio has allowed you to produce quality content just for this purpose. While sound quality is always important, it really comes into play if you want to get a record deal. Chances are, the person hearing your music is involved with music production and listens to music all day long from bands that either go the home studio route or pay top dollar for professional demos. If your recording sticks out because of poor quality, soft levels, and other anomalies, you might be dismissed right off the bat. That's why getting it right the first time is ideal—you might never get a second chance.

Do You Need a Record Deal?

This is an interesting question, one that's changed dramatically over the last few years. With the success of the iTunes Music Store, independent bands can get into the same distribution channels as the big record labels. It used to be that getting a CD into a record store was a big deal and required a substantial investment on the record company's part. Nowadays, anyone can get into the iTunes store. But that brings about new challenges for musicians. Since the iTunes store is so crowded, how do you stand out? You'll need to promote your music in as many places as you can. Give out links to your website, give out free sample CDs, and get your music into as many places in the virtual world as humanly possible. The beauty is that with iTunes, you can sell just as well as any band. The only deciding factor is the quality of your music. Welcome to the new world!