Making blind submissions (sending your recording to a club or company you've never contacted or made a connection with) is as good as sending your demo to the trash. Most record companies on principal throw out all blind submissions due to the large number of submissions they receive — you aren't the only one who wants a record deal, you know! Club owners often act the same way. They open the envelope, see a CD they don't recognize, and toss it into the trash. You have to make some connections beforehand.

Talk to the Right People

In the case of clubs and other performance venues, a simple phone call beforehand will usually suffice: let them know who you are and ask if they are accepting submissions. They might respond with questions about your music and the audience you typically play for — this is usual. After you make the initial contact, send your demo by mail or preferably show up in person and place your demo right in their hands. After that, back off. Give them time to listen, and then follow up a few days later.

Making recording industry contacts is much more difficult. The sheer number of people who try to initiate contact with artist relations persons makes this part difficult. You might be very hard-pressed to get anyone on the phone at all. Most companies will tell you they don't accept unsolicited submissions, which is a nice way of saying: Don't call us; we'll call you. How can you overcome these difficulties? Many times agents and managers can make these connections for you. If you're serious about getting into the industry, seeking the help of an agent or manager could open doors. Really good agents and managers already have connections and close ties with record companies, and their submissions often have a chance of getting noticed.

Fill a Need

The other aspect of doing your homework is understanding what “they” want. “They” can be record companies, clubs, venues, and concert promoters…you name it. The name of the game is filling a need. If you don't read this part correctly, then your demo will end up in the trash again. When looking into prospective avenues to distribute your demo, make sure you're close to what “they” are looking for. For example, you're wasting your time and money sending a heavy metal demo to a jazz club. The same goes for record companies — make sure you've got a similar style to other artists on the company's current roster. Otherwise, the company won't take your demo seriously and you'll end up simply wasting your money.

Be Professional

The presentation of your demo makes a big difference, so package your demo in a great-looking press kit. A basic, professional-looking press kit includes these elements:

• A CD: These days, the format of choice is the compact disc. Tapes are falling out of favor.

• A label with contact information and track listing: Make sure you place a nice label on your CD — don't just write on it with a black marker! Label it using a very inexpensive adhesive CD labeling kit on your home computer. Include contact names, phone numbers, and track listings.

• A group biography: Include a well-written, typed bio of your group. The more information you provide the better. You might want to list places you've played, awards, and so on.

• A picture (optional): A picture helps to humanize the group and elevate a boring press kit into a human reality.

All of these elements should be packed either in a nice folder or bound together in some way that they don't get lost or separated.

No matter how good this demo of yours is, if you don't act professionally, you're not going to get very far. Anyone who's been involved in the recording industry will tell you that product is not always as important as personality. Getting your demo to work for you will invariably involve phone calls and mailings, and it's to your advantage to speak and write as professionally as you can. That means being polite and considerate during your phone calls, especially when talking to the people who book gigs for concerts and clubs. These people are often overwhelmed with other responsibilities, so they might appear to “blow you off.” It's so important to keep a perspective here and exercise an extra bit of patience. Remember, you need them; they don't need you. There are other demos they can likely choose from, so make a good impression by being nice. When writing and e-mailing, make sure to use good English and practice your written communication skills. Just because it's becoming normal and ordinary not to capitalize words in e-mail and instant messenger doesn't mean it's correct. So don't take that habit with you when you correspond (e-mail or snail mail) with prospective clients. And please, please spell-check your work!

The more pleasant, easy, and fair you are to work with, the better. This will pay off in your search for contacts, in winning repeat gigs, and in finding success in putting your demo to work.