Choosing a Label and Sending a Demo: Catalogue, Private Links and A&R Messages.

Two things can lose a good track before anyone hears it: sending it to a label that would never release it, and spoiling the submission through avoidable details. The second is commonest: expiring links, hundred-megabyte attachments, long emails or generic greetings revealing a mass mailing. Either way, the track gets no chance.

This guide follows the entire submission, from choosing a label to the demo email. You need neither a label deal nor contacts: you need judgement about the destination, finished material and an email readable in ten seconds. One idea orders the process: A&R evaluates how your music fits the label’s releases rather than hearing it in isolation.

Choosing a Label That Fits Your Music

Choosing a label concerns catalogue, not fame. A famous large label is not a better destination than a small one releasing your subgenre weekly; the reverse applies. A label already moving that sound has a buyer list, newsletter and DJs playing its new releases.

Practical shortlist criteria:

• Release frequency and type. If a label releases one single every two months and you send a four-track EP, the format either does not fit or requires waiting.
• Size and attention. Small labels read almost everything and respond more; large ones take longer and often require an intermediary.
• Your role. Distribution and publicity only, or mastering, promotion and payments too? A label supplying only a code and cover leaves release work on your desk.
• Payment history and activity. An abandoned catalogue or unupdated store suggests failing infrastructure.

Keep a small pool: five to twenty labels ranked by actual fit, with email, demo channel and usual response date. Sending to everyone together multiplies rejection rather than options.

Researching the Catalogue Before Writing

Researching the catalogue means listening, specifically to the latest ten or twenty releases: tempo, subgenre, length, mix level and whether emerging artists or only established names appear. The uncomfortable, useful question: would this label have released your track last week?

Two sources suffice. First, official label pages: Bandcamp, SoundCloud, Beatport and their store show what sells and how often. Second, credits on releases resembling yours list A&R, managers and sister labels—the actual entry points.

That research supplies email content. Mentioning two specific catalogue references—“track X in your catalogue is my energy reference”—shows you listened and separates you from most submissions. The branding and press kit guide helps organise that presentation beforehand.

The Right Demo and Private Link

The right demo is a finished track rather than an idea, with decent mixing and working mastering representing the final result. The label will pay for mastering if needed; it needs to know the song is finished and releasable. Drafts make A&R imagine, a luxury nobody allows in that inbox.

Two or three tracks, best first, nothing else. Sound On Sound is direct: three is the reasonable maximum, and recipients have little time for many submissions. If it is an EP, say “an EP is available if this fits.”

The private link is the submission’s technical component: a hidden SoundCloud, Bandcamp or similar link opening in one click for listening without download. Good practices:

• No expiry, or a distant date; a dead link is a dead submission.
• No password unless requested; every friction costs listens.
• Visible title and artist on the linked page, with BPM and genre if available.
• Optional WAV download if A&R wants to listen elsewhere.

Each of three formats has a place: private streaming by default, WAV download when files are requested, or the label’s form when that is its official channel. Audio attachments are the fastest route to spam; requested files go through download links, never attached to the email.

Demo Metadata

Demo metadata identifies the track before playback: artist, title, genre, BPM, key, duration, estimated release date and contact. It lets A&R file your submission, find it two weeks later and give a specific response.

These data do not belong in the email subject. Put them in three places: the linked page with visible title and details, one email data line, and a file or form if requested. Filenames count too: Artista - Título (mix).wav reads well; final_v3_MASTER_ok.wav does not.

Metadata change if work continues: say which parts are provisional in the email. Lying about key or BPM to fit a form is discovered on the first listen and undermines the entire submission’s credibility.

The Message and Demo Email

The A&R message and demo email are the same piece from two angles: the message is what should be remembered, the email its delivery vehicle.

A working structure, in order:

1. Who you are, one line: artist name, city and two or three releases if available.
2. Why this label, one line with actual catalogue references.
3. What you send, with link and track data.
4. What you request, explicitly: feedback, a single signing or EP consideration.
5. A grateful close, with name and contact.

No long biography, personal history, achievements list or press attachments. The entire email fits one screen without scrolling. Its subject identifies genre and demo, for example “Melodic techno demo — Artist, new track.” Never copy other labels: BCC to ten recipients is as clearly visible as a chain mailing.

Without a demo email address, find the label’s published channel: web form, submission platform or specific address. A generic press address is almost always a detour.

LabelRadar and Alternatives

LabelRadar and alternatives are the third channel, beyond cold email. LabelRadar works as a demo directory: upload a track, send to labels accepting that style and follow status without chasing replies. It offers more than convenience: it saves finding whether demos are accepted and reduces spam risk.

The full channel map:

• The label’s web form. Preferred when available: it forces data into the proper fields.
• Submission platforms such as LabelRadar. Useful for discovering labels by style and for high-volume demo recipients.
• Personal contact. A DJ, friendly label or remixer introducing your track has the best response rate, built through playing and collaboration.
• Direct email. Still valid when a label publishes its address and demo policy.

Before sending, check three things: does the track fit the catalogue? Does the link open in a private browser window? Does the email fit a screen without chain mailing? That minute separates a professional submission from another item in the pile. If a contract later appears, Contract, Exclusivity, Licence and Assignment explains what you are signing.

Next Step

A reply discussing a signing begins the part hardly anyone reads: follow-up, what not to do after sending and contract clauses. Continue with Label Follow-Up, Contracts and Clauses.