Forget Demo Tapes: Get Discovered With Free MP3 Downloads

November 20th, 2009

Getting discovered is the most important thing for any artist. It’s your ticket to the fame and fortune promised by the entertainment industry. Artists through the years have tried all sorts of strategies and tricks to get themselves noticed by recording industry players. Strangely enough, the key to your golden dreams could very well lie in giving something for nothing – that is, free MP3 downloads – to people you don’t even know.

Why Demo Tapes Are Outdated

Up to about a decade ago, getting a demo tape to a record label or a producer was the best way to get your sound discovered by the industry. Remember, though, that you’re far from alone in your quest for discovery.

Hundreds of other unsigned bands and artists out there flood record labels’ offices with demo tapes and CDs, so don’t expect them to be able to give your demo a lot of attention. In fact, unless you have an agent or producer with a lot of contacts on your side, breaking into the mainstream could be very difficult for a while.

MP3 Downloads Mean Business

It might sound strange that the Internet, most often used to party pictures from last week or the newest funny video, could become your ticket to discovery. If you think about it, offering your music as a free MP3 Downloads could be even better than manually sending your demos over to an office that will most likely ignore your submission.

Even the music industry is catching up to the zeitgeist that is the Internet. People on the inside know that there’s a lot of undiscovered talent – yours included – floating around on the Internet. Listeners and music lovers are even more acutely aware of this fact, which is why so many of them keep their ears tuned to new MP3 downloads online.

Putting your work online doesn’t sound like the most conventional way to break into the business, but it’s certainly been known to work. Some of today’s most popular artists like Amy Winehouse, Mika and Lady GaGa started out on the Internet. It was their free MP3 downloads, making the rounds of computers and media players around the world, which cemented their place in the pop culture of the time.

Free MP3 Downloads Work Better

Going the direct route to the recording agents and execs themselves isn’t the only way to enter the industry. When execs hear about bands and artists that have earned credit on the street, they’re often the ones who approach the artists. This reversal of roles, however, is not easy to come by. It takes a long time to build a name on the gig and underground circuit before the industry takes notice.

Digital music helps accelerate the process, even by a bit. You don’t even need to haul your instruments to gigs all over town; just make sure your tracks get to the right people, and others will hear of you. Instead of approaching record label offices and agents, you may want to try music bloggers and file sharing networks. They might just be the faster track for your career

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