Why was your demo rejected?
Posted by Erica on September 24th, 2007I found a website that gives 10 pretty decent reasons why your demo tape got the big ‘ole R-E-J-E-C-T stamp on it. Kinda like going up for parole in Shawshank Redemption, isn’t it?
You know, maybe it was just some really bitter schmuck who wrote this website but even if he is, he made some valid points. Chris Knab lets it all hang out in his article 10 Reasons Why Your Demo Was Rejected. Way to get right to the point bud.
I’ll let you check the site out at your leisure but some of his points hit home. They at least hit hard enough for me not to ignore them.
Point Two - Lack of Originality. We, as normal, breathing human beings like to think we are the only one who came up with whatever it is we came up with. We also like to think we are the only hungry and starving artist on Planet Earth. Not true. My boy Chris backs me up on that.
Point Four - Poorly Recorded Material (That would be where the owner of this site comes in - I shall shamelessly plug her amazing abilities because she can put together some seriously awesome music for you.) But seriously, it goes for anything, not just music. If you have a bad resume, you sure aren’t getting called back for that killer cleaning job you applied for to supplement your starving artist habit. Same goes for music. If the quality is bad, it doesn’t get noticed.
Point Seven - Sending Unsolicited Tapes. Do you like telemarketers calling you? No, you hang up on them. Do you like the door-to-door sales people? No, you yell at your housemate to turn off the stereo, hit the lights and hide behind the sofa and pretend like you’re not home. Record labels don’t like it either. Instead of turning off the lights, they just don’t respond to you. Now don’t you feel sorry for those poor door-to-door dudes?
Point Ten - The Music Sucks. This point is a catchall for everything that didn’t fit in Points 1-9. Everyone can play music but only some of us can play music that doesn’t suck. The rest of us, unfortunately, fall into the “sucks” category. My boy Chris says that nearly 90% of the music received by record labels is thrown in the “sucks” pile and immediately thereafter marked up with the Big Red Rejector Pencil. Look at the nine people sitting around you. They are your competition. You’re all trying to fight your way out of the Sucks Bin but only one of you is going to make it. You do the math on how great your odds are.
With all that said, I’m still an optimist. Keep hitting the garage with your buddies and keep ignoring the phone calls from your 80-year-old neighbor to “keep that racket down!” You gotta dream? You better get busy getting after it.