How to approach A&R's and Managers?

JPride

JPride Beats
I follow like 3 a&r's on twitter and they give there emails in there bio. Do i just send them like 5 beats or what? How do i make it look nice and official? Any advice when sending music? Thanks
 
I follow like 3 a&r's on twitter and they give there emails in there bio. Do i just send them like 5 beats or what? How do i make it look nice and official? Any advice when sending music? Thanks

Most of them have instructions somewhere on the page on how they want beats. A lot dont want more than 2. Honestly I dont know, ive never been successful through emailing a&r's but ive sent a few things to folk. I just send my beats and keep the message short.

The last I sent was

Whatup Folk, had jeezy in mind on this one. **** with me, lemme know whats good.

No response, but his shit said no bios no life stories so i just kept it short lol
 
Being honest when you are reaching out to A&R's and Managers, you should assume that they would like to be treated with respect. When you are contacting then, it is tantamount to a job interview. If you would interview for a job saying what was mentioned above, that is fine. I would venture to say, that isn't the case. Treat them as if you hope to get their business, and you will be fine.
 
Thursday, 28 July 2011



What's up guys!
Since there are so many possibilities nowadays to send your music to A&R's and Music Executives, I'd like to share a few important information with ya'll.


  • The point where most producers fail is: DO NOT ASK THEM FOR MONEY WHEN YOU SUBMIT BEATS! I know some guys send messages like that: "Ayoo wassup bro? Check this beat out. I'm dope..the hottest producer in the game right now. I'm flamez. Send me 5000 bux if you wanna use this track." (This always makes my day when I read messages like that :) If you write messages like that, I can guarantee, that you won't see a cent! You can talk about $$$ later.
  • Keep it short! A&R's don't want to know your whole life story. They don't care if you ever worked at McDonald's or if you ever sold dope. A short bio about you & your activities in music is OK.
  • Contact Information. When you send tracks make sure you add your E-Mail, Phone Number, Address, etc. I prefer to write my E-Mail address in the ID3 tag of the MP3 file, just in case the A&R accidentally deletes the original E-Mail.
  • Let them know what artist you can hear on the beat(s) you sent. Something like "In the vein of Rihanna, Trey Songz, Chris Brown". This actually helps the A&R a lot to understand your music.
  • Send FULL tracks. No snippets or unfinished tracks.
  • Do NOT tag your whole beat. That's what A&R's hate most. It's like Artists who want free beats for us producers. 1-2 tags are enough.
  • Probably the most IMPORTANT thing: Send your BEST tracks. Listen with friends to your beats, ask them for their opinion. Get them reviewed by other Producers as well! The beats won't automatically be hot, just because you like them. Make sure the crowd likes it too, because those are the people, who will buy the final record.
Hopefully it was helpful for ya'll!
PS.: Don't forget to share this on Twitter!


myflashstore article
 
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Great info, Stayingpositive. Being professional (doing all the things he posted) will get you a long way.

yes being knowledgeable while being professional is key
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maybe i shouldnt have said **** with me, but i dont think it will offend him haha. My beat prolly just wasnt vibe'n enuf for him. if it was hot i dont think it would matter that dude gave better advice than i did though haha
 
JPride,
I've had success with A&R's responding (By success, I mean just having them respond was an accomplishment). However, these A&R's are at the label one day, then on the street the next. The turnover rate with A&R's today is crazy. The best approach that I've found is contacting a higher source...either the VP of A&R, VP of Creative, or the VP/Upper management of the label! These are the people with the final say anyways, so why not have them hear your music.

Make sure you only send ONE track, they don't have the time, nor do they want to sit and listen to your tracks all day to find one hot one. Send the best track you got, keep the message short and honest (don't lie about placements or artists you haven't worked with...they'll find out), and provide a link to a site where they can hear more of your tracks if they are interested. Provide all of your contact info. & Last but not least, make sure you copyright all of your music before soliciting all of these labels and execs.

There are plenty of resources out there that will provide you with contact info for the major and inde label contacts. But the a&r directories are outdated daily, so focus on sending to the department "heads" first (urban, pop, rock, creative, etc).

Good luck
 
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