Demos

[Deleted User]

Some of you know that I'm working on an EP/Demo. It was going to be a 5-6 song demo, but has grown to an 8-9 song demo.

This is my question: I have just a musical piece, no singing. Should I include it on the demo? It's just a nice rainy day number, but should I waste the time, and space on something like that for a demo?

Peace, Tony

TommyM

It depends what you're intending to do with it, I'd say.

If you're looking to sell then at gigs, for example, then aye I'd stick the instrumental on too; maybe even cut it in half to bookend the demo. If you're intending to look for even an indie label or distro, or just to get gigs then do a seperate one with three (four at the most) of your best tracks and scrap the filler. Most promoters, managers, agents and the like won't even entertain more than 2-4 tracks at a push, unless they have an interest or see potential profit in the band/artist already.

What's your objective with it? I know you're largely doing it for pleasure and the love of it, which is excellent, but are there any other goals you've got? It may help to target your marketing more efficiently if there are specific aims 'cause you could really go anywhere with it.

[Deleted User]

My goal is to sell them. I'm actually doing an experiment to see if I can write/record/produce/promote/sell my own product bypassing all of the corporate B.S.

Basically I'm being my own record company pushing a product, except I get to keep everything.

For my introduction CD/Demo I'm just looking to put out good music. Something people will gravitate to. I'm not looking to be the next Jimi Hendrix on guitar, or Robert Plant on vocals. I just want to put out something original that sounds good.

Not sure if an instrumental does much these days, but it has a nice melancholy sound to it that I personally enjoy, but being self indulgent doesn't always work.

But that's the master plan

Peace

TommyM

Nice! It's totally doable, nowadays there are so many more ways to put your stuff out there so I'd say a big thing to look at is saturating the online market. Have a presence everywhere, from Soundcloud and Bandcamp to Twitter and GAB.ai. The more pathways of probability you create and maintain, the more likely you are to create opportunities automatically.

A lot of the time it's basically just an administrative thing, managing your pages and communicating with your fanbase as it grows. That's the hardest part to maintain, it's easy enough to produce the content but to organically grow you project, while absolutely possible, is a pain in the arse and can take ages.

As for the instrumental, why not offer it as a free download with the purchase of your album or something? People always like a freebie and it's a nice incentive to get people to download your stuff.

[Deleted User]

Perfect! give it away as a free download. Thtat's why I love this place!

I have a good plan in place for promotion, after that, hopefully things will begin rolling.

Thanks a million Tommy.

Peace

[Deleted User]

for giving me that beautiful idea I'm going to let you listen to the first draft of it.

Peace

https://youtu.be/70JktRMJcV0

TommyM

I am honoured, my friend! That's really good, I can see why you'd want it included and I look forward to hearing more. Quite Gary Moore but with a funkiness more like Prince to it, so it's not just some blues expedition. Nice one!!

[Deleted User]

One day I will tell you the story behind how it came to be. It's actually quite funny, but not for G rated audiences ha ha.

Peace

Diego

Ooh I like this. Haha.
Videoace Studios lol.
Keep going, I'm interested.

[Deleted User]

If I had my way Diego it would be Videoace International Media Group. A full service media production company from television, and radio to print ads to video billboards to CD-ROMS, etc.... you get the picture.

Peace

Shuliko

@videoace, as I am listening to your instrumental track (it reminds me of Pink Floyd a bit, which I love), I'd say one one instrumental track is totally legit as a bonus track in the album. In my opinion it gives a broader perspective and creates an additional charm to the album. Me and my hubs finally finished our first album (we also have our own indie production company a.k.a in the "music room" in the house), and as a bonus track we put one of my songs in its original Russian language - to spice things up. And I do have one instrumental that i want to add into the next album. Why not share if it is beautiful? However I don't think instrumental pieces will be a strong selling point though.

I loved the sound.Keep it up!

[Deleted User]

Thank you Shuliko, I appreciate the feedback.

As of now I am re-working most of my better songs, and polishing them up for public consumption.

The instrumental above is actually just the guitar track from another song with a solo added on top. The other song is also posted on the same youtube channel, but you can't recognize it due to the other instruments, and different tempo so it worked out pretty cool. (two for the price of one)

Thanks again for the listen, and feedback.

Peace, Tony

Shuliko

videoace said:

Thank you Shuliko, I appreciate the feedback.

As of now I am re-working most of my better songs, and polishing them up for public consumption.

The instrumental above is actually just the guitar track from another song with a solo added on top. The other song is also posted on the same youtube channel, but you can't recognize it due to the other instruments, and different tempo so it worked out pretty cool. (two for the price of one)

Thanks again for the listen, and feedback.

Peace, Tony

@videoace Tony, no kidding, I thought so many times about redoing some of the songs, especially now that i have KTVA and my voice is improving lol.

Where can I find the rest of your songs?

[Deleted User]

These are the songs I will be releasing, probably 3 at a time until I finish them all.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCA_xP0eZfj8uVuTUMPiRz6w?view_as=subscriber

bonvie56

Videoace! Your instrumental is fabulous. Very, very nice … like a peaceful meditation. Keep up the good work!

[Deleted User]

Thank you very much! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Peace, Tony