How do people get promos from record companies?

[gjkendall]

As title really....


I am a huge fan of several record labels (Ninja, Fat City etc etc) and was wondering how I could get onto a mailing list for their promo releases!

Is this even possible to do? (would I need to be a professional DJ to qualify?)

Is it just a case of sending an email to said companies and hope for the best!

[ruiner]

by being a dj usually

[Mr Majestik]

Some specialist record stores sell them.

[ohood]

I get mine from my brother who works for a commercial radio station as a programmer or something. Their demographic is limited to teenie-boppers and single mothers so I sometimes get some good stuff...

[mikegray]

By being a reviewer...

[LouBarlow]

Indie record shops get my vote...

[RPG]

by being a dj usually
By being a reviewer...

Or being both :thumbs: :suspect:

[jmdomain]

Or if you deal with unsigned bands. The artists themselves.

[Blu3Flame]

Or by being the person who has to distribute the promos, nothing like the grin on my face when a big box of 50 of the same CD arrives at my doorstep.

[gjkendall]

Or by being the person who has to distribute the promos, nothing like the grin on my face when a big box of 50 of the same CD arrives at my doorstep.


So who do you distribute for? ;)

[Johnny Vodka]

But you probably won't get them just through record company goodwill. ;)

[Blu3Flame]

gjkendall: A few people over the years, Drive-Thru and a few others. Your best chance would be to sign up to here.

http://www.streetwise.com/

They send you promotional items for games/films/music which include stickers/sampler cd's etc. In return you hand them out and get feedback/photos of people with them, more you do the more they trust you and you start getting more stuff and better quality things.

Its got VERY popular over the years so can be hard to get onto the 'teams' sometimes, I recall a few years ago you could just pop on and there would be vacancies for a whole range of bands. Now they get snapped up so quick its obserd.

EDIT: Scratch that idea, just read their FAQ.

I live in Canada or overseas, can I still join Teams?
Yes you can, but only eTeams. Due to shipping costs and customs issues, we don’t send swag packages outside of the U.S. However, you can still get down with the eTeams and participate in the same contests and win prizes.

Seems they no longer send stuff to the UK, i've still got piles of undistributed stuff... dum di dum...

[DJBIGJAY]

Being a DJ myself getting promos is very hard theses days.
I have tried to get on mailing lists but it is virtually impossible.
In the old days it was apparently easy but labels have cut back severley on giving out promos willy nilly possibly due to profit margins and the promoting of their tunes by DJ's is not really important to them anymore.
I tended to get promos from a little local shop who got reviewers stuff and the odd dj who had plenty of doubles.

[agnetha]

Start a fanzine (either online or paper sort) - usually helps if you've already done a couple of issues though.

[Gregg1978]

Being a DJ myself getting promos is very hard theses days.
I have tried to get on mailing lists but it is virtually impossible.
In the old days it was apparently easy but labels have cut back severley on giving out promos willy nilly possibly due to profit margins and the promoting of their tunes by DJ's is not really important to them anymore.
I tended to get promos from a little local shop who got reviewers stuff and the odd dj who had plenty of doubles.

Does it still work on the basis that you have to prove to how many people you play records to? Like by showing flyers with your name on and stuff like that?

[chrisjm]

get lots at work but the music channel people have em before they get put in a free for all box which is usually full of junk no one wants :P

[DJBIGJAY]

Does it still work on the basis that you have to prove to how many people you play records to? Like by showing flyers with your name on and stuff like that?

You do have to give them an idea of how many people you play out to.
You also need to fill in a reaction form for every record you get.
If you do not do these they will chop you off the list.
As i said it is near impossible to get on the lists these days, unless of course you are Pete Tong

[Remains]

They were the bane of my life for a few years - was getting about 500 a month and although it was great to start with it soon turns into a chore sorting through them all.

These were coming in for a magazine I set up with a friend that sort of got quite successful - and once you get on the 'inside' mailing lists, your address is spread between different record labels and promo agencies who will send out a slew.

The majority usually have either a hole punched in the barcode, a marker pen through it, or a hole soldered in the spine to prevent you returning them to a shop for a refund. Some labels (perversely usually those with the most money) send out cheap packages of a bare disc and promo sheet, which we refused to review on the grounds that a release should be based upon the final package the customer will buy.

The nice moments of it was being able to call up a label and request any record in their catalogue, or being in their distribution warehouses and being able to take a copy of anything we wanted. Unfortunately the downside is that there is a lot of complete dung being pressed that you, the lucky punter, never has to inflict upon your ears.