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ARTICLES 

Why doesn't the music industry want to listen to your MP3s?
It's so simple. Why don't they accept them online? Imagine for a moment you are a record company executive. In spite of iTunes, a record company wants to sell CDs. First of all, the fact that it takes effort to send in a CD to a record company has already filtered out many, many people. If it were online any "idiot" with a digital interface would be submitting demos.

Record producers are after serious musicians. That guy with a digital interface may make some pretty good music, but he may not be willing to put in the hours and devote his life to his music and to treat it like a real job, like a business.

Again, a record company wants to sell CDs. They don't like online sales. This may be short-sighted, it may be stupid, but the fact is that they wish the Internet had never been invented. Music industry people relate to CDs; they don't relate to downloads. Try and get someone to listen to a download and you have already created a barrier.
From a record producers perspective it takes effort to submit a CD. It takes a bigger effort to submit a professional looking, factory-made, shrink-wrapped CD with a barcode. So by all means you should make a CD on your computer. But make it look absolutely as professional as possible. Or you can get your CD manufactured. Every barrier that you remove will help your progress.

If you start listening to demos online you soon realize that there are a lot of people who haven't really made it to a marketable standard yet. Of course "any idiot" could make a CD too. Funny thing is they don't. People tend to try go to the marketable stage before the thought of making a CD occurs to them.

Your music, do you treat it like a real job, like a business?You should. Making music is only one component of being successful in the music industry. Like any business you need a product to sell, which is the music. But you need market research, marketing, distribution, sales, customer care (buying the A&R guy a drink perhaps), etc etc. I wonder if there is anyone out there who came to be successful without devoting their entire energy to their musical career?

So, from a record producers standpoint they have learned not to bother listening to tracks that are e-mailed to them (unless requested of course), or fruitlessly searching band websites or MySpace pages, not that it couldn't happen, but not likely.
Sure there might be gems out there. But it isn't a productive use of a producers time.
However, listening to CDs is another matter. When an artist or band has taken the trouble to take their career to that level, it is less likely for the music to be anything less than an enjoyable experience.

You see, record companies are a lot like banks. At a bank, you have a lot better chance of getting a loan if you prove to them you don't need it. Same goes for a band. If the record company sees that you already have a following, have some killer songs, a good stage show and are already touring, you are more likely to get a shot at getting signed. You do want to get signed don't you? You may change your mind after we discuss what it means to "get signed" in a different article.