Got a demo you think we would like and don’t know what to do with it?

Here’s some tips on sending demos to Earth Monkey Productions (put together after answering many enquiries so please read this bit before contacting us, thanks)

Listen to our output first to see if 1.we are the right label for you and 2. you are the right kind of act for us - after over 50 net releases you can get a pretty good idea of what we like and what we put out. If you are a folk singer, metal band or the new coldplay we aren’t the right label for you and we won’t be suddenly changing our remit - so look elsewhere - if you are really good but not the type of thing we release the best you can hope for is to be put on our i-pods for a bit. There’s loads of quality labels out there so go check them out and find something suitable.

Don’t expect us to press up a thousand vinyl records - We are predominately a net label, that means we release stuff on the internet for free download. We don’t have the money to be pressing hard copies and all the promotion we do is also on free sites. For more details on our releases guidelines here they are

Guidelines for Earth Monkey Productions net releases:

• All tracks will be available free to download on Earth Monkey Productions via The Internet Archive and Last.fm with full artwork.
• The tracks will be licensed under the Creative Commons Sharealike License
• The artist can withdraw their tracks at any time.
• The artist will have full control of their art.
• Earth Monkey will not release hard copies of the tracks (unless for promotional purposes) without first contacting the artist and asking permission, then a suitable profit share will be discussed.
• The artist may press any number of hard copies and keep the money for themselves.
• Earth Monkey will try and get good exposure for all artists equally.
• The copyright of all tracks and any infringement thereof is the liability of the artist - Earth Monkey Productions takes all tracks in good faith that all samples are cleared by the artist and Earth Monkey accepts no responsibility for any infringements

But what about the Collectors Series? The Collectors Series is a new venture for us and we are taking it slowly. We will only be working with established Earth Monkey artists on this series, people that we have built up a good working relationship with. New acts will be releases as net releases first. If the Collectors Series works we are thinking of releasing some of our back catalogue as remastered CDs in the future, if it seems there is an interest, then possibly putting some ‘proper’ releases out, but only with people we have already worked with. So if you are new to us start out by asking about the net label first.

Don’t expect us to reply straight away, or maybe at all - We know this sounds harsh, we get a lot of demos and it can take a long time to get through them. We like to listen to everything properly and reply properly, which all takes time. But you’re just a net label, why can’t you just put it out? We think we have a very high standard of output so far and want to keep it that way, so please be patient, we do listen to everything we receive and generally get back to people. If we don’t get back to people it will be because we either forgot, it never arrived or we lost your contact details. If we haven’t got back to you in a couple of months send us a gentle reminder about yourself - Don’t be angry or malicious, we try to do best by people but we certainly won’t be releasing anything by anyone who abuses us.

What format should I send demos in? - we accept mp3 demos and CDs, we will try and look at links sent but can’t promise anything, especially if we can’t download anything as we like to put stuff on the i-pod, listen in the car etc. If you are going to send mp3 demos please don’t attach them to emails, it clogs up the inbox, send an easy to navigate link to an easy to use file sending service like www.yousendit.com with multiple files zipped together. Of everything we get sent the biggest reason we ignore something is - it’s on a site you have to become a member or it is just a pain to get the tracks for whatever reason, one to many pop up and we’re gone - sorry, but again remember it’s you wanting something from us, so make it easy for us.

Label your demos properly - One of the reasons we sometimes don’t reply to you is that we have mp3s that aren’t labelled - it is very easy to put your artist name in the ID3 tagging so we can remember which artist sent us which track. The same goes for CDs, buy a marker pen and write at least your artist name on it, but preferably your contact details. We also might not reply if your email/letter has no contact details on it or forgets to mention the artist name. After a month or so sitting around on a desk/hard drive stuff we can’t match up generally gets thrown out. Remember you are sending us demos, we feel it is not up to us to chase up emails/letters we haven’t got a clue what music they relate to. If you want to get noticed follow the check lists below.

Where should I send demos?

Send mp3s of around 192Kbps to info@earthmp.org following the check list

• Email saying who you are, what you are sending (name of artist/tracks/album) and what you are looking for from us - album release, compilation inclusion etc.
• Mp3s of decent quality with ID3 tags including name of artist and track - maybe put your contact details in the comments box.
• Zip it all together with maybe a biog/image of yourself/ideas for artwork and links to your myspace or other site - if we like what you send we generally have a look/listen to other stuff like myspace.

Send Hard Copy - Audio CDs, CDs of mp3s should be sent to

following the check list

• Letter, readable with return address/contact details, saying who you are, what you are sending (name of artist/tracks/album) and what you are looking for from us - album release, compilation inclusion etc.
• CD with contact details on - or at least an artist name, it gets confusing once you have a few lying about without anything written on them. If it’s an mp3 CD please include ID3 tags including name of artist and track - maybe put your contact details in the comments box.
• Post it to us, with the correct postage paid, with maybe a biog/image of yourself/ideas for artwork and links to your myspace or other site - if we like what you send we generally have a look/listen to other stuff like myspace.

What is Creative Commons? We release net releases under the following guidelines:

Creative Commons Licence for all Earth Monkey Productions and Talking Monkey releases

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 UK: England & Wales

You are free:

• to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work
• to make derivative works

Under the following conditions:

Attribution. You must give the original author credit.

Non-Commercial. You may not use this work for  commercial purposes.

Share Alike. If you alter, transform, or build  upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under a licence identical to this one.

• For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the licence terms of this work.
• Any of these conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder.

Your fair use and other rights are in no way affected by the above.

Hopefully this isn’t too school teacherly, patronising or rude. Most of the points covered are because we keep coming up against the same questions and issues. We would recommend following these guidelines when sending to other labels, press and media as well. Remember you are selling yourself to someone who hears a lot of great stuff so stand out by being clear about who you are, what you want and how the hell they can contact you to tell you how fantastic you are.

If you are reading this and we didn’t get back to you get in touch again and follow the above guidelines, if you did do all the above then it’s probably our fault, sorry about that, maybe drop us a line and remind us :-)

cheers

Shaun (Earth Monkey Productions)