Labels signing new artists
Labels signing new artists are the independent record labels in the small label scene that are actively recruiting unsigned musicians or accepting demos, and they are the labels a new act looks for when it is ready to release a record. The scene on this site is full of them, because the small label is the company that signs the world, folk, jam, and singer songwriter artists the major does not, and it signs them at every stage, from the first EP to the second album. A label that is open to new acts publishes a way to send a demo, and the artist who sends one is in the pipeline the small label scene runs on. This page explains how to find a label that is signing, what to send, and where the unsigned artist fits in the scene.
This is the guide for the unsigned artist: it explains which independent labels are open to new acts, what a submission should look like, and how the small label scene moves a new artist from the demo to the first release.
Which independent labels are open to new acts
Which independent labels are open to new acts is decided by the genre and the size of the label, and the small label scene is the place to look. The labels to check are the ones that release the world, folk, jam, and singer songwriter music the scene carries, because those are the labels that sign the artists in those genres. A small label is more likely to be open than a mid size one, because the small label signs its next act every year to keep the catalogue moving, and it needs the new artist the way the established one is already paying. The cities of the scene, the Los Angeles, the Nashville, the Chicago, and the Atlanta labels, each have a set of labels that are signing, and the international labels in India and across Europe do the same for the world music. The list of labels that are open is the list of labels in the scene, and the scene on this site is the network of them.
What a submission should look like
What a submission should look like is a short package that gets to the point, because the label that is signing hears a lot of demos and the one that is clear wins. The package is 3 things: a link to 3 or 4 songs, a short note that says who the artist is and what they play, and the contact details. The 3 or 4 songs should be the best of the artist's work, not the whole catalogue, and they should be finished, mixed, and mastered, because the label is signing the record not the potential. The note should name the genre and the city, so the label knows the artist fits the scene, and it should be 3 or 4 sentences, not a page. The submission goes to the email the label publishes for demos, and the small label scene labels all have one. The package is the thing the artist sends, and the 3 parts of it are the songs, the note, and the contact, in that order.
How the small label moves a new artist
How the small label moves a new artist is a 3 step path from the demo to the first release, and it is the same for every label in the scene. The first step is the sign, the label takes the artist on with a contract that states the term, the split, and who owns the master. The second step is the record, the label books the studio and presses a first release, usually an EP of 4 or 5 songs or an album of 10 to 12, in a run of a few hundred or a thousand. The third step is the release, the label sends the record to the distributor and the streaming platforms and books the shows that carry it. The small label scene moves the artist through those 3 steps, and the unsigned artist who gets signed is the one the scene releases and distributes. The path is the same for the singer songwriter and the folk artist and the world music artist, and it is the way the new act enters the scene.
Where the unsigned artist fits in the scene
Where the unsigned artist fits in the scene is at the entry, and the scene is built to take the artist in from that point. The unsigned artist is the one who has the songs and the audience but not the label, and the small label is the company that gives them the release and the distribution they do not have on their own. The artist enters through the demo, stays through the first release, and grows through the catalogue, because the small label signs a family and the artist who signs with one label finds the other artists in the scene on the same shelf. The 3 places the unsigned artist is in the scene are the demo, the first release, and the catalogue, and they are the 3 stages the scene moves them through. The scene is the network of the labels that sign the new act, and the unsigned artist is the one the network is for.