12 October 2006 - UPDATE

After a 5 month period during which we asked people not to contact us about demos - not that anyone paid any notice whatsoever! - we are now officially looking for demos again. Due to our new location - Wellington, NZ - we are particularly interested in demos from New Zealand artists. Please read the below and email us for a postal address if you think you fit the bill.

Thanks
Dan

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The truth is, while we're always looking for new talent and invite demo submissions, we release music within a pretty narrow, specialised area. Also, we're busy people. Not busy sucking music-industry cock, burning $50 notes, or putting on hairspray, but busy doing things like having full-time jobs, going grocery shopping, paying the gas bill, and so on. Not to mention being busy organising releases, events, and, if we're lucky, writing our own music... So if you want us to listen to YOUR DEMO, you need to make it really, really easy for us. Here's how:

1. Send us MUSIC THAT SUITS THE LABEL. Sounds obvious, but what it means is a) you need to listen to some of the music we have already released, and b) think about whether your music is going to be something we like. We're not a big operation and we don't really give a fuck about whether something is going to be "commercial": we only release music we like and think is important. This will NEVER INCLUDE dancefloor-orientated house, techno, drum n bass, trance or "dark ambient". We like things that glitch, bleep and mash our brains as well as making us tap our feet. If you don't know what we mean, LISTEN TO OUR RELEASES!! You can stream the whole catalogue at BLEEP.COM and at LAST.FM.

2. Send it on CD-R only and make sure you or label or write ON THE DISC ITSELF. We may well admire nice packaging but this will not make any difference to a) how quickly we listen to your demo or b) what we think of it, so you don't need to go to town. But please label the actual CD as otherwise we'll leave it somewhere and then not know what it is. Which really sucks.

3. Please only send 3 or 4 tracks/15-20 minutes of music and NO MORE. This will definitely increase the speed at which we get back to you. Listening to new, unfamiliar music takes a lot of concentration and, sadly, we rarely get the chance to listen to a whole hour of music undisturbed. If we like it, even if it's only a few tracks, we'll want to hear more and get back to you. Oh, and make sure the tracks you send are COMPLETELY FINISHED and FREE OF SAMPLES, too. We don't want to hear your work-in-progress and we don't clear copyrighted material.

4. Once you've sorted about the above, then ACTUALLY SEND A CD. The number of times we have given out the address to some very enthusiastic musician and then never heard anything more is astounding. But then most people on the label spent way too long in their bedrooms, hoarding away their music, so we do understand.... But really, post it already!

Okay, that's about it. For the demo address, drop us an email (demo [at] machine [dash] records [dot] com). We'll get the address to you as soon as possible, but even if you follow the above points, we may STILL take a while to respond with comments about your demo. Please be patient and rest assured we are giving it a proper listen before coming back to you...