Demo Policy
We are always accepting demos. To send us a demo, use the contact form below. We will only listen to demos that are sent through this method since it's hard to keep track of stuff sent through social media or email. Before sending us a demo, please read our tips below for the highest yield.
1. Make sure that it's the right fit. Before sending us a demo, familiarize yourself with what we do. Listen to some of our bands, see if your band is the right fit sound-wise. We are a pretty genre-agnostic label but before you send us your new jazz-funk project, check and see if it's along the lines of our prior releases.
2. Give us enough time. We've received some great submissions that we would have been interested in working on, but the master was burning a hole in the band's pocket and they wanted it out sooner rather than later. We put a lot of effort into what we release. Each record costs between $3,000 to $6,000 to release, so we want to make sure we are putting in the effort to justify the cost. Between planning, creating album art, manufacturing, promotion, etc, it takes a minimum of 6 months from the time we get the masters of an album until the album is released. The same thing is true for releases that are already out. If you've released an album digitally, we can't release it on vinyl. The music industry is lame and it becomes incredibly difficult to do an adequate promo campaign when the music is already out in the ether.
3. Send us new material. We want to hear prior stuff but we can't commit to releasing something if we haven't heard it yet. It doesn't have to be the finished product or even the entire album, but we gotta hear something new.
4. Do normal band things first. Very rarely do we take a chance on a band that is brand brand new. We don't care about how many monthly listeners you have on Spotify or how many followers you have on Instagram, but we need to know that you've put in the effort as a band first. Release a demo, play a bunch of shows, do some short tours. From doing this since 2020, we've realized that a bands internet presence doesn't equal actual fans. That requires actually getting out there and putting in the work. And if we don't see evidence of that happening, then it's hard for us to justify investing the money in a record. Additionally, please share with us your plans for the next year — tour plans, promo plans, etc. If you don't have plans to do anything after your record is out, then it doesn't make sense for us to release it.
5. Have realistic expectations. We are an independent record collective ran by a group of friends. We don't do this for money, we do it because we genuinely love putting out the music that we like. As such, we are not a record company. We won't give you an advance, we won't pay for your recording session, we won't pay the $5,000 to hire that publicist that promises they can get you on Pitchfork (they can't). Everything we do as a label is true to DIY punk ethos that came long before us. Royalties for records are paid as a percentage of the pressing for the band to sell. Promo of records is handled in-house. Bands always maintain ownership of their masters and compositions. Remember that labels that promise all those aforementioned bells and whistles don't do it because they have lots of money — they do it because that's how they make money. That advance that other label promised you? It has to be paid back. How do they make the money back? They own the master. If that's what you're looking for in a label, then we aren't the right fit for you.
6. Don't be a shitty person. If you are into racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic or hateful shit then don't even bother.
Please include the following with your submission:
Link to a stream (no downloads please), link to socials, a little bit on what you're looking for, and your plans on how you'll be supporting the release.