Getting supported by DJ's can be groundbreaking for your career! DJ's rule the world of EDM. Through them, you might get noticed by an A&R, get more streams, and even better: get more big DJ's to notice you. All of these are fundamentals in building your career. In this blog, we will show you how to get supported by top DJs worldwide!
Table of Contents:
1 - Contact list
Before you even start, try to figure out in which genre your song fits the most. If you create progressive house, you usually don't want to submit to a deep house DJ. After figuring out your genre, it's time to look up some DJs. The best way you can do this is using 1001tracklist. They show you thousands of DJ sets, which is great for finding new DJs that could play your song. A great way is to find a track similar to yours and see which DJs have supported it. Open a new spreadsheet and write down all the DJs you can find. After creating your collection, you will need to figure out a way to contact them.
You can also find musicbyLukas' Track Release Planner to organize all your DJ contacts, label contacts, tracks, and more here:
2 - How to contact DJs
Let's get to the main part of this blog - the way you should contact DJs.
The first and most obvious way to submit your music to DJs is via E-Mail. Take your list and look up the DJ's socials. Often you can find their email address in their Instagram or SoundCloud bio. Sometimes they even have a website where they added an email address for submitting songs. The last place to look is their Radio Show itself. Their promo email might be there in the description of the upload or in their (MixCloud) bio.
Once you have it, you will wonder what to write in the email. Just a link? Your whole life story? Well, neither of those are smart. I have a radio show myself, and 100s of promos are coming in every week. It is best to write a short but personal email and include a link where DJs can both listen and download the track. SoundCloud & Dropbox are the best examples of such a link. SoundCloud is great because you can track when DJ's listen to your track, so you know if the submission email you used is one they check, or if you should try to find another method to contact them.
Make sure your track is finished and that you send the Extended Mix. You can include both the MP3 and the 16-bit WAV (most DJ systems don't support higher bit WAV). Now, here's an example email you could use as a reference:
Subject: "Artist Name" - "Track Title" ["DJ Name/Radio Show Name" Promo]
Hey "DJ Name",
I hope you're doing well!
I have a new track coming out on "date/label" that I think would be a good fit for "radio show name". It's a "genre" record and "more info on the track, keep it short"
Listen/Download: DropBox link
Thanks in advance for taking the time to listen & feel free to support it in any upcoming sets and shows.
Kind regards,
"your name"
It can happen that you don't find an email address at all. This is why we have a #connections channel in our Discord, where people can ask for and share promo emails! Make sure to join here if you're interested. If you have a radio show yourself and are looking for tracks to support, you can share your details in #connections. On top of that we also host Demo Drops with big DJs and labels, and oftentimes the hosts will share their contact email afterwards.
DMs
Besides email, sending a DM is also a great and simple way to get in touch with DJs all over the world. Avoid looking like a bot that wants to sell you something, and don't just send a link right away. Be kind and try to start a conversation at first. In any way, it's always great to build connections at first. Remember that all of these DJs are humans too, and you can get to know them and become friends. Reply to their stories, interact with their posts, make sure they notice you and that they appreciate the way you interact with them. Being kind and giving value can go a long way. Once you've made a connection, make sure to ask at first if they're okay with receiving demos through DMs, as most will prefer to receive them via email.
When you start receiving some supports, the best way to track this is via 1001tracklists/Songstats. Make sure to shout out the DJ on social media to share your gratitude for the support!
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