Enlisting a talented collaborator for a remix is a smart move.
By doing so, you position yourself aesthetically within a distinct field. You also tap into new audiences and taste-radars, by benefitting from styles that diverge from your own.
It’s a great opportunity to learn about your own production style, things that might be missing or can be interpreted differently in the near future.
But before you can enjoy all of these benefits, you actually have to set up a remix job.
There are various ways to this, from very formal strategies via label or management only, to personal and direct approaches via pm or mail.
To help you get a great remix relationship going, we collected some do’s and dont’s that you might want to think about. They are just some things that we came across when dealing with remix proposals, both as service providers and individuals requesting remixes.
Let’s start with communicative aspects:
Clear agenda setting
Being clear about your agenda isn’t pushy. It’s professional.
State your agenda, where you are heading with the output of a possible collaboration, and offer various horizons on how things can develop.
Giving the remix some context enables the requested artist to understand the function in the grand scheme of things.
Part of the agenda-setting is also a clear financial proposal. Stating a budget can help speed up the evaluative process.
Also – being clear about your budget isn’t pushy, it’s professional.
Avoid outrageous banters
A banter is a deal that offers mutual compensation via service, instead of economic compensation.
And yes, sometimes it works. If creative friends get together, for example, a producer and vocalist, and they help each other out, one hand washes the other. So far so great.
It’s a very delicate matter, though. If you propose a banter deal to someone that you don’t know and isn’t aware of your skillset – it might be a weird showstopper.
You see, banter deals are easily interpreted as easy ways out of financial accountability. And this taps into a wide range of value systems, transporting different messages: “Your work might not be worth enough to be compensated with money..”, “Your influence isn’t trusted quite enough to invest a certain sum…” etc.
Be delicate about how and if you propose a banter deal – and make sure your collaborator gets just as much out of it as you, maybe even more.
Realistic placement
Have a realistic perspective on how you want to place the remix.
Even if you enlist a well-known producer for a remix, this doesn’t mean it will necessarily climb through the roof. Success is always a combination of product and matching release/distribution strategy. Most of the time, you hear the finalized product – be it within a playlist or via a blog.
What you don’t see is the work and thought put into the release process. This means knowing where to push the music, which channels might work, and which playlist curators can be approached.
You can use the ForTunes App to find these matching playlists, influencers and their channels – and build a solid placement strategy from there.
No info avalanche
When approaching a prospective remix artist, refrain from overrunning her or him with an avalanche of info and promises.
No info avalanche needed here.
You can be sure that they get approached on a regular basis, and know the drill.
A short, concise opener on who you are, and especially what you expect from a collaboration is enough. Invest some brainpower on how to distill your information, especially before making first contact.