We recently had Andreya Triana join us for our next installment of The SoundCloud Sessions and our final from London for now…

Having worked previously with artists such as Bonobo and Fink, Andreya Triana has relased her debut album, ‘Lost Where I Belong’ this year through Ninja Tune. Check out Ninja Tune on SoundCloud.

You can hear all the tracks in the SoundCloud player below. Head on over to the SoundCloud Sessions blog to watch the live videos of this performance.

SoundCloud Sessions by Andreya Triana

SoundCloud Sessions are recorded in audio and video, and each session is added to the SoundCloud Sessions tumblr. If you want to keep yourself updated on our sessions, check us out on Twitter, Tumblr and/or subscribe to this WordPress blog!

Also, if you’re a musician coming to Berlin or already living in Berlin, send us a track via our DropBox!

An independent label based in Brighton on England’s South Coast, FatCat Records started as a shop in Crawley (then London) specialising in all forms of electronic music. Now an established label, FatCat releases an eclectic range of music on their two sub-labels (Splinter series: Silje Nes, Animal Collective, Our Brother The Native. 130701 Records: Max Richter, Hauschka, Sylvain Chauveau, Set Fire To Flames) as well as their main FatCat label (Frightened Rabbit, The Twilight Sad, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Vashti Bunyan, David Karsten Daniels, Nina Nastasia…). FatCat are now 21 years old, and in the heart of a typically prolific year are busy with 2010’s schedule which includes 13 albums, 16 singles and 2 EP’s.

“Based in Brighton, indie label FatCat Records has grown into one of the most celebrated stables for emerging and established talent in the UK.” Drowned In Sound

We caught up with Tom Lavis from FatCat and asked him about how he has been using SoundCloud and the DropBox feature in their working life.

1) How long have you been using SoundCloud?

Not long – only about four months. But it’s already made a difference to how we work with demo submissions. We’re really excited about it, I don’t think it will be long until we release our first album sourced through SoundCloud.

2) You have been keenly using the DropBox feature. What was your process before using the SoundCloud demo DropBox?

Before SoundCloud we were receiving demos through the post, on CD, vinyl and tape. We still do – it just means we get twice as many submissions, which is great. We did used to get emailed links to myspace pages etc but we found that they sometimes got lost in our inboxes. The DropBox is much better… all the tracks are in the same place, we just have to press play and carry on working whilst the tracks play through.

3) How has SoundCloud eased the process of receiving demos than in the past?

It has eased the process of receiving demos, but we still very much enjoy receiving cd’s through the post and wouldn’t want that to stop. It’s added a refreshing and exciting new element to the type of demo we get. The tracks we get in the dropbox are from a wider range of influences.

Like I mentioned above – listening to the tracks we receive through our dropbox couldn’t be more simple. It’s certainly easier than opening packages and logging in CD’s.

4) Are there any creative ways you are looking to use this influx of music received through your SoundCloud DropBox?

Well, of course we would love to release some – which will certainly happen. The standard so far has been way higher than the average standard of our physical submissions.

For the moment we’re just adding our favourite tracks to our demo player on the FatCat site and myspace. We want these talented artists to get some recognition – so it’s important to us to get them some exposure.

We’re also thinking of releasing some soundcloud curated compilation of the best demos we’ve received through soundcloud. We released a CD called ‘No Watches. No Maps’ a long time ago which was a compilation of the best demos we got through the post, we’d like to do a part two which would be made up of entirely SoundCloud submitted demos.
At the moment we’re running a remix competition – we have put the stems of a David Karsten Daniels & Fight The Big Bull track on soundcloud, anyone can go in and download them and then have a go at remixing the song by submitting through the group dropbox – there’s still 2 weeks left and 15 remixes in. We’re hoping to do remix comps for a lot of our forthcoming releases.

5) What tips can you give for artists sending you tracks through to your DropBox?

Don’t drop in more than 2 tracks, make sure they’re the ones you’re most happy with. If we don’t get back to you or put your music up, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t submit some more stuff in the future.

We like all kinds of music, so don’t think that what you do might not be for us. Also – don’t worry about your track sounding under-produced or too rough, some of the bands we’ve signed in the past started out by sending us very lo-fi demos recorded with 1 mic in a cupboard… sometimes these ones are the best.

Go check out FatCat on SoundCloud and the David Karsten Daniels & Fight The Big Bull remix competition!

When any band starts one of the first stepping stones is recording that first demo and sending this to their favourite labels. This system classically has taken place with artists submitting demos through the post, sending over MP3 files or bands sending across links to their Myspace pages. And sometimes all three. From a label’s perspective it’s becoming more and more essential to simplify this whole process.

What if this system was streamlined and centralized? Well it can be. SoundCloud has a really useful free tool called DropBox, that enables you to streamline your demo submission process. It’s being used by labels ranging from Fat Cat Recordings to EMI and we think that more people could be making the most out of their DropBoxes.

So here’s a quick post covering everything you’ll need to know to create a quick, simple and cost effective demo submission policy for your label. Hopefully it will make checking demos feel like an interesting discovery process again, not just a chore.

Why use a DropBox?

Your DropBox page is where people can go to send you tracks directly via SoundCloud. By using the SoundCloud DropBox feature it allows you to:

- Centralize and organize all demo submissions
- Stream submissions without taking up space on your desktop
- Enables everybody, even people who are not on SoundCloud, to share their tracks with you
- Embed a DropBox on to any site where you want to receive submissions (including Facebook)
- Receive submissions that can feature links to videos and further information on an act

How do I setup and let people know about the DropBox?

If you have a SoundCloud account then you automatically have a DropBox. So you can get started straight away with receiving demos. There are two ways you can direct attention to your DropBox page. Firstly you can use the direct link to the DropBox and include this link wherever necessary eg. in your email signature. Alternatively you can grab a rather nice looking DropBox widget to embed on your own site eg. on your ‘Contact’ page. The widgets work as a great visual presence on your site as an easy click through for people to follow to go to your DropBox. You can grab the embed widget codes from the right hand side of the DropBox page on your public profile.

How can I customize my DropBox?

With our premium accounts you can customize the look and feel of your DropBox page as well as leaving information on your demo policy, what you’re looking for etc. To customize your DropBox click on the ‘Edit your branded DropBox’ option as shown in the image above. From here there is a number of options you can edit on your branded DropBox page:

- Add header and body background images
- Customize the text and logo
- Edit the color scheme

With these options you can make this page come across as an extension of your own site. Here is an example of how EMI Norway branded their DropBox to match their look and feel…

What happens when I receive music from my DropBox?

All your submissions through your DropBox can be viewed from the ‘Tracks‘ section on your SoundCloud account. If you go to ‘Tracks’ from there you can choose to view tracks sent to you ‘from people you follow’ and ‘from others’. By making the most of the follower aspect of this separation it is a helpful filter to separate submissions to other incoming audio. Tick the box saying “Only show tracks shared to my DropBox”

The tracks on this page will play one after another so from a label perspective you can leave the page open while you get on with other asks and listen through all the submissions. If one track hits you with a moment of inspiration then click through on the player for further info on the artist and to contact the individual via SoundCloud. Once you have finished with a track in your DropBox just press the delete icon on the top right of each player, as simple as you would with an email client. If you don’t want to hear any more tracks from a certain user then simply click the ‘mute’ option!
So if you’re a label, why not try this out? And let us know what you think in the comments. If you’re not a label then let us know if you’ve found any other interesting uses for your DropBox.

We’ve put together a nice little selection of screenshots from other labels using the demo DropBoxes to provide you with a bit of inspiration. How about trying to send me a track through my DropBox…

Send me your track