In this video, Wendy Day explains the importance of building relationships with A&R representatives—the individuals at record labels who sign and champion artists—especially for those seeking deals in rap and R&B. She announces an affordable, downloadable Excel list of urban‑music A&R contacts (label name, A&R names, phone numbers, mailing addresses, emails, etc.) available for $29.99 at rap‑resources.com. Day emphasizes that simply spamming A&Rs with music is ineffective; instead, she advises artists, songwriters, and producers to connect with A&Rs on social media, learn their preferences, and submit music in the format they request, while maintaining professionalism and respect. The overall message is that the music industry is a relationship‑driven business, and having the right contact information combined with proper outreach tactics can increase the chances of getting signed.
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Hey everybody, you guys have been asking me for the longest for a list of record labels that sign artists. And as you know, I've told you that I think you should build a buzz to attract the labels to you, but I think you also need to build relationships with the A&R folks that work at the record labels. An A&R stands for artist and repertoire. They are the person who signs artists at the record label and also champion the artists that they sign through the company. They're the cheerleader. They're the ones that get the radio department excited and the publicity department excited, etc., etc., inside of the label. I put together a list of the labels that sign and work with rap and R&B, so the urban departments at record labels. Um, so I finally put a list together for you guys. It's great for anyone that is looking to sign to a record company, or songwriters that are looking to pitch their music or their songs to a record label, or producers that are looking to sell beats to record labels for the artists that are signed. I wanted to make the list affordable. I know there's other lists out there, they sell for $100 or $150. I didn't want to tax you guys like that, so I put a price tag on it of $30. I think that's affordable. $29.99 to be exact. So you can go to rap-resources.com. It's rap-resources.com, and you can purchase the list there. It downloads immediately. To your email, and it's on an Excel spreadsheet, and it gives you the name of the label, the name of the different A&Rs that sign urban music, their phone numbers, the mailing address, city, state, zip, etc. Um, and it also gives you their email address. Now, don't spam these guys. Don't just start sending them your music. They won't open the email, and all you'll do is get blocked from their email. You want to go onto social media and build relationships with these guys. Get to know them. Find out what they what they don't like. Find out what they're looking for. Build a relationship with them and then find out how they want you to get your music to them, whether they want you to send a link to your SoundCloud or attach MP3s. All of the A&R guys are different. They all have different ways that they want to receive music from you, and once you get to know them, they'll tell you the best way to get it to them. And then follow up for feedback. Don't stalk them. Don't be an asshole, you know, build a relationship. It's a relationship business. Who you met, who you know matters in this industry, unlike any other industry that I've ever seen. So get to know these guys, be respectful. And again, you can get it at rap-resources.com. I've got the link below this video. Um, there you go. Knock yourselves out. You asked for it, you got it.