Today I received an email from a guy from Italy with a demo link. It was sent directly to me, to the demo inbox of Dark Beauty, which is my label.
It's the very same guy who, last week, sent out a demo as well. I'm not even sure whether it was the same track or something different, but it was probably sent to a handful of labels, because my email address was only on BCC.
I replied to that submission last week, saying:
"Hey, sorry. It's our label policy not to listen to or sign anything that isn't sent directly to us."
Fast forward to today.
I got that other email.
It's not personalized, pretty generic. I didn't even open the link today.
It was sent only to me this time, but I didn't open it.
The reputational damage is already done.
And unfortunately, that's just how the music industry works. If you mess up, you probably won't get another chance anytime soon.
That got me thinking. We talk a lot about AI. In fact, tomorrow I'm speaking about AI and music at a huge local festival.
And I started wondering:
Is there a way to use AI to make this whole process smoother and actually improve your chances with labels?
Here's where my mind is:
I don't really think that in 2026 you need to send your track to 250 labels on BCC just to get signed. I think what you really need is one or two labels that are genuinely the best match for your music.
I don't have all the answers yet, but here's how I'm thinking about it
Let's say you've already done the research and collected 250 label email addresses.
Instead of sending one massive email, ask ChatGPT or Claude to do a deep research task.
Your prompt could be something like:
"I have a track that sounds like this, this, and this. My genre is this, this, and this. Where are the highest chances of signing it?"
(Note: If you're inventing a brand-new genre... I honestly don't know anybody who invented a new genre overnight and got signed because of it. Maybe just stick to genres that already exist and compare yourself to artists that are already out there instead of claiming to invent some kind of psyprogelectro.)
Then add a little bit about yourself. Or simply ask ChatGPT to infer it from previous conversations or from whatever context pack you already have.
Your AI agent will spend a few minutes (maybe even an hour) researching and then come back with something like this:
"These two labels look like the best match for your music."
Then it prepares everything:
Here's the message for Label #2.
Here's how I would approach both of them:
1. Upload your track privately to SoundCloud with downloads enabled.
2. Copy the private link.
3. Open it in a private browser window just to make sure the link actually works.
4. Open your email.
5. Copy and paste this message.
6. Personalize it. The person doing A&R is called this. Update the wording so it sounds like you.
7. Hit send.
Then wait three days.
If there's no reply, send a follow-up.
Check whether the track was played.
If there wasn't a play after your first email and your follow-up, then on day six you move on.
Take the prepared message for Label #2.
Personalize it.
Send it.
Wait another three days.
If there's still no play, send another follow-up. ```
Kinda like that. If there's still nothing, ask ChatGPT again.
It finds Label #3.
Then Label #4.
And you simply keep going until your track finds a home.
If you have multiple tracks, you can even ask ChatGPT to become your outreach manager.
It can keep local files with every label, every submission, every follow-up, every response.
It can keep track of which tracks are already signed and which ones are still available.
And most importantly:
**You don't destroy your reputation.**
The worst realistic scenario looks something like this:
Label #1 doesn't respond.
Label #2 doesn't respond.
Label #3 replies:
> "Sorry, not for us, but we'll keep watching."
And Label #4 signs the track.
That's actually much closer to how this industry works.
Back in the day, I would've spent hours researching who was behind each label. Who's running A&R? Is there one A&R person or multiple? What's their demo policy? Do they require mastered demos? (And let me give you one subtle hint: Usually they don't. You don't even need to bring that topic up. If the vibe fits but the technical side isn't quite there yet, the label will tell you. They might sign the track anyway, they might even help you finish it properly.)
I honestly think this is a much better process than mass-mailing hundreds of labels.
Most labels have become almost blind to mass submissions after years of receiving them. Many of them don't even open those emails anymore, so don't make that mistake. Use AI to your advantage.
See you on the next one.