"I have been making my own music for awhile now and want to send a demo to a record label. How should I do this?"
The first question to ask yourself is, do you really need a label? It is easier than ever these days to put out an album yourself and with services like TuneCore, even unsigned artists can get their music on digital download services like iTunes. Remember that a label is essentially just fronting you the money to press your album. This expense is what is known as a 'recoupable', which means the expense comes out of your royalties until it is paid for. You don't get paid a cent until the entire cost is recovered, and if you don't sell enough records, you may never get paid at all. So essentially, whether you release the album yourself or release it through a label, you are paying for it to be pressed. Where a label's involvement becomes more valuable is in the departments of distribution (getting your CD into stores around the world) and industry connections (to get your CD reviewed in scene publications and in the hands of club DJ's). There is also the 'clout factor'. It unfortunately can be very difficult to get people to take a self-release as seriously as something that sees 'official' release on a record label. This is largely a psychological thing, as many people assume the release simply wasn't good enough to get signed. So, for the time being, I would say that yes, you probably do need a label if you want your release to be as successful as it can be. This may change as time goes on, but I don't think people are quite ready to give up the label's function as a gatekeeper/quality control agent just yet.
So with that said, what should be included in a demo?
• Include no more than 4 songs.
Even small labels receive a ton of demos and don't have a lot of extra time to devote to just sitting around and listening to demos. 4 songs is the generally accepted number of tracks to include on a demo. However, be sure to have more material ready to send to the label if they express interest, as they will often want to hear more if they like what they hear on the demo.
• Make those 4 songs the best, most kick-ass songs you have
Remember, the goal of the demo is to really 'wow' the label and get them interested in you. Thus, you'll want to try and figure out what your strongest 4 tracks are and use those as your demo tracks. Consult the advice of a few friends if you can't decide personally which tracks are the best ones.
• Get to the point!
Try to avoid long, drawn-out intros on your demo tracks. This can be fine in the context of the album, but again, labels don't have all day to listen to demos, and if they don't hear something that grabs them within the first 30 seconds or so (or less), they are likely to reach for the 'skip' button. Whatever the hook of your song is, whether it is a lead line, a bassline, a rhythm, or a vocal, try to make sure it occurs early enough that it won't get skipped. If your songs have slowly building intros, consider doing special edits of the songs just for the demo to tighten things up and get to the real meat of the song as quickly as possible.
• Make sure the sound and production quality is what the final product is to sound like
This didn't use to be as much of an issue because bands would all have to come into a professional recording studio to record it anyway, so high sound quality on a demo was less important than the quality and performance of the songs. Nowadays, however, most non-major-label bands record themselves in their home studios, so it is important to show that not only can you write a great song, but that you can make it sound great in the studio. If your production skills aren't up to snuff, consider finding someone who does have these skills and enlist their help. The label wants to hear a more or less finished product, so do whatever you can to provide them with that.
• Include a 'one-sheet' with information on the band
Type up a sort of 'press release' for your demo so the label can learn a little about you. Good things to include are: a brief history of the project, information on who is in the band and what their roles are, information on the inspiration behind the songs, and what you feel are the project's strong points. Be careful to avoid hyperbole, though. Labels have very good bullshit detectors and can see through hype like it was cellophane. Obviously, you want to present your band in the best light possible, but doing so in a humble and understated way will get you much farther than "SPOOGEBUCKET WILL REVOLUTIONIZE ELECTRONIC MUSIC FOREVER AND LEAVE ALL OTHER BANDS IN A SMOLDERING PILE OF ASHES AND TEARS!" So don't say you have fans all over the world if you're mostly just giving CDs to your friends, don't refer to your music as being a 'hit' unless it really is (in which case, you are probably already signed), and don't claim to be the innovator of all innovators if you are just copping the sound of other popular bands. Even if you are good at what you do, taking this kind of over-hyped approach is almost guaranteed to turn off a label and make them lose interest. In fact, it might be worth considering sending your demo out to some websites or publications that review demos to get some press material to use so you don't have to write about yourself at all. Let the reviews do the talking. Finally, keep it brief! Not to keep flogging a dead horse (as enjoyable as that may be), but labels are always short on time. Keep it short and keep it simple. Just the facts, ma'am. It's called a 'one-sheet' for a reason.
• Spellcheck: learn it, love it, use it
Spelling errors happen to everyone, whether they are established bands or not. After all, we're human and we screw up sometimes. But at least take the time to run your one-sheet through a spellchecker and have a few friends read it to check for mistakes or confusing wording. If you want to be seen as a 'professional' band, you need to represent yourself as such. Pay special attention to words that sound the same, but are spelled differently depending on context such as 'their/they're/there', 'to/too/two', or 'your/you're', as these won't be picked up by a spellchecker, but are still errors.
• Make the demo look nice
The phrase that sums this one up the best is, "If your demo looks like you don't give a shit about it, why would you expect a label to?" You don't need to do anything fancy here. Some simple, nice looking artwork with the name of the band and track titles will do just fine. If you can print it out on something nicer-looking than your 5 year old inkjet printer (say, a color laser printer at Kinko's, Staples, etc), even better.
• Include your contact info both on the cover and on the CD itself
You would think this one would be self-evident, but you wouldn't believe the amount of demos I get on the road from bands that include absolutely no contact information whatsoever. Labels aren't going to go out of their way to track you down if you don't include this information, so don't screw yourself out of getting signed by botching something as simple as this. Include the name of the band, the band's web site the name of whoever serves as the contact person for the band, their address, their phone number, and their email address. Double and triple check these for accuracy. Including inaccurate information is just as bad as including no contact info at all. Finally, repeating for emphasis, make sure this info is on both the cover and the CD itself, because it is not unusual for a CD to get separated from its case.
• A word about promotional pictures
A promotional picture, isn't 100% necessary, but it can be a nice addition, especially as part of your one-sheet. However, if you are going to do this, it pays to do it right and not just have your buddy snap a Polaroid of you looking grim in front of a brick wall. If your promo picture looks like something from Rock And Roll Confidential's "Hall of Douchebags", it is probably best not to include it at all. (Even if you're not going to include a promo picture, that site is worth checking out... there is some hilarious stuff on there!) Try to find a friend who is into photography and understands things like lighting, frame composition, and how to do more than just 'point and shoot'. If you can't find anyone within your circle of friends, consider hiring a professional photographer whose work you admire
• Wait
Once you've sent your demo off, you are going to have to wait. A lot. Maybe forever. It may take the label an extremely long time to be able to listen to your demo. Be patient. It is perfectly acceptable to send a follow-up email asking if the demo arrived safely, but leave it at that. Bugging them constantly and trying to pry info out of them is likely only going to annoy them and may make them lose interest. And now for a hard truth... Unless the label is interested in you, you probably won't hear back from them, so don't expect a formal rejection letter. Some labels will do you this courtesy, but it is extremely rare. Remember, these labels are often run by one or two people who have an insane amount of work to do and writing back to each of the hundreds of bands who send them demos would be impossible. Don't take it personally, this is just a matter of practicality.
• Don't get discouraged
From a statistical standpoint, chances are fairly high that your demo will be rejected. If this happens, don't view it as the end of it all. Just look at it as an obstacle in a long, winding road. Regroup, get back into the studio, and keep working! Try to focus on what you perceive as the weaknesses in your material and work on improving those areas. It also can't hurt to try to contact the label and ask if they would be willing to tell you the reason they passed on your demo. Don't expect an answer, but in many cases the label will be glad to let you know what it was about your demo that made them choose to pass. If you do this, however, do so via e-mail so they can address it when they have time to do so (instead of a phone call that may interrupt something important on their end), and do so very politely. Keep at it. Assemblage 23 was sending demos out for almost ten years before generating label interest.
• Don't burn bridges
If you get rejected or the label says something about your music that offends you, take it in stride and resist the temptation to unleash a string of profanities and name-calling that would make R. Lee Ermey blush. (And especially avoid the "You'll be sorry!" attitude. It just makes you look like an asshole). This scene is small and most of the label people and bands know one another. They do talk and word spreads pretty quickly if they run into a difficult band or someone who acts like an idiot. So even if you have no intention of submitting anything else to the label that rejected you, you never know who they know or who they talk to on a regular basis. Telling one label to go die in a fire could end up ruining your chances of making any progress with other labels. And you never know who may cross your path again in the future in a completely different context.