A demo (shortened from " demonstration ") is a song or group of songs typically recorded for limited circulation or for reference use, rather than for general public release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas in a fixed format, such as cassette tape , compact disc , or digital audio files , and to thereby pass along those ideas to record labels , producers , or other artists.
18-508: Toy World is the second demo album by the English rock band Cardiacs (including The Obvious Identity , released on cassette the previous year under the band name "Cardiac Arrest"). The cassette is a mixture of older songs by the earlier Cardiac Arrest lineup and newer songs by the then-current Cardiacs lineup. This was the last album to feature keyboard player/backing singer Colvin Mayers, and
36-422: A recording contract . These demos are usually sent to record labels in hopes that the artist will be signed onto the label's roster and allowed to record a full-length album in a professional recording studio . However, large record labels usually ignore unsolicited demos that are sent to them by mail; artists generally must be more creative about getting the demos into the hands of the people who make decisions for
54-596: A compilation album may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several performers. If by one artist, then generally the tracks were not originally intended for release together as a single work, but may be collected together as a greatest hits album , singles album or box set. Compilation albums may employ traditional product bundling strategies. According to sound technician Richard King , classical music compilations "may require more processing to match tracks coming from various sources and recording venues, as well as
72-443: A full-length album. With the evolution of the access to software allowing musicians to produce high quality music on their own, the amount of music released every day has skyrocketed. With over 100,000 new songs released on Spotify every day, the level of quality required for demos to convince record labels has also increased, and the limits between demos and actual finished recordings have become blurrier. Demos are seldom heard by
90-403: A massive crackle on the tapes," - and the final sound quality was quite flat. Toy World was only made available on cassette, sold at concerts and from the fan club. The cassette features the earliest versions of the songs " Is This The Life? " and "Nurses Whispering Verses", better known in their re-recorded forms on later albums. Toy World has never been reissued, and is consequently one of
108-442: A single work, but may be collected together as a greatest hits album or box set . If the recordings are from several artists, there may be a theme, topic, time period, or genre which links the tracks, or they may have been intended for release as a single work—such as a tribute album . When the tracks are by the same recording artist, the album may be referred to as a retrospective album or an anthology . Songs included on
126-472: A very low price. Amateur (and some professional) musicians may choose to make demos available to interested listeners through websites such as SoundCloud or Bandcamp in order to share new ideas, receive feedback and/or provide fans with "behind the scenes" access to the songwriting process. In 1977, punk band the Sex Pistols released an album of demos called Spunk , which has been comparared favourably to
144-404: Is divided by the number of artists on the album. Some record companies simplify the equation and pay a rounded-off rate, either as a percentage or as a set amount, regardless of the total number of artists on the record. As of 1999 , these rates were around 0.5% to 1% or 15–16 cents per record. When a compilation album includes a track from a different record company, the royalties are split between
162-611: The Machine (" What the Water Gave Me ", among others) and Cults on the EP Sunday Jams . The event of a demo tape appearing on eBay has happened in the past, with the recordings being leaked onto the internet. In rare instances, a demo may end up as the final released recording of a song, as was the case with Foster the People 's " Pumped Up Kicks ". The version of "Pumped Up Kicks" that
180-771: The different sizes of ensembles." In Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau said, "While compilation albums by album artists (as opposed to stylistically unified singles specialists) are often useless, sometimes they present themselves as events", citing as examples the 1971 Ray Charles LP A 25th Anniversary in Show Business Salute to Ray Charles , The Kink Kronikles (1972), and Changesonebowie (1976). Common types of compilation include: For multi-artist compilations, royalties are usually prorated. In most cases, each artist's per-record royalty rate (typically 12–14% in 1999)
198-458: The first to feature saxophonist/backing singer/occasional keyboard player Sarah Cutts (who on all future releases would be referred to as Sarah Smith). As with The Obvious Identity , recording was carried out at Crow Studios in Surbiton, Surrey, UK. The tracks were recorded under very low budget circumstances - one member later recalled "Every time the door bell went or the phone rang, it would put
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#1732855864786216-532: The production of their only studio album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols . Compilation album A compilation album comprises tracks , which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from one artist, then generally the tracks were not originally intended for release together as
234-570: The public, although some artists do eventually release rough demos in compilation albums or box sets , such as the album Demolicious by Green Day . Other demo versions have been unofficially released as bootleg recordings , such as the Beatles ' bootleg demos and the Beach Boys ' Sea of Tunes series. Several artists have eventually made official releases of demo versions of their songs as albums or companion pieces to albums, such as Florence and
252-558: The rarest Cardiacs releases. However, many of the pieces from it have either been reissued on other Cardiacs releases or have had live versions appearing on other albums. All lyrics are written by Tim Smith , Mark Cawthra and Jim Smith ; all music is composed by Tim Smith, except where noted Credits adapted from the sleeve notes of Toy World and according to Eric Benac. Cardiacs Technical Demo album Musicians often use demos as quick sketches to share with bandmates or arrangers , or simply for personal reference during
270-412: The record company. Many signed bands and artists record demos of new songs before recording an album. The demos may allow the artist to provide sketches for sharing ideas with bandmates, or to explore several alternate versions of a song, or to quickly record many proto-songs before deciding which ones merit further development. Demos may include as few as one or two songs or as many as would be contained on
288-546: The songwriting process; in other cases, a songwriter might make a demo to send to artists in hopes of having the song professionally recorded, or a publisher may need a simple recording for publishing or copyright purposes. Demos are typically recorded on relatively crude equipment such as "boom box" cassette recorders , small four- or eight-track machines , or on personal computers with audio recording software. Songwriters' and publishers' demos are recorded with minimal instrumentation, usually just an acoustic guitar or piano and
306-454: The vocals. Both Elton John and Donovan gained studio experience early in their careers by recording publishers' demos for other artists since their managers also handled music publishing, as did Garth Brooks , who was so impressed when recording the demo of " Friends in Low Places " that he asked to release the song himself. Many unsigned bands and artists record demos in order to obtain
324-545: Was released as a single and subsequently became a hit was a demo recorded by frontman Mark Foster alone, before he had formed the group. In 1982, Bruce Springsteen recorded ten demo songs in his bedroom that he intended to later record with his E Street Band , but he subsequently decided that he preferred the acoustic demos and released them as the 1982 album Nebraska . In more underground forms of music, such as noise music , black metal or punk rock , demos are often distributed by bands to fans as self-releases or sold at
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