How to send a demo to a DJ or label and actually get it heard

What DJs and A&Rs see when your demo arrives, the file and note that get played, where to send it, and how a Sendbox link works from the producer's side.

Picture the inbox on the other side. A working DJ or a label's A&R gets tracks all week: promo pools, label mailers, SoundCloud messages, WeTransfer links, WhatsApp forwards, and demos from people they have never met. Most of it is reviewed on a phone, in a spare twenty minutes, one track at a time. A track gets about a minute to make its case. Sometimes less.

You cannot control whether your track is what they need. You can control whether it gets that minute at all. Almost every demo that goes unheard is unheard for boring reasons: the wrong format, no name on the file, a wall of text, or a link that had expired by the time anyone clicked it. This guide is the boring part, done right.

One track

Send one track. Not a folder, not "a few ideas", not an EP with a note saying you would love thoughts on all of it. One track means one decision, and one decision is something a busy person can make now. If they like it, they will ask what else you have.

Pick the track you would play first if you had one slot. If you honestly cannot choose, that is a sign to finish one before sending any.

The file

A DJ needs a file they can play in a set. A link to a stream is a preview, not a demo.

Format. A 320 kbps MP3 is fine for a first listen and small enough to send anywhere. If they ask for the master, send a 24-bit WAV or AIFF. FLAC is welcome by people who know what it is.
Name it. Artist - Title (Mix).wav. Not final_master_v3_LOUD.wav. The filename is what they see in a list of a hundred tracks, and it is what the file will be called in their library forever.
Tag it. Artist, title, genre, BPM and key in the file's metadata. Ten seconds in any tag editor. It saves them from doing it, and tracks without tags sink to the bottom of every filter.
If it is a SoundCloud link, make it private, leave downloads on, and check the link still works in a week. A private link that dies after three days is a demo nobody heard.

The note

Three lines. Who you are, what this is, what you would like.

Marlo here, I produce out of Lisbon. This is "Night Bus", 126 BPM, F minor, unreleased and not signed anywhere. Would love to know if it fits your late sets.

That is the whole note. Not your biography, not your streaming numbers, not the story of the track. If they want more, they will ask, and asking is a good sign.

Say clearly whether the track is released, signed, or free. A DJ will not play an unreleased track without knowing you are fine with that, and a label will not spend a minute on a track that is already out on another label.

Where to send it

Send it where they told you to. That sounds obvious, but the single most common mistake is sending a demo to a personal email, a DM, or an old address found on a two-year-old post, when the person has spent effort telling the world where demos should go.

More and more DJs and labels now run a submission link rather than an email address: a page where you fill in the artist, the title, a short note, and either upload the file or paste a SoundCloud link. The Cut's version is called a Sendbox, and it lives at thecut.music/send/their-handle. If they have one, it is in their bio or their profile, and it is the inbox they actually check.

If all you have is an email address, the same rules apply. Subject line: Demo: Artist - Title (Genre, BPM). The note in the body. The file attached if it is an MP3, or a link that will still work next month if it is a WAV.

Sending through a Sendbox

If the DJ or label has a Sendbox, here is what happens on your side.

Open their link. You will see their name, a short blurb, and what they accept: audio files, SoundCloud links, or both.
Enter your email and confirm it with a six-digit code. You do not create an account; the code just proves the address is yours. That matters later, because it is the address they reply to.
Fill in your name, the artist, the title, and a message if you want one.
Attach the file or paste the link, tick the consent box, and send. Uploads run straight from your browser, with progress, so a big WAV is fine.
You get a receipt by email. The track lands in their inbox with your name, your verified email and your note attached, ready to review in The Cut.

If they reply, the reply comes from their own address, so you can just answer. There is a longer walkthrough in How do I send a track to someone's Sendbox?, including what the page says when a Sendbox is paused or full.

What not to do

No BCC blasts. Forty DJs in the BCC field is a spam filter's favourite pattern, and even when it lands, everyone can tell.
No DM-with-a-link. A SoundCloud link in an Instagram DM with no context is the demo equivalent of a shrug.
No five WAVs attached to one email. It will bounce, and if it does not bounce it will be ignored.
No "please don't share" with nothing else. Say what the track is, then say it is unreleased.
No asking for feedback on everything. Ask if it fits. Feedback is a gift; it is not something a stranger owes you.

Following up

One follow-up, about two weeks later, one line: "Just checking this reached you." Then let it go. No reply is an answer, and a polite silence is a door that stays open for the next track.

The honest part

Most demos do not get a reply. That is true of great tracks as well as ordinary ones, because the person on the other side is choosing for a set, a label, or a mood they have in mind, and your track either fits that or it does not. What you can do is make sure your track gets its minute: one track, a named and tagged file, a three-line note, sent to the place they asked for. Do that every time and the numbers work in your favour.