EMI Music label Parlophone says it is the first U.K. major to adopt a technology that gives its A&R team an efficient method for cataloging unsolicited demo tapes sent online and by traditional mail.
Called “A&R Tool” and developed by technology company Senica, the online system encourages unsigned acts to upload their works, including MP3 files and publicity photographs, for Parlophone’s A&R team to stream and make its selections.
Nigel Coxon, Parlophone’s head of A&R, tells Billboard.biz: “In time, we would hope that most of our submissions will naturally come through (the A&R Tool) route when we publicize this as our entry point rather than the physical address many use at this moment.”
A&R Tool provides Parlophone’s talent-spotting team the structure for delving through vast number of demos. The A&R management can catalog the submitted materials and match them with demos offered by the same acts previously.
Additionally, they can review and rate the demos, before passing on those deserving more attention to senior A&R executives.
“With the advent of the MP3, record companies have found they not only receive traditional demo packs but also get spammed with a large number of mails containing Web-site links and actual MP3s, which clog their mailboxes,” Parlophone explained in a statement.
The move to adopt A&R Tool follows a three-month trial this summer. Until then, the online facility had been used by “a handful of independent labels,” Parlophone said.
