Demo (music)

<h2 id="background">Background</h2>
Demos are typically recorded on relatively crude equipment such as "boom box" <a href="/facts/Cassette_recorder/C9pPj1yl">cassette recorders</a>, small <a href="/facts/Multitrack_recording/PPtToh16">four- or eight-track machines</a>, 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 the vocals. Both <a href="/facts/Elton_John/DCPCRafW">Elton John</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1">1</a> and <a href="/facts/Donovan/tuzWNhr9">Donovan</a> gained studio experience early in their careers by recording publishers' demos for other artists since their managers also handled music publishing,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2">2</a> as did <a href="/facts/Garth_Brooks/v1fayUu5">Garth Brooks</a>, who was so impressed when recording the demo of "<a href="/facts/Friends_in_Low_Places/jwusNk8A">Friends in Low Places</a>" that he asked to release the song himself.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3">3</a>

<h2 id="function">Function</h2>
Many unsigned bands and artists record demos in order to obtain a <a href="/facts/Recording_contract/gAshT1Q1">recording contract</a>. 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 <a href="/facts/Recording_studio/zlGNwv0g">recording studio</a>. 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 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 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 <a href="/facts/Spotify/wsTSvDD8">Spotify</a> every day,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4">4</a> 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.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5">5</a>

<h2 id="availability">Availability</h2>
Demos are seldom heard by the public, although some artists do eventually release rough demos in <a href="/facts/Compilation_album/lDhEb4s5">compilation albums</a> or <a href="/facts/Box_set/3UF4l4gx">box sets</a>, such as the album <a href="/facts/Demolicious/2Lf9uo07">Demolicious</a> by <a href="/facts/Green_Day/eeVIxBF0">Green Day</a>. Other demo versions have been unofficially released as <a href="/facts/Bootleg_recording/wBcryPwr">bootleg recordings</a>, such as <a href="/facts/The_Beatles/2syHWLcM">the Beatles</a>' <a href="/facts/The_Beatles_bootleg_recordings/kVV42ySR">bootleg demos</a> and <a href="/facts/The_Beach_Boys/6CdaMJwW">the Beach Boys</a>' <a href="/facts/The_Beach_Boys_bootleg_recordings/on5suCFj">Sea of Tunes</a> series. Several artists have eventually made official releases of demo versions of their songs as albums or companion pieces to albums, such as <a href="/facts/Florence_and_the_Machine/W6Nq5PNe">Florence and the Machine</a> ("<a href="/facts/What_the_Water_Gave_Me_(song)/V4mxSRFN">What the Water Gave Me</a>", among others) and <a href="/facts/Cults_(band)/cUPnrae8">Cults</a> on the EP Sunday Jams. The event of a demo tape appearing on <a href="/facts/EBay/bDswVAKB">eBay</a> 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 <a href="/facts/Foster_the_People/ItYJl2ec">Foster the People</a>'s "<a href="/facts/Pumped_Up_Kicks/BlAFcbUG">Pumped Up Kicks</a>". The version of "Pumped Up Kicks" that 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.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6">6</a> In 1982, <a href="/facts/Bruce_Springsteen/PEQnPnm8">Bruce Springsteen</a> recorded ten demo songs in his bedroom that he intended to later record with his <a href="/facts/E_Street_Band/f4PsQbn2">E Street Band</a>, but he subsequently decided that he preferred the acoustic demos and released them as the 1982 album <a href="/facts/Nebraska_(album)/UpzQK6Kr">Nebraska</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7">7</a>
In more underground forms of music, such as <a href="/facts/Noise_music/zzruNzyI">noise music</a>, <a href="/facts/Black_metal/g4xlNCoV">black metal</a> or <a href="/facts/Punk_rock/voBjpcpS">punk rock</a>, demos are often distributed by bands to fans as self-releases or sold at a very low price.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8">8</a> Amateur (and some professional) musicians may choose to make demos available to interested listeners through websites such as <a href="/facts/SoundCloud/ed7sgTI1">SoundCloud</a> or <a href="/facts/Bandcamp/oP8j4xJd">Bandcamp</a> 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 <a href="/facts/Sex_Pistols/WeRGWmBA">Sex Pistols</a> released an album of demos called <a href="/facts/Spunk_(Sex_Pistols_bootleg_album)/eNeaHMF6">Spunk</a>, which has been compared favourably to the production of their only studio album <a href="/facts/Never_Mind_the_Bollocks,_Here%27s_the_Sex_Pistols/egxoqTwy">Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols</a>.

<h2 id="footnotes">Footnotes</h2>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1">Vinita (2005). Profiles in Popular Music. Sura Books. p. 79. <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:2">Billboard 4 Oct 1997, 30 Years of Music: Elton John with Bernie Taupin Billboard Magazine. Retrieved 28 December 2011 <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=1wkEAAAAMBAJ&dq=bernie+taupin+-+london&pg=PA56" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=1wkEAAAAMBAJ&dq=bernie+taupin+-+london&pg=PA56</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:3">Collins, Ace. The Stories Behind Country Music's All-Time Greatest 100 Songs. p. 277. <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:4">Willman, Chris (7 October 2022). "Music Streaming Hits Major Milestone as 100,000 Songs are Uploaded Daily to Spotify and Other DSPs". Variety. Retrieved 2023-03-06. <a href="https://variety.com/2022/music/news/new-songs-100000-being-released-every-day-dsps-1235395788/" target="_blank">https://variety.com/2022/music/news/new-songs-100000-being-released-every-day-dsps-1235395788/</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:5">Leighton, Mackenzie (22 September 2022). "How to Send a Demo to Record Labels?". Groover Blog. Retrieved 2023-03-06. <a href="https://blog.groover.co/en/tips/send-a-demo-to-record-labels/" target="_blank">https://blog.groover.co/en/tips/send-a-demo-to-record-labels/</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:6">Doyle, Patrick (June 8, 2011). "Band to Watch: Foster the People's Pumped-up Psych-Pop". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on June 10, 2011. Retrieved August 22, 2011. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110610101325/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/band-to-watch-foster-the-peoples-pumped-up-psych-pop-20110608" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20110610101325/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/band-to-watch-foster-the-peoples-pumped-up-psych-pop-20110608</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:7">HHauser (July 20, 2013). "Dusting 'Em Off: Bruce Springsteen – Nebraska". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved April 25, 2017. <a href="https://consequenceofsound.net/2013/07/dusting-em-off-bruce-springsteen-nebraska/" target="_blank">https://consequenceofsound.net/2013/07/dusting-em-off-bruce-springsteen-nebraska/</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:8">Fanzine, Italian Raw Art. "Metal-Temple.com :: DANIELE BADURSI: Italian Raw Art Fanzine. (News)". www.metal-temple.com. Retrieved 2017-07-02. <a href="http://www.metal-temple.com/site/news/view/general_news/daniele-badursi.htm" target="_blank">http://www.metal-temple.com/site/news/view/general_news/daniele-badursi.htm</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
</ol>

Demo (music) open-in-new

Demo (music)