You have the talent. You even have a small fan base. Your family friends and supporters are asking when you plan to take the next step. The question is: Do you have what producers are looking for from a new artist? Do you sound professional? Do you have a catchy beat?

The first thing you need to do is to take a good, hard look at what you do have. Be a professional, it is what you have to be if you want to make it. Be unbiased and highly critical. Analyze it. In particular, listen to the strength of the beats. Are they hot? Do they create a good buzz? Remember, the beat sells music these days both to the audience and the producers.

What you need, and what producers want from any new artist they plan to sign may vary from label to label. There are, however, certain main characteristics they need to see or, rather hear, in their latest single or group artist. It begins with sound and ends in quality. It involves talent, but does not ignore originality.

The first thing you need to do is to grab the attention of your audience, This requires something different a fresh approach, a new voice. Listen to you music. Does it simply go over old ground? Is what you are saying or playing the same-old, same-old? Do you have a mundane beat? Does your musical beat reach way down inside your audiences guts and pull at them? Is it impossible for anyone listening to you to forget the beat, the rhythm of the music, when it stops? Does your beat rock them hot or leave them cold?

If you and your crew are exactly like a half-dozen other groups on the market, you might as well stick to playing covers. A producer wants fresh voices, new hot beats, not carbon copies of something already out there. Try to adapt a novel approach to your music. Add some new beats, great lyrics, shake up your rhythmic concepts.

Go online and see what there is to offer to punch up your style. Look at the possibilities. Hip hop beats or instrumental tracks, rhythm and blues and pop. Add jazz beats or reggae if it highlights your skills and achieves the intended purpose. Mix and match with your vocals or instruments and see what you have. There are many different ways of changing the sound of your music. While it should always relate to your lyrics and intent, the beat is crucial in todays pop and underground world. Create a unique sound, use a great beat, one that fits your style and make it totally yours. As a result, it will help a producers and fans notice you.

Realize, being unique does not mean going out so far on a limb nobody understands you. Do not ignore your core audience, but use the beats and take the talent you have, combining it with something that relates to your lyrics or vocal style. In a competition to get attention, lyrics are important, but if you dont have the right beat the right kind of attention will pass you by.

Yet, no matter how good you sound, how talented you are or how unique you may be do not ever forget the production quality of your demo. It is no good to you or your group, if you sound good, live, but fail to capture it on tape. The same applies if you are inconsistent in what you do. On tape, in the studio or live, you must deliver the same high quality performance if you want to be noticed, taken seriously and signed. Your performance demo must be sharp. The sound needs to be clear. You need to convince the producer you have an identity, quality, consistency and craftsmanship.