Here are a couple of tips that will speed up the processing of your demo. (This applies to ensembles or bands that send in their demos and to individual musicians that have video recorded their private audition).

1. Presenting your demo in "Quicktime" (.mov) movie format or in "Windows Media Player" files (.wma) is the easiest for us. This ensures that we don't have to start transcoding and compressing your demo before we forward it to the cruise lines.

2. Consider including your resume, pictures and songlists in electronic format (Microsoft Word files are preferred). In most cases we present your material to several cruise lines. If you mail in only paper copies of your stuff, we have to start scanning and converting your files to the appropriate formats before we forward it to cruise lines.

3. In case you submit a dvd, make sure it is not copy protected. Again, this is in your interest. If we can't make copies of your stuff, your stuff is not going to be presented to the cruise lines.

4. Keep your videos short. We only need to hear short examples of your songs. Also, dealing with long videos is time consuming.

5. Stay away from fancy transitions and effects in your movies. Short examples of songs without transitions are easiest for us to deal with.

In general, the more work we have with your demo, the more time consuming it is and the longer it takes before we can send your stuff out to the cruise lines. The latter usually take a while to get to your stuff so we are doing our best not to add to the delay. The more you help us with this, the earlier you can go to work.

Thanks.