Music Industry Sharks - How to Uncover the Unscrupulous Many in the Music Business
There are a ton of people out there claiming to be music marketing experts, music publicity experts, and social media experts. Yep - Literally thousands upon thousands. When it comes to marketing and publicizing your music you have a wide variety of good choices. RIGHT? Wrong - tons of choices - yes but how many of them are truly worth their salt? Not Many!
For some reason unscrupulous "music-want to-bees" prey on musicians - I don't know why, maybe they think they are an easy soft touch. Maybe they don't like musicians or worse yet - don't like music. (WOW) A lot of these folks are or were musicians themselves, or maybe an intern somewhere in the music business, or actually love music. They believe this gives them the right to proclaim themselves a music marketing expert, or worse yet, a music publicist which takes many years of music industry experience and the accumulation of thousands of music media contacts, and further, advertise the best possible product or service that will accelerate your music career.
Well here is what I have to say about that: I've been a musician myself -- albeit a long time ago, back then, there were still many music industry scam artists. I've experienced the deep pain of being screwed by unscrupulous people claiming to be my savior in the music business. The Internet and the leveling of the independent music playing field has opened up a huge amount of opportunities for these sharks and scam artists to work their game. The only way my band became successful was sheer luck - we found the right honest people.
Here is a checklist to seriously consider when choosing your ultimate publicist or marketing service:
Check their credentials - And follow this checklist
Do they have a creditable online presence?
Do they have hundreds of testimonials? Or, as I like to call them TRUSTIMONIALS - Check their references!
How many "HONEST" years of experience do they have? Ver!fy this
Have they written hundreds of articles about music marketing?
Do they belong to many high-profile music industry organizations?
Does the prospective marketer or publicist answer all of your questions
or do they subtly evade them?
Will they tell you who and where they will be promoting your music with?
i.e. their music media affiliations - or do they tell you to wait and see?
Have you seen proven samples of their work?
Will they give you what they are promising in writing?
Before you make a choice consider -
INTEGRITY - HONESTY - TRANSPARENCY
Aside from doing great work that actually helps you with your career, these are probably the three most important elements to consider
If any or all of the above credential checks are not in the positive category ---
BEWARE, YOU MIGHT BE BEING SCAMMED
Being fortunate enough to uncover the right people for our project way back then, I'm not saying that it's impossible to do so. I'm just saying that it is so incredibly important, these days especially, to do your homework and due diligence before you shell out your hard-earned cash. Most indie musicians are on a shoestring budget and every penny means something to them. Take the time to possibly confer with a creditable music industry consultant. Most will be able to recognize a scam when they see it.
So, to all you unscrupulous sharks out there waiting to swoop down on the next unsuspecting musician, sorry about writing this article - but you need to be exposed. Therefore, I am not really sorry. It's people like you that give the music business, honest publicists and music marketers a bad name. Shame on you! I love my Indies and all musicians and artists and it hurts to see them taken advantage of. Try another niche' - maybe people who need marketing help in selling rockets or industrial products and services. BUT - Leave Our Music Niche' Alone!!
