JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Industry Message Forum Affinity Music aka Don Reed Production

Can anyone here tell me why Robert Skillen of affinity music was sent to prison for 25 years?

While we're at it, I went to Chris Daley's web-site {under construction},now I don't claim to know EVERY musician in Cincinnati, but I do know most of the "top-shelf"ones either personally or at least know OF them, and I've never heard of this guy.{It doesn't mean he isn''t good,but I just find it curious}

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bc

Dear Msfits:

I've heard of them...because I was one of the many people who were taken. Here's my story...

Back on April 17th, 2004, I paid $500 to be in their showcase in Nashville at a theatre next to Fiddler's Inn.
I was told, ( as we all were), that there would be record people there to hear us perform, and that Affinity would promote us for a time after the showcase to the labels.

During the afternoon, I became friends with a number of the people there, so we all talked about what we were told. My contact was 'Angie Channey' I believe. My friend's was 'Linda'...and then there was Don Reed.

So I performed. A few days later they called me and said I needed to redo my Cd in 'Their' studio. That was my first clue something wasn't right because up to that point, my radio promoter had gotten airplay on 67 college / indie stations across the country. ( So I knew that the cd quality was atleast good enough to be played on air.) I basically said 'no thanks.'
the following week, Don called me up to say that to really make money...I needed to make a 'music Video' that they would put on cable stations across the coutry with a 1-800 number across the bottom of the screen so people could call in and buy the cd. I said 'how much'...and the answer was around 15,000. So I said, 'Send me a sample of a video you've done so I can see what you've done in the past.' He said 'ok'.

So I waited...and waited. They never sent anything.

Now, 2 things you should know. First, Upon reflection,...there were NO RECORD EXECUTIVES IN THE AUDIENCE. That was a lie. Why? Well, Affinity hadn't signed me, or any of the other artistS, to any exclusive deal to represent us. So here is the question. WHY WOULD THEY LET RECORD EXECUTIVES IN TO SEE ARTISTS THEY HAD NOT SIGNED?? Answer: They wouldn't!! Because then they risked losing their artists tio another label.

And finally, they said they would promote us to the labels. Well, Don never called and said gave me an update as to what labels he had talked to, the people he had spoken to...or the results of any calls he may have made. Bottom line...they didn't do any promotion at all! ...for any of us! ( I've kept in contact with 4 other people who were there...and Don told us all individually how great we are...but in order to help us...we'd have to spend some $$$)
The whole showcase was just away for them to make $$$( You do the math...50 artists in the showcase...each paying $500...is $25,000!!! Not bad for a days work!!)

So take it from someone who has been there...and done that. SAVE YOUR MONEY!!!The one lady is right, there are no guarantees in this business. But Affinity promised there would be record people in the audience. There weren't. They said they would promote us after the showcase. They didn't! They did say they would take our money. And you know...they did! DON'T LET THAT HAPPEN TO YOU! Save your money!
Good luck,
Teddy Chazz
( My music may not be the best...but you tell me if it's production is that bad. You can hear it at cdbaby.com/teddychazz)

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Teddy Chazz

I have to say I am soooooooooo glad I found this forum, we were close to spending about $10,00 recording with Affinity Music..

I truely believe you dont have to spend that much money.. I am a manager from Texas, my artist, www.bobbysolomansmith.com are currently working with a major label..

but before we flew to nashville to record. we were told that the labels wanted more music, and they usally do want more music( my rock band is working geffen).. but they wanted us to drop $5200 for 2 songs, that is way to much...

Please dont get sucked in by this, my artist who is pop/R&B blew sony away, and all we paid for was the plain ticket to get there,, so you dont have to spend that much,, just need to be smart and research, like I did,, and get a good manager to protect you...

After I researched it knew it was not what we wanted...

Good luck to you all
Music Manager
www.linerentertainmentgroup.com

I've been watching this Don Reed forum for the last 8 months. I have had dealings with him personally. I feel kind of bad by not responding before. Anyhow here I go.
I knew the Angie Chaney (correct spelling) Angie worked for Affinity. They would lure people in, not really caring if they had talent or not. It's just about money to these people. They will tell the worst artist that they have a chance. They set up these "Talent Search" venues in Nashville. With the promise that someone is going to be the winner of a free recording session and that top major label people have been invited. I know first hand that NO invitations are extended to anyone. These poor people pay to be part of this. In the end everyone gets a call back to let them know that they didn't win but that with a new project and investment in thier career.... that some of the labels showed some interest in them......

Now that angie person has gone her own way. She has started her own thing calling Abbey Road Music or something like that. Looks like it may be the same kind of deal. I will not and do not recommend that anyone "invest" one dollar into either one of them.

Thanks for listening to me sound off.

suzieq

Everyone that knows of lurking sharks should warn fellow swimmers so they can get out of the water and not get bitten. When there is no food in the water for sharks to feed on,they will move on and maybe starve to death.

Everett

What a fantastic post. Brian, you should feel awesome knowing that JPF just saved someone $10K. I'm really posting just to add to the posts so that it continues to rise in the search engines and as many artists as possible get to see it. But for reference sake, it would be great for anyone to post other companies that they KNOW are a scam or provide poor quality at a high price. In the same respect, a list of genuine companies who provide quality service for a reasonable fee would be a bonus. Please post them here since this thread is already getting so much action. It's invaluable information.

Never having been to Nashville I've found this post chilling but not altogether unexpected. There's some quote that goes something like this.

"The halls of the music industry run rampant with blood sucking thieves. Liars, cheats, and ne'er-do-wells lie in wait, lurking around every corner to prey upon the unwary, and then there's the dark side."

I was actually approached by our own local version of this type of character. He wasn't openly soliciting money for the services he propossed to me and didn't get any from me, but I understand that I was not his only target of attention and he certainly did not produce anything he claimed he could for any of the artists he approached.

I was warned about him from someone I met who was booking a venue that I played. This person also put me in contact with others who had been preyed upon and in turn I passed the warning onto others who were unaware of this fellows shady dealings.

After finding out about this guy, I was surprised by my own lack of perception in this matter. Usually my spider sense triggers an early warning whistle and I know that I'm about to get fed a line of horse manure. (Can I say that on this forum?) The fact that I could so easily be drawn into his web of deceit kind of scared me.

Got a call from Affinity on 4-3-06, almost a year from the first time I had dealings with them. The guy asks if I want to do a "Showcase" for some industry big-wigs. He procedes to tell me that there will be a seminar highlighting the do's and do not's of the music business and then the showcase that evening all for the low low price of $300.00. Who else has been approached by them. I told the guy that if he goes through his files he will find all of my stuff I blindly submitted to them last year (prior to my enlightenment by this site, Thank you Brian). The sharks are still circleling.

Hey Reg, welcome to the land of 'eyes wide open'...

Hunter S. Thompson said, among other things...

"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side."

Midnite

[QUOTE]Originally posted by reggie miles: There's some quote that goes something like this.

"The halls of the music industry run rampant with blood sucking thieves. Liars, cheats, and ne'er-do-wells lie in wait, lurking around every corner to prey upon the unwary, and then there's the dark side."



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Satchel was right...Something is gaining on me....
www.jackcouldntmakeit.com

Robert Skillen was ever an employee of Affinity Music! Robert was a camera man used on some videos, who was sub-contracted by Affinity Music's Sub-contractor.

The reason Robert was sent to prison had nothing to do with the Music industry. It was a personal matter.

Wow, another false statement by Just Plain Folks! Maybe before making statements, you should review your facts.

Wow! Obviously you haven't been on this board long enough to make "False Statements" about JPF. Mayhaps you should mind your own business, support your favorite SHARKS and leave the people who are loyal to these forum pages alone!

Aussie,

Methinks you doth protest too much. No one from JPF made a claim about jail sentence. Someone who is a registered user (just like you) asked the question. You've now answered (meaning you must belong to that company or be friends with the person in question if you know the personal info of one of their employees right?). And just as YOU don't speak for JPF, neither did that particular poster.

But of course the only defense these scam artists can offer is to attack the messenger because obviously their business tactics can't be defended. Pretty sad really. I hope you also realize that ever time you add another post to this message, it just increases the likelihood that Google and other search engines will rank it even higher when people search for info on this company. That's a good thing for all the potential victims out there.. but probably not what the scam artists themselves are hoping for.

Brian

Well, I'm glad to do my part.

Midnite

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Brian Austin Whitney:

I hope you also realize that ever time you add another post to this message, it just increases the likelihood that Google and other search engines will rank it even higher when people search for info on this company.


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Satchel was right...Something is gaining on me....
www.jackcouldntmakeit.com

Just got an e-mail today from Don Reed {Trashed it} offering digital distribution, didn't have the inclination to tell them that CDBaby beat them to the punch a while ago, and has a FAR better deal.

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bc

[This message has been edited by bcushing (edited 04-21-2006).]

Hey, what do you know, I got the same one. I even got a phone call from Don Reed himself yesterday. That was an interesting conversation. I try to be tactful so I didn't dispense with much tounge lashing. I told him that I would not be utilizing his services. Anyway, I trashed my e-mail too.

Comment.......
You know it seems like every time a company
asks for money for a project, right away
everyone assumes its a scam!!!Why should a
company invest in a unknown artist and take
the risk in them if that said artist doesn't believe enough in them selves to invest in
their career? enough said...

Reply,
I recieved a exceptional recording and
promotion..The name of the company and the
fee is not important. What I am saying is this
every artist is required to pay SOMETHING for
their products.It doesn't matter who the artist is they all have to make some kind of investment....You can't walk into your physicians office and expect to be seen without a copay or insuramce can you? Well
the music industry works the same way..Coming
with 121/2 years in security management I know for a fact that all prospective clients
were required to pay and I will say TOP DOLLAR for SERVICES...not just $1,700 or whatever the case maybe try a monthly fee of
$5000.00 for security services,lifes expensive nothing in life is free except for
one thing!

You know everyone wants to make it in the music industry. So you follow all the guidelines to get you to seminars. You speak on the phone with representatives and ooooh money. Money the main topic--always. So you pay your entry fee and drive 600+miles to get there. Spend $180.00 or more on rooms,$200.00 or more in gas, money for food, then you travel back home just to make a phone call and MORE MONEY needed. After you are restricted to a live by pay check to paycheck, you omit certain bills because you hopes are pumped up. Then you are broke when you return. BUT for thousands of dollars, we can do this and this. NOW keep in mind you have already spend close to $700.00 to hear someone tell you things we all have already read in music books, THAT we paid for. Now the thousands of dollars (that you have to borrow) may be with worth it if you
a)get a rough draft of some kind of a contract
b) after you give away money you borrowed, are you guaranteed a recording contract and if so, how long will it take for you to get PAID?
I don't know about this seminar, BUT I do not know if borrowing MORE money would be worth an open promise or not.
What do you think.

Quicktyner,

I am not sure how your post is connected to this discussion but I am happy to answer your general question. Unless you are working as a full time artist gigging enough to budget in costs to forward your career you shouldn't borrow money to pursue success. That's a bad bad bad idea. Do you really think that if success could be purchased for what you could afford, even with a loan, that every label wouldn't already have spent that money to take those opportunities first? The entire concept of buying music industry "success" is flawed at all levels. You can buy knowledge through training at college or perhaps on a small scale through attending a workshop or reading a book. If you already have a career that is successful enough to NEED (not desire.. actually NEED) promotional support because you're too busy gigging not to farm it out then you can spend money on specific people for specific services. Those people should themselves neither promise nor offer "success" because it doesn't matter how good they are at their jobs, they can only do the service, they can't guarentee the results (i.e. a hit record, a huge increase in album sales etc.). That doesn't mean legit people don't charge for legit services. If you hire a PR person to write press releases and help get the word out, they can do that. They can do it well and you'll still not find success. Zillions of companies and individuals do aggressive PR campaigns all the time that produce no results. You also don't "buy" a record deal. Repeat: You don't BUY a record deal. You get a record deal because you're a busy performer with great songs, a great sound, a great track record of pleasing live audiences and a great regional buzz that makes a label believe that they will LOSE money if they don't sign you to a deal. If you aren't gigging multiple paid shows a week and drawing significant audiences on your own and selling significant CD's on your own, you have little value to most legit labels. And no legit labels ask you to pay them for the deal.

So if someone is asking you for money, find out what you're getting for it and then find out how much that service costs from others. If what they are selling is the promise or hope of "success" as a generic concept, run the other way. They're a scam artist. If they are selling a specific tangible service and they are within or less than the typical market rate AND they have examples of successful previous work and happy customers then consider them. But still ask around. Often amateurs not only get ripped off, but sadly in many cases they don't even realize it's happening after it's over because they aren't knowledgable enough to know the difference between a useful/valuable/worthwhile expense and a rip off.

When in doubt, don't spend the money. There will ALWAYS be plenty of legit opportunities to spend your money with legit people. There are no urgent issues involved when dealing with honest people. If someone presses you to act fast or you'll lose the deal, that's a deal you need to lose. (In truth, it's not a deal at all.. it's a scam).

Brian