I wrote an article which explores some of the bad, questionable and evil practices and elements of the music industry.

In the article I mention that as an active long-standing member since 2002 of the Just Plain Folks music organization, I and many JPF members have seen nearly every kind of music industry sharks and scams imaginable surface for "discussion" (i.e. blatant self-promotion and spam) on the JPF forums.

But the large number of active, informed members have always been wise enough to expose the "fishy" smelling business offers and scammy side of the music industry practices.

It goes on to say: In case you're wondering how bad, ugly and evil things can get, let's provide some quick definitions:

Scam or Scammy
A fraudulent business scheme; a swindle.
transitive verb - scammed, scam-ming, scams
To defraud; swindle.

Fishy:
1. of or resembling fish, especially in taste or odor
2. creating doubt or suspicion : questionable
Examples of Fishy
i. There's something fishy about that guy.
ii. Something's fishy about the way he's acting.

Before moving on, I'll qualify that this is not an exhaustive treatise on the subject of music business or industry scams, as time and space does not permit, but I'll try to cover some of the most common scenarios to point some of the bad/evil practices involved. Keep in mind that some of the bad, ugly and scammy practices may appear "nice and legal" on the surface, but being legal doesn't make them any correct, ethical or moral, as Brian will tell you!

I also share a YouTube video which gives a sad but interesting overview of some of the worst (bad, fishy, scammy, evil) side of the music industry. Please watch it for a quick orientation to the rest of this article. It's been posted on this forum before, and I thought it was great, hence this article to comment and build on it some more.

The title is:
A Singer-Songwriter Meets A Suit
which you can open from this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKy7i5hJfu8
or view on my article page here here.

In the video, a female singer-songwriter has an interview with a music industry record label "suit". That's the artist and songs acquisition executive, the music industry professional in the suit who's job is to review and sign new talent and songs.

So here's a copy of the rest of the article, which you can read here or from my blog article (link) above.

Common pitfalls and red flags to avoid
1. The first question is: "Have you brought me fully produced recordings of your song?" This in itself is not bad or evil, as it's very common these days for songwriters, composers and artists to record and produce their own songs, be it for selling CDs and having "radio ready" recordings for promotion and sales purposes. However in the video, as in real life, this question leads to the darker paths of the pitfalls and red flags to avoid. Lets watch the interview unfold.

2."Are your songs radio-friendly, up-tempo positive?" Another leading question, as perhaps any record label may legitimately be seeking this kind of music for their upcoming projects. However, watch how the interview turns on this next stereotype question:

3. "Do the songs sound exactly like ALL other females that the other major labels currently have on their roster so that the audience can not even tell the difference?" So here's the first red flag, in that the industry appears to be seeking music artist clones instead of authentic, original, fresh material. Again, in itself this is not illegal or immoral, but a sign that nothing outside a certain perceived industry "box" will be considered, much less approved, regardless whether this is what fans and audiences are actually seeking. This is the first clue that something is "fishy", or at least not normative to genuine, creative songwriting or composing practices. In other words, what's wrong with pitching fresh, original material which doesn't have to sound like everyone else in the same industry?

Bad, evil or just poor taste?
4. The next question asks our female singer-songwriter how old she is, implying that if she's any older than about 17.5 years and has a boyfriend, they are absolutely not interested. What's going on here, maybe a bit of age descrimination or the "suit" wants something more from the singer-songwriter artist? This is not to say that some youth-oriented labels can't be legitimately interested in young songwriting or composing talent. Think of Emily Bear's "Young Composers" award from ASCAP, but they are not a "suit" interviewing to sign a singer-songwriting artist. See anything fishy with this yet? I'd say offensive in the best case scenario and borderline illegal at the worst!

Scam artists target your money!
5. The next question probes the potential success factor, and of course without having even heard the song yet. The question is: "Have you created a following for yourself that would guarantee at least 100,000 record sales?" Okay, fair enough. They don't want to take you serious unless you already have enough fans to sell 100,000 record sales, but if you have that many, why would you need a publisher or record deal when you already have full control of your music business? The songwriter politely replies: "Why would I be here if I had?" Good for her! She's either not that greedy or she's smart enough to steer around a host of delightful (related) pitfalls!

6. The suite replies: "The business is changing, we can no longer take risks". Understandable in times when every business wants to reduce risks and maximize their profit potential. Again, nothing bad or wrong with this approach, but watch how this leads to the next "red flag" question which attempts to target the artist's personal finances.

7. "Do your parents or some wealthy family member that you have convinced will make their money back have a million dollars to give us up front for promotion costs? This, of course, will be recoupable by us." This obviously means the suit is digging for "gold" to be used within a contract worded to recoup any/all upfront promotion costs. Of course every new act will need some promotion budget, but the devil is in the details as to how it gets spent, recouped, accounted and what's left over for the artists. There are books and articles written to expose this evil practice, mostly from the old music industry, but suffice it to say, run, don’t walk… when you see these kinds of red flags waving!

Sign over your songs for life?
8. Our songwriter friend declines (a simple NO will do!) but right away gets hit with the next loaded question: "While you are here, would you like to sign over all the worldwide rights to your songs for life even though we do NOT wish to sign you to a record deal or ever pitch them to any other artists?" Of course the label still has NOT heard any of her songs, so the real question is: How badly do you want to get signed?

Think about it, is it worth it to get "signed" with a big name publisher or record label which gives them worldwide exlcusive rights for life when they don't even plan to do anything with your music? Anything sound fishy or evil with this? I understand this has been an on-going practice since the beginnings of the modern recording industry. Wise up or hire an attorney to read these kinds of contracts BEFORE you sign anything.

Copyright theft scam revealed!
9. The suit's next statement reveals why they want the songwriter to do this: "That way if you ever sleep with the correct person and get the song cut on your own, we will be able to collect most all of the money that is made before you ever see a dime." How nice of the suit to explain how this kind of business deal works! Hmm… sounds like a great deal for the label, but sorry, really sucks for the songwriter doesn't it?

10. Of course our wise Ms. Singer-Songwriter didn't fall for it, she just says NO, and then she gets a free lesson from the suit's next statement: "I must say that this label is going in another direction and our roster is full of too many new artists (right now) that we are very excited about. Many are the children of D-list celebrities or the runner-ups of reality show talent competitions or the son, daughter, niece, nephew of someone in our attorney’s office."

Of course they probably won't reveal any details, but probably a bit of due diligence (investigation) might confirm this. Again, this points to some elements of the music business where the quality of the song is often LESS important than the "contacts" they would bring to the table.

More attempts to trip you up
11. After a few further approach attempts (take my card, call me back later, etc.) the suit invites the singer-songwriter to drop off a new demo, but not in MP3 format, only in packaged CD format. The suit says: "No MP3′s will be accepted because we like to know that you also paid your dues for fancy packaging before we throw it away." Of course they won't actually say this to you, but if that's what they're doing, you can kind of tell and it hurts just as much!

12. Our Ms. Songwriter heroin never gives up and ends with a strong comeback: "Would you like to actually hear one of my songs and tell me what you think? Maybe you will actually like them, and think I have potential to be considered for artist development." Great attitude and shows how determined she is to seek genuine success!

The ALL or nothing scam revealed
13. Sadly this is the suit's final reply: "I will not know my opinion on it if I am the first one that has heard it. What is artist development?" Well, that's the end of this interview and obviously the suit doesn't want to hear or discuss anything about artist development. In this scenario, his company's business plan is to sign only successful artists with fully-produced songs, and with exclusive life-of-copyright terms which gets the artists to pay for all the production and promotion costs up front. Sounds like it would be cheaper to just publish and market the music yourself, maybe with a little help from your friends… but NOT the suit and his friends!

Conclusion:
If you've already been through any of this in real life (been there, done that and bought the T-shirt), you already know how bad the evil side of the music industry is. Welcome, you're not alone!

If you've never been down this road, consider yourself blessed and/or smart enough to have avoided these kinds of traps and pitfalls. I would encourage you to move ahead with your finest material, manage your own publishing and license your music directly to the parties who will be genuinely interested in it. In other words, become your own best publisher and learn to license your music to the industry and other artists.

By the way, the video was created by a real singer-songwriter, Brooke Lundy, who says all these things actually happened to her at one time or another, so this is a compilation her own real-life experiences in the music industry! Any of you know or have heard of Brooke Lundy? I'm curious if she ever won a JPF song award or maybe is a member here. Her name does sound familiar, thanks!

This is about the size of it too, and all the big labels have to do is control the radio stations so they will only play their songs, even if they don't sell a lot of product, they will make a bundle on the airplay royalties because they now own the songs. How many more big business operate on this principle, using money and power to force others out of business so they can control the market. Only the richest survive,not the best or most talented.

Thanks for sharing your comments Everett!

And as I implied in the title, this only exposes "some" of the EVIL in the music industry! I'm sure if we created a list of all the unscrupulous activites, frauds and scams it would be a rather long list, probably enough for a thick book!

So the idea is to educate ourselves, as in any other business, to avoide the pitfalls and trappings, and learn to focus on the things we DO have control over and make the best of our situation.

I think there's also a lot of success stories, but most of them are very difficult to duplicate, because it takes a lot of creativity, talent, time and patience to achieve some level of long-term career success.

Michael,

You have laid out a very good case for this. I guess my question to you would be that in any time in history, have you ever known any of this to be any different at all? history preys on dreamers. And everyone who has ever picked up a pen, an instrument, or thought they were an actress, actor, poet, etc. are all dreamers. There is nothing here that is new or different.

Good luck in figuring it out though. Everyone has a decision. Not to play. Do everything you can yourself, know the type of business this is and be satisfied with where you get.

MAB

Unscrupulous business practices are certainly not limited to music. Much of what you describe is also seen in fields such as real estate, stock market investing, lawsuit filing, politics, etc. etc. ...any field that lends itself to get rich quick schemes for the uneducated or unwary.

Thanks for pointing out the pitfalls of music.

Again, goes back a long time.

Hey Marc and Collin,
I agree with your comments!

Mainly I tried to point out some of the principals involved with the so called music business "opportunities". Ideally the best business relationships are good for both parties, the songwriter and the publisher or record label. But when the opportunity is all one-sided, something is wrong and akin to blatant exploitation.

My other point is that even though a biz offer isn't outright illegal, it can be just as costly of a mistake (best case scenario), and still be unethical or immoral. Very few of scam artists ever go to jail or get fined, so it's easy for them to regroup under new names, or operated under well known "flags", and get away with their shady exploitation methods.

Seems like for every honest and legit music business service, there's about 10 others that ain't so honest or nice, though they main pose to be perfectly "nice & legal".

Thanks for chiming in and lets keep exposing the scammers!
Michael

At the end of the day we are all exploited.....the system is such that there are middle men and others wanting a cut from the very top right down to the bottom...they usually get it one way or another. We try to change it but usually just have to live with it.....I have shot myself in the foot on many occasions trying to change things or speaking out about the wrongs we face.

Micheal,

The majority of this comes from people trying to "Skip steps" or find some "secret passageway" that doesn't exist. The music business has always been, one contact at a time, one person at a time, creating a product that people care enough about to pass it on. It is long, it is slow, and most often it doesn't pan out.

Overreaching expectations and unrealistic goals. That is what cause people over and over again to try trying that they are continually shown to either fail or not live up to expectations.

If anyone would actually study the history of music, how the things that worked worked and how many things failed, they would have a little better inkling of where not to waste their times.

But there is always someone going to give third and forth hand information and pass it off as something they actually know about. The Internet is the largest breeding ground for these kinds of scams and dreamers, who are often misquided in the first place, go after then hook line and sinker.

Is the music business smarmy and full of cut throats? Of course. Is it everyone for themselves? Absolutely. Is it fraught with missteps and wrong turns? Good God Yes. What did you ever expect?

How many stories of suicides, substance abuse, personel problems from those at the top of the heap? That is actually the norm, not the exception. How many even tempered well adjusted stars have their been over the years? Painter, poets, artists? Come on, be real.

The dreamer is not an ordinary person. They are driven by a power no one can understand and can't be tamed. So you are riding a wild bronco setting your self up for insanity to begin with.

Some people are able to temper that with time, patience, dealing with rejection. Most get out early. Some continue to fail and blame the "system" the gatekeepers" the "organizations at the top" or other such foolishness. There is no one person and never has been. There are a lot of competing interests, and no one stays on top forever.

As a matter of fact I have a particular greeting for people in Nashville. "Hi, I'm Marc-alan Barnette. Who did you USED to be with?" Because today's nobodys are tomorrow's record company presidents, today's record company presidents are tomorrow's nobody's. The life expectancy is very short and no one controls much of anything. They control it just as long as their stockholders are satisfied and they are making money. Then they are gone.

So yes, your senarios here and those of other similar writings outline it well. But in the classic words of one of my favorite writers, Harland Howard, the dean of Nashville songwriters, "Who sent for you? Where are the black and blue marks on your arms forcing you to do this?" The answer? Nobody did. Those marks aren't there. People do this of their own free will. Buyer beware.

For me what I get tired of is the complaining about it. It always begins the same: "Have you heard of..." "Has anybody used this service?...." and ends with the usual, "Such and such company sucks and ......" Yeah. They do. If it seems too good to be true.... it is.

This is not too hard to figure out. If you are not out there all the time, putting yourself into it, some magical Genie is not going to find you and discover you. The line ahead of you is incredibly long and you can decide to get in it or not.

I have no problem with people trying to warn each other of things. But Good Lord, What do you expect? There are no easy roads. There are no short cuts. And most of it is not pleasant.

So do the best you can. Write what you feel. If you want to find a niche, a market, find people who know about that market. Do research. Learn what you can. Do your best, don't expect much and enjoy yourself.

There are snakes out there. Don't pet em'.

MAB

Thanks Big Jim and again, Marc!

By the way, as I mentioned in the bottom of my post:

So to be sure, I didn't make up these scenarios, but only commented on them as transribed from the scenes in the short 3 minute video. The singer-songwriter, Brooke Lundy, compiled this from her own real-live experiences as a songwriter, and besides the educational and scam-busting value of her video, more importantly, it shows the creative side of her ability to communicate so starkly about the series of her own experiences.

Brooke has shared this with her circle of friends and fans, and the video has already been watched 60,395 times and received 232 likes and only 2 dislikes. I think that's quit an achievement in itself, and as sad (and real) as it is, it's also very educational and entertaining.

I never met her and don't know who she is, but her video is getting around and besides the replies to her fan's comments, this is all the info she posted on her YouTube video page:

Guess we should give credit where credit is due!
In the video her cartoon "avatar" is clad as a country singer, so now I'm curious what some of her songs sound like, maybe they're pretty cool and in the end, it's all about the music, right?!

I bet by now she's learned to just keep doing what works best and make her fans happy, so she's probably learning to publish and manage her own music copyrights. That's where it's all going: do it yourself and eventually build a small team to help your business grow. I saw Mike Dunbar post about the "team" thing a few days ago on one of the other message forums, and he shares some great insight and advice!

Ok, breaks over... less talk and more music!

Brilliant exposure of an non-business situation (if business is to be win-win), Michael! Shows a dang good reason for artists to seek representation in this type of scenarios..

Magne,

Everybody needds to be representing themselves. That is another problem,that everyone thinks the magic manager or publisher fairy is going to swoop out of the sky and protect them from all the evil out there. That doesn't exist either.

This is a relay race. Putting together a "team of advisors" like Mike Dunbar says is going to be about the only "representation that is going to happen for a while. And then the "representation" is not going to take anyone on before they are able to present money in the form of a trade off. And that comes with a lot of strings too.

So I personally would forget about the "representation" until someone does some "education." Before anyone can get a royalty check, they first have to get a reality check.

MAB

PS: And none of these senarios are unique to Brook Lundy. This is what it is. Check out lives of composers like Beethoven and Motzart and you will find they went through similar things as well. There is always someone out there that is a fly in the ointment.

MAB

Excellent post, Michael. There is evil in the music industry, as there is in every human endeavor throughout the world.

I agree wholeheartedly with Marc. The key is education. People who get hurt the worst are people who go into it blindly. Those who think that success in music can be bought. They are found by people who are happy to let them believe that and who offer to sell them that success. Those who think talent alone is enough. They waste money and time trying to sell diamonds in the rough in a fine jewelry market. I could go on and on. The key to it all is an integrated approach. You need talent, you need authenticity, there must undeniability (the product must have no flaws or weak spots), you must match the market (don't try to sell bluegrass to a klezmer audience), you need networking. It all takes a lot of work. Mostly, you need to believe in yourself, but you need to do that honestly and intelligently. That takes education.

Klezmer? LOL!

Klezmer, great stuff!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpqVYvPIv1s

Wow. And who says you have to be young and good looking to do things in music? LOL!

M

It's klezmerising isn't it?

Hey John, we can start a new genre: Mesmerizing Kelzmer-i-sing!
But that's only for the vocals version.
The instrumental version would be: Mesmerizing Klezmerizing
or just "Mesmer Klezmer" for short.
It's all about creating and marketing new fashions and styles which seems to entertain people. And if something hasn't been around for a while, it almost ready to come back!

We have an entire Klezmer category in our music awards. Lots of great stuff out there if you're open to something other than Pop, Rock, Country and Classical.

Brian

For some reason I got this picture of Benny Goodman standing in front of a mirror in his pajamas playing this and asking his wife "Honey...do you think they'll get this?"

Anybody else?...could be just me...

in2,

It is more like...Benny Goodman grew up listening to this music and asked his wife, "Honey do you think those guys will mind if I jazz this up?"

I had the opportunity to play upright bass with a church band, it was a Messianic Jewish church and the music was klezmer with a lot of jazz waltzes (which are themselves influenced by klezmer) and pop thrown in. We read notation and accompanied singers and dancers. My small brush with this exquisite musical style is something I'll never forget. It is a music which, I am sure, is blessed.

Much of the time the "representation" is actually there representing someone else (a label, publisher etc.) and protecting them from YOU, not protecting YOU from anyone else.

Brian

Exactly, Brian. That's why I recommend that folks who want to enter the music business form a team of advisers.

I've been in the commercial music business and the commercial construction business. The construction business is regulated by permits, engineering standards, safety associations, contract law and so on. The music business is a swirling mess of what you see in Brooke Lundy's funny video.

The music business is WAY more fun. Construction sucks!

Thanks a lot for this wonderful article and video ...funny after all these years I never signed anything ...but I m about to so I m sending this article to my partner in the band ..!!

peace

I know very little about the music business and perhaps some would say even less about lyric writing. I’m okay with that. I write and read lyrics because I enjoy verse and if somebody else likes my lyrics, that’s an added bonus.

If somebody wants to compose music to my lyrics, that’s even better. If an aspiring artist wants to record the song, I’m over the moon and if I hear the song on radio, I’m in Heaven. I have achieved this, a few songs have been recorded by aspiring artists and even fewer have had a little radio play here and there.

That said, I have no illusions, I know I’ll never be God’s gift to the music industry. I just enjoy doing it and try to improve what I enjoy doing. I would like to think that the feedback I have got on the forums here, has helped in that respect. For that I’m immensely thankful.

Someone said we need a reality check, and I fully agree with that. However that reality check would tell (at least those of us that have experience in other industries) that the music industry differs from most other industries.

If you’re good in what you’re doing, you are rewarded financially, while in the music industry you very often are not. The demands for good songs and the demand for the expertise of good oil and LPG folks I guess is roughly the same proportionally. Since the rewards are closely linked to the demands, it’s difficult to understand (at least for me) that so many good songwriters are not rewarded at all.

It makes me think that the music industry operate as a cartel with regards to who is rewarded or not. I’m not sure if my thoughts here are correct and would love to hear the opinions of those who work within the music industry regarding this matter. If my reasoning is correct, there is every reason to complain. To accept status quo will only prolong the heartache to very good, even outstanding writers who are not part of the cartel operations. Perhaps the courage of the Wall Street protesters will encourage similar protests on Music Row or am I a dreamer.

Finally, I would like to thank all my JPF friends for all the enjoyment their creativity have given me over the years.

Thank you all
Jan

Great info, thanks. I see you live in Lake Elsinore. I used to live there ( now called Wildomar, they moved the border ).