I've just received the following to my SC message box and wondered what you all thought:

How's it going Icelander. I heard the song you uploaded the other day. I was really impressed by what I heard. I am actually a talent recruiter for NextGen Promotions and I'd be intersted in in helping you get your work greater exposure. I think you could really grow your fan base. Shoot me an email and we will talk further:

For one thing, I actually haven't uploaded anything to SoundCloud in months (until last night), and then there's that very vague "the other day" coupled with not even bothering to name said song that got him so "really impressed".

Am I just being too cynical for my own good, or does anyone else smell something not quite 'fresh' here?

p.s. Oh, and that misspelled "intersted" is his, not mine

Spam.

I get a lot of these. They are never specific about what song they loved. Spam!

I used to get those every day, 3 or 4 a day, yet my play count never increased. They are phishing for suckers.

Yeah, that was the first red flag for me too. You'd think these "phishers" would make a little more effort, eh

Right, then, I think the consensus here is as unanimous as it gets, thanks to all for the feedback - nice to see so many forum members actually agree on something

Hilltop Records is another one to pass one and they can be specific.

I help a friend do a Christian song that he put up on SoundCloud. Hilltop Records contacted him and said they are doing a Christian album and for $500 they would see if that song fit the album. I told them they have heard the song so they should already know if the song fits but he insisted in sending them money. I told him if he hits it big he can keep all the money as I don't want anything to do with this. He hasn't brought up the topic since!

These people are really misleading and giving false hope to musicians worldwide! I am convinced that I could put up a recording of my cat hurling up a hairball and they would want to promote it!! I personally know a very successful Nashville music publisher and he has repeatedly told me that good things happen for musicians through hard work and knocking on the right doors yourself (making as many friends as you can in the business). It's a shame that so many people fall for these con artists preying on these good folks hopes and dreams! Sorry for the rant, it kind of gets me mad! T

If they want up front money, it's a scam. If they really want to promote you instead of take your money, they will invest their money for a portion of the profits.

But then, there is this Nigerian prince who needs to hide a few millions in my bank account, I just have to put up $50,000 to show him I'm honest.

Insights and incites by Notes

I wonder what's going to happen to all that money when that prince dies and it turns out it was true but nobody took him up on his offer?

It could happen....

If you keep up with how many "listens" your tracks get, and there are no new ones, it's obvious they didn't listen, so I would assume it's just spam based on that alone.

Perhaps this Nigerian prince?

Also block them as spam and check the option to report them as spam to SC. I haven't gotten one in months after that.

Hey that is my agent!

Lol

"a recording of my cat hurling up a hairball", OK I might buy that.

Well, if it worked for that third Shrek film...

I busted a gut on that one Danny!

Thanks.

Notes

The industry has always been filled with parasitic scum suckers preying off the ignorant.

I could see Obi Wan overlooking Nashville saying his famous line about there not being a bigger den of villainy and such...

And of course, it not only musicians they prey upon. A few months ago I got weekly calls from "Microsoft" telling me they noticed a virus on my computer ... ... ...

My responses vary by my mood.

And I can't count the number of e-mails telling me they are looking to loan businesses like mine money, (or in other variations buy it) and yet they don't even know my name.

And I just hung up my cell phone on that "Google Listing" call and it's variations that come again and again and again and again and again (my cell is a business line and therefor cannot be on the do-not-call list).

Everybody is out to get your money, most of them want to give you something in return, and others simply want to con you and give you nothing for it.

You have to be careful.

Insights and incites by Notes

Back in the day, we called them song sharks. I’ve not heard that term since the early ‘80s—long before the internet–but the scam was the same: they always want you to pay to play.

Before the internet, they ran little ads in all the trade magazines (except Songwriter that refused to run them) and passed out flyers and trade shows.

My record for keeping one of them on the line is 55 minutes. I quickly booted a virtual machine so I could play with her, and she started, in her broken English, to try and get be to the join.me web page to set up a remote connection so she could "fix my problem". And I played it perfectly dumb, like when she told me to type www., I typed in double you, double you.... and at every turn I did something ridiculous like that. 55 minutes!!

The loopholes they have are many. First of all, the "do not call list" is meaningless. It stops nobody from calling. It stops people from being CAUGHT calling. They know very well that NOBODY is going to through all the hoops and red tape to report them. And if they DO get reported, what is going to happen? No TV for a week? Offenders get 4 warnings before they are fined on the 5th report. Then there is the gray area that "they" didn't call me. A computer called me, so sue the computer. (And that defense DID work in a court case about 4 years ago.) Then you have the aspect that they are creating Google phone VOIP numbers, which are not bound by FCC law. AND THEN, they are in India and Pakistan and not bound by the law of the USA. We simply have no defense.

When I laugh is the indignant people who scream "How did you get MY number?" as if Jugdish in Bangalore is actually dialing phone numbers. I just got tired of explaining how robodialers dial every number in a prefix until they get a sucker to answer an play along. Those same people send money to the Nigeria Prince.

You are in a spot. You HAVE to answer your business phone. I don't answer my phone if the call is not from someone in my contacts. If it matters, they will leave a message.

Yes, I have to answer the business phone, and it can't be on the do-not-call list so even the ethical who check the list will call me.

Plus as a business, I get all kinds of B2B calls about "my free google listing" (that's the most frequent), credit card merchants accounts (I'm fine with the one I've had since the 1990s), business loans (I don't want to borrow money if I have to pay it back, and if I did, I wouldn't trust a spam call), and the list goes on and on.

More often than not, I try to keep it short so as not to waste my time. Robocalls are easy, I just hang up. Big commercial calling houses are treated the same (that silence for a few seconds after you say hello is a giveaway), if it's just a poor person wanting to make ends meet by taking what must be the worst job in the world I say "No thank you" and hang up, and if it's a local company doing their own calls, I'll be a little more polite before I hang up.

But my own personal policy is I don't go for any unsolicited calls, e-mails, or direct mail ads. If I need something, I'll seek out a vendor. I'm too skeptical to trust someone who tells me I'm pre-approved for a $250K business loan and doesn't even know my name.

Answering the spam calls is an inconvenience, but at least they aren't door-to-door sales people or those religious proselytizers that make me leave my work space to say "No thank you".

The lesson for me is to not let the interruption bother me, but to take it in stride and end it as soon as possible. Sometimes that's a difficult thing for me to do.

Insights and incites by Notes

Wow,I feel a bit like having simply picked up a lose pebble and unleashed an avalanche!

One thing leads to another

Ahhh yes... the dastardly "song sharks" of yester-year.

They are still out there with a different angle. They search the music posting sites, telling you how much they love your song. They will always tell you how good you are before they ask you for the money to "demo" the song. Many beginners, hearing how hard it is to get songs out, fall for the BS and get sucked in.

Many years ago I wrote a few co-writes with a guy who had a dozen boxes of records he got as a result of buying into the scam. His song was one of a dozen others on the record. Famous unknown writers from Nashville or some similar name is what they named the album. Supposedly sent "hundreds" of copies out to radio stations across America and I guarantee that not a single one ever got played one time.

I worked with what appeared to be a legit publisher. He used the Songwriter's guild song contracts..... once upon a time "THE" contract to sign for a single song. He signed 2 or 3 songs and had one set up to be recorded. Some time later, I got a contract from him that said essentially, he could make me a star in Nashville. There were 3 levels..... the $25k level, the $50k level and the practically guaranteed success level of $100k. They all involved sending him large sums of money for Nashville coaching, recording, writing sessions, and a few record company showcases. The contract was worded carefully so that you thought you were going to be the next big thing but the words weren't exactly saying that. Needless to say, I had a good laugh and filled the papers away chalking that one up to just another scam looking for a sucker with deep pockets.

Most of the scams want you to pay for the demo session to make your song sound professional. You have to wonder about the character of musicians who know they're working in such a studio. And it doesn't matter how sucky and amaturish (poorly written) your song is.... they will convince you, or at least try, that your song is so amazingly wonderful and destined to be song of the year, and win a grammy.......if you'll just send the money for this demo session.....


a few words to the wise:

Do legitimate publishers ever solicit songs through the mail or by advertisements? NO.
The legitimate publisher never solicits songs through the mail or by advertisement. As it is, the publisher is being besieged night and day by aspiring songwriters, both professional and amateur. If anything, he suffers from a superfluity of material. To solicit songs by mail or advertisement would only be adding to his troubles.

Will publishers pay any attention to songs "serviced" or submitted by song sharks? NO.
The only answer to this question is a quite definite "NO." The publisher is doing everything in his power to enlighten the general public about the activities of the song sharks and will do nothing that in any way might encourage their activities. If a song is submitted by a song shark, or if it shows that a song shark has had anything to do with its construction, the legitimate publisher will immediately throw it out.

Why is it not only foolish but dangerous to do business with song sharks?
The song shark operates on a "wholesale" basis. His profit lies in having his work turned out by "hackwriters" cheaply, quickly, and in great quantities. The "hackwriter," or arranger cannot possibly write an original melody for every "song poem" submitted, and often resorts to using parts of copyrighted or published works. If the owner of this "hack" composition should ever have it published or publicly performed, he would run great danger of being sued by the copyright owners on whose works his composition has infringed.

Where can a songwriter obtain information about song sharks?
Such information can be obtained by writing to the Music Publishers Protective Association, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, or The Song Writers Protective Association.

So I guess we can sum this up by saying this sounds fishy to EVERYBODY else.

Sounds legit to me.




Colonel Bob Parker
PO Box 2
Happy Trails Motor Court
Muckoluski, OK.

Bob, you have any of those StarMaker machines left? I would like one.

This is the company:


https://www.nextgenpromotions.org/


They can't really compete with The Starmaker Machine.


Regards,

Bob

Oh my cod!

I thought of doing it for the halibut

then I said "oh crappie."

Don't be koi, Notes, as you sit on your perch....

... practicing your Scales...

We're floundering in puns, but I think it's just a fluke.

[video:youtube]https://youtu.be/6l1GvDWtccI[/video]

And to stay with the theme, I am listening to some old Salmon Dave.

Then.... there's this:

Paramount

where no song is ever turned down if you have enough money for the demo session. contracts offered to everyone.

they have some nice reviews in the music scams web sites.....