Indie Music Exploit.
An indie artist cannot always be a good businessman and manage the business aspect of his work all by himself. There is always a need for someone to help in certain aspects of work. While you are making these sources available for yourself, there come the schemers, to exploit you by selling your dreams and making money for themselves. If you are among those independent artists who are looking for a chance to make it big in the industry with your art, there are certain important things to be kept in mind.
Get a publisher for your music. While trying to do the publishing work yourself, you put yourself at a risk of meeting people who make false promises and show you dreams of a bright future. The foundation of their plans is so strategically set that an indie artist mostly cannot mostly escape the trap and starts following them, without thinking, hoping to become a star sooner. A publisher is well-aware of this king od scams and will protect you in terms of copyright and have you connected with the right people in the industry.
There is something called “pay and perform”. Here you pay the organizers to get a chance to perform in front of famous musicians and artists. You believe that it is a good platform for you to get noticed and probably be signed by someone who has earned a name for himself in the industry. Remember that these people do not have any power to make decisions. 99% of them are there because of the money that they get after the performances. This is a scam that you should never put your money into. In the age of computers, you’d rather create an online buzz through digital marketing and get the attention of the real decision makers.
Moreover, you mostly do not know in advance that there are charges or fees which you will be asked to pay in order to get a chance to perform before these artists and viewers. Even then, you may agree to pay because you want to be a star, but the reality, my friend, is completely different from what you are made to believe. You will be clubbed with 20 or more artists to perform on the same day. This means, you may be the last one to perform, or you may get to perform at 2 am when most of the public has already left. I am sure no artist would like to let this happen to himself.
Another scam is being an opener for a touring major artist. Now while this sounds quite lucrative and is mostly harmless if you are not required pay a fee, beware if you ae being asked to pay. You should ideally get paid to be an opener. At times, the indie artist is asked to pay the business person to be an opener, and the fee ranges between $1000-$3000 to get time on the stage. This scam has conveniently existed in the industry for quite some time because the artists think they are getting the opportunity to share stage with a star. I have been booked to open for a star after i paid the fees of some $1000 (not the opposite) and while performing i realised that public was so excited to hear from the star that they hardly noticed me or my performance. What’s more, most of the audience was too drunk to even remember my name at the end of the performance!
‘Online Services’ is another scam that comes to my mind while writing about this topic. There are online websites or platforms that promise you to place your music in films, TV commercials, daily soaps etc. They ask you to pay the fees, fill out a profile, register your name and submit your music which they claim to get reviewed by music supervisors or A&Rs who will decide if your music is worth placing somewhere. The truth is, nobody ever listens to your music; it is never reviewed by an expert. You just receive an email saying you need to work more on improving your skills and making your music saleable. The information that you filled in the profile is sold to online advertising companies or used for free Sampling. The use of a piece of an existing sound recording or composition for another sound recording or composition is called Sampling. You may read my blog Music Sampling for Indie Artists, to learn more about music sampling.
My personal experience is that I have yet to come across anybody with a success story coming from these platforms. I have been in the industry for 10 years and have never seen a person who got placed or got a ground breaking publishing deal by registering on these sites. My advice to all the indie artists is to be careful and stay away from such platforms that play with your dreams to fulfil their own.
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