paging GOD, SHADEED, i got contacted on myspace about my work

[Cold Truth]

here is the transaction thus far:

RE: what exactly is celeb overnight showcase?

Body:
your shit is hot!....i got some new thing cracking so i'm still looking for artist and producers so i can fill slots i have open in my next meetings. if your ready, you have the leagal fee of $450......the music is right, i want to shop it, but it takes that to get me started repping your music, i need the lawyer i use to be paid so he will look over any paper work i bring back to make sure it's a deal i can stand behind before i put it on your desk. it covers him doing that for the next year on a non-exclusive agreement.
are you ready?

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Cold Truth
Date: Jul 15, 2008 2:20 AM

sorry if i'm being pesky.. just checking up on potential avenues.

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Mr. eFFx
Date: Jul 14, 2008 11:16 PM

i'm independent A & R for Celeb Overnight Showcase....... i got situations with Universal/Warner

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Cold Truth
Date: Jul 15, 2008 2:14 AM

so you are an A&R for universal the friend request said? i shopped to capitol some years back, but no results. are you actively looking for production or whats the deal?

at any rate... i can post some other tracks up if you are interested at all...

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Mr. eFFx
Date: Jul 14, 2008 11:10 PM

you got nice tracks, what's good?

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Cold Truth
Date: Jul 15, 2008 12:44 AM

but uh... are you interested like that? or was that just a standard message you send (no offense)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

i sent the first message after he hit me for the add asking if i was signed... but that seemed like a standard opening trick. anyhow, of course i had to explore further.

i would imagine securing any legit representation is gonna cost me some ends, mo fos don't do shit for free. at any rate.... yeah everything looks fishy to me at all times, i don't exactly have the $450 to "spare" and all. i'll post up further convos.. his page looks like he is legit but this could be a scam all the same. bare minimum, i have all the communication via myspace saved.

thoughts?

 

[Kontents]

Dude I smell fish, God could probably find some stuff on him, but in my eyes I would be uneasy about doing a deal for sure.

Good luck man I hope you find out for the best.

is this his page?
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=76168659

 

[Cold Truth]

yeah thats it... he has a video clip of a few cats including luda talking about the whole thing.

i dunno... dude seems sincere but we all know industry rule 4080.....

ima hit it and see what the deal is though.

 

[Relic]

If he likes your tracks then theres obviously somthing wrong..DOH!

lol, j/k BUT of course be wary!

 

[shadeed]

Feels pretty good to be placed in the same category as the G.O.D. - thanks!

You need to gather more information. The conversation that you presented doesn't tell me (or you most importantly) anything at all.

The question is not:
Is this gentleman serious about what he does or is presenting?

The real questions are:
What are my goals as a producer?!

Is this gentleman's offer in alignment with my goals and direction as a producer?

Will he support me in getting my music where it needs to go in this business?

What will I receive in exchange for my $450.00 investment?

How much time will I have to invest into making this arrangement work??

Once you truly sit back and answer those questions, then anybody you deal with can
be analyzed clearly and in accordance with your goals.

***You should also use PM for stuff like this and I'll tell you why. Let's say he was to Google you to get more information to determine if you were worth investing his time into.
If he is a serious businessperson, do you think he would want to work with somebody that put his info and conversations with you on a public website?? I see where you're coming from, but always keep that in mind.



Excerpt from Blowing Up from the Basement:

I basically provided you with a brief blueprint on how to sift through people who may be serious or may not be when you encounter them online.

Social Networking and the Rise of "MySpace Moguls"

Social networking has changed the internet now and forever. With the public's acceptance of any hotshot product or technology comes expansion. The anonymity of the internet and ease of "setting up a business" (using the term loosely) online, there are many predatory individuals that take advantage of unsuspecting up-and-coming acts.

MySpace Moguls is the phrase I coined for people who "live online" and don't view any sunlight but if you converse with them, or visit their site you are quickly hit with the impression that this individual is doing big things in the music business.

How do you sift through the MySpace Moguls?? Here are some solid ways to do this:

Take the conversation off (insert site here) immediately:
This means asking for an email or website to view more info.
Note: Many startups are using MySpace as a web presence so if they don't have a hosted domain (website) does not mean they are not reputable.

Ask to Set Up a Time to Speak Directly
MySpace Moguls hate to be confronted directly through questioning. Many will provide questions on their site and "hide" behind the wall of anonymity.

Meet in Person
The MySpace Mogul does not like to meet in person, but if a meeting is scheduled, ask them questions that will allow them to show and prove their credibility. Ask them to provide samples of their work, any necessary references, and who their biggest client base is and how they could tailor what they do to your project or promotions.

Full article here:

https://www.illmuzik.com/articles/art...?article_id=80

Hope this helps:

 

[2GooD Productions]

This sounds dodgy to me, he even says himself its a new venture.
New ventures are much more risky than established ventures.
And the messages seem a bit unprofessional, like shadeed said. You need to know more about what your $450 is for. Just lawyer fees? Theres a smelly fish right there.
Ask for him to send full details by post, and then find out about the company on the headed paper that should be used for such correspondence. Any professional would use headed paper.
Im always wary of people asking for money up front, before any contract that explains everything that is required from both you and them is looked over by your own lawyer.


The devil is in the fine print and legal speak, ask for a contract for you to look over before paying any money, then get it looked over by a lawyer of your choosing.

 

[Ash Holmz]

imo that shit seems hella shady .. that sentence didnt even make sense about the lawyer?? ive reread it too, still doesnt make sense .... give dude ur number and talk over the phone and ask question that shadeed mentioned. u have a better chance of sniffing somebody out when they dont have time to sit and think and type a calculated response to your questions. If they hesistate and stutter like crazy and do not clearly answer ur questions and provide no credible resources then they are usually full of shit. then u know they are bullshitting. If he is serious about representing u he will call and concisley answer your questions.

 

[Quality]

yeah thats it... he has a video clip of a few cats including luda talking about the whole thing.

i dunno... dude seems sincere but we all know industry rule 4080.....

ima hit it and see what the deal is though.

Industry rule # 4080, Industry people are shady...

hahaha dope line my man. That was awesome. Good luck with this situation.

 

[djswivel]

the $450 is the deal breaker. Any manager who approaches you, means they want you. In ALL cases they would pay the lawyer themselves. The idea is, they handle your music and deals, and you pay them the 15-20% on your production fees. Anything more than that is a deal breaker

 

[2GooD Productions]

the $450 is the deal breaker. Any manager who approaches you, means they want you. In ALL cases they would pay the lawyer themselves. The idea is, they handle your music and deals, and you pay them the 15-20% on your production fees. Anything more than that is a deal breaker

Word!!
20% sounds a bit steep tho, but these days I suppose its becoming more frequent.
Just last year the advice i received said 15% was a top end figure.
But thats exactly right, the manager has the beleif in the artist to make enough to be paid in a percentage.
And its the manager that fronts the upfront costs of any deal like that, in the beleif like Swivel says they will make a return on investment, its the manager/labels investment. Not the artists.
Listen to swivel, he knows, lol

 

[shadeed]

the $450 is the deal breaker. Any manager who approaches you, means they want you. In ALL cases they would pay the lawyer themselves. The idea is, they handle your music and deals, and you pay them the 15-20% on your production fees. Anything more than that is a deal breaker

True. My thing with Cold Truth and others who read it is to get them to understand what's going on and give them some basic questions to ask so that when ANYBODY approaches them they know whether the convo is leading to a good opportunity or a scam. Good stuff.

 

[2GooD Productions]

True. My thing with Cold Truth and others who read it is to get them to understand what's going on and give them some basic questions to ask so that when ANYBODY approaches them they know whether the convo is leading to a good opportunity or a scam. Good stuff.

The Myspace Moguls post is some very good stuff. It highlights the truth that with a boom of wannabe producers and artists there is also a boom in those seeking to take advantage of the niche it creates to make themselves some money from the dreams and aspirations of the unsigned artist.
I myself have fallen victim to some scams and have learned by error, nothing much. But enough to let me realise theres a big market for ripping people off.

Caution is always the best side to take in any deal these days.
A phone conversation is a good and professional way to communicate.



Cold Truth. You have to try not to be overly cautious, you dont want to miss a chance by seeming too hard to work with.
Research some advice for the unsigned artist, there is a lot online. I will try to dig some up and post it in resources.
Find out how the system works, then you know where the pitfalls are and what questions need to be asked.

 

[Beatz 101]

scam


All that lawyer bullshit.... :l: . he needs to fall back.


Like what everybody else said. If he really wanted to get down there would be no $450 lawyer fees. It sound like he want the $450 more than he wants to move these beats and make some REAL money.




101

 

[God]

Hi Cold. Remember what I am going to say is not business advice, so any statements I make should not be legally construed as business or legal advice of any sort. Do not make transactions or decisions that have a monetary outcome based on what I am going to say in this post.

Good - I have that out of the way.

1) Generally, industry cats I know do not put their MySpace page "out there" for public consumption - and easily searchable like this cat. There are "velvet roped" pages where there is a public MySpace page for a producer persay, like Polow Da Don, but these producers have personal MySpace sites for their inner circles. Also, Facebook is the most common in the industry for communication amongst the "suits."

2) Generally, when a person is interested, they have a business phone number or professional email account for their business. In his case, whatever the company he owns is from. Communications generally take place from the email accounts. Not through private messaging on MySpace.

What this cat should say is: "We can better pursue this via email. Please contact me at imahustler@bighustlerrecords.com and please give me your email address so we can continue this correspondence. My phone is (310) XXX-XXXX.

In fact, if he wants to make money off you, he would give you his:
Real name
Business address
Phone number
email
BlackBerry PIN (optional, usually given out if the cat works for a larger company and doesn't want his boss checking his email (the PIN bypasses the Outlook email account, making it harder for asshole bosses to read your email)
AIM username (usually for cats on their Sidekicks).

Do you have his phone number? Do you have his real email? Is there a real address? If this cat wants you to give him money - the least he can do is provide you with this information.

3) I'm going to break down his "sell". This may or may not be helpful to you, but you learn to assess how a person is "angling" you this way. Let's look at your quote. My statements are bold.

here is the transaction thus far:

RE: what exactly is celeb overnight showcase?

Body:
your shit is hot!....i got some new thing cracking (vague description of what his new thing is)so i'm still looking for artist and producers so i can fill slots i have open in my next meetings (with label execs? Who?). if your ready, you have the leagal fee of $450......the music is right, i want to shop it, but it takes that to get me started repping your music, i need the lawyer i use to be paid so he will look over any paper work i bring back to make sure it's a deal i can stand behind before i put it on your desk. it covers him doing that for the next year on a non-exclusive agreement. This is his "justification" for charging the $450 look how much of the message it dominates - he's instituting what's called a "hard sell" applying pressure words like "if you're ready" (repeats it twice actually) and he also mispells "leagal" - when approaching a client, you generally don't want to fuck up your writing.
are you ready?

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Cold Truth
Date: Jul 15, 2008 2:20 AM

sorry if i'm being pesky.. just checking up on potential avenues.

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Mr. eFFx
Date: Jul 14, 2008 11:16 PM

i'm independent A & R for Celeb Overnight Showcase....... i got situations with Universal/Warner (elucidate the situations? What is Celeb Overnight Showcase? Can you give me the number of someone at UNI that I can call - or references that aren't acts you've signed?)

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Cold Truth
Date: Jul 15, 2008 2:14 AM

so you are an A&R for universal the friend request said? (no he's not - he's an AR for "Celeb Showcase Whatever" and he has "situations" with UNI)i shopped to capitol some years back, but no results. are you actively looking for production or whats the deal?

at any rate... i can post some other tracks up if you are interested at all...

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Mr. eFFx
Date: Jul 14, 2008 11:10 PM

you got nice tracks, what's good? (vague, didn't respond to your question - what's the deal? You social proofed that you already have industry experience and he should talk to you on a similar level.)

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Cold Truth
Date: Jul 15, 2008 12:44 AM

but uh... are you interested like that? or was that just a standard message you send (no offense) (you're calling him out now - he sounds like a shithead.)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

i sent the first message after he hit me for the add asking if i was signed... but that seemed like a standard opening trick. anyhow, of course i had to explore further.

i would imagine securing any legit representation is gonna cost me some ends, mo fos don't do shit for free. at any rate.... yeah everything looks fishy to me at all times, i don't exactly have the $450 to "spare" and all. i'll post up further convos.. his page looks like he is legit but this could be a scam all the same. bare minimum, i have all the communication via myspace saved.

thoughts?

4) Any reasonable person knows that any contractual representation should be secured by a lawyer that YOU choose and that has YOUR interests at heart not HIS lawyer with HIS interests at heart. He's essentially asking you for money to pay his lawyer to make a contract beneficial to him.

5) Honestly, he sounds like a joke. The way he comes off sounds like a joke.

6) From his MySpace - he says he makes 250K or higher. RARELY does a major label A&R make that much money anymore - especially in this business climate. But this joker making that much? It looked like he had his friends do videos to socially proof him.

7) The fact that we're having this discussion, and this "A&R" has not alleviated any doubts about himself is a red-flag in itself.

Do as you wish, Cold Truth.

 

[Cold Truth]

yeah i hit dude off with a shitload of questions.

and geuss what?

he never responded.