WEBVTT
1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.640
This is Matthew Ricks, and today's email that we received
2
00:00:03.759 --> 00:00:08.679
probably one that I think most artists have come across.
3
00:00:09.359 --> 00:00:11.359
If you want to submit a question on the music industry,
4
00:00:11.400 --> 00:00:14.119
go to Matthewricks dot com absolutely free. I don't need
5
00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:17.679
you to buy a program or join my book club
6
00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:20.120
or Patreon or anything like that. Just if you got
7
00:00:20.120 --> 00:00:22.280
a question on the music industry and you want it answered,
8
00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:26.640
I got you now. For those who don't know who
9
00:00:26.679 --> 00:00:28.399
I am, I am Matthew Rix. I've been in the
10
00:00:28.440 --> 00:00:31.000
music industry since I was sixteen years old, started at
11
00:00:31.079 --> 00:00:34.439
Jive Records. I've done marketing, I've done an R, I've
12
00:00:34.439 --> 00:00:37.119
done management, I've done pretty much at all. I started
13
00:00:37.119 --> 00:00:39.560
in twenty fourteen doing the Matrix Minute, which is about
14
00:00:39.560 --> 00:00:44.479
a ninety second music industry advice program that you can
15
00:00:44.520 --> 00:00:49.560
listen to on Spotify, Apple Music, Title, Amazon, whatever, and
16
00:00:49.679 --> 00:00:51.640
I just always get a ton of emails. I opened
17
00:00:51.640 --> 00:00:53.920
it up so you, the artist, the emerging artist, can
18
00:00:53.920 --> 00:00:56.520
get the advice that you need without paying for it
19
00:00:57.679 --> 00:00:59.719
or being scammed, which we're going to talk about here,
20
00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:02.280
which I think I think we have a music industry
21
00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:05.040
scam happening. And so once again, if you have a
22
00:01:05.120 --> 00:01:08.200
question you want to ask about the music industry. Go
23
00:01:08.239 --> 00:01:11.799
to Matthewricks dot com and click submit your question. Now
24
00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:16.840
let's jump into the email. This guy is I would say,
25
00:01:16.879 --> 00:01:20.319
probably a pretty young artist just by the content of
26
00:01:20.359 --> 00:01:22.319
this email. But like I said, I think that this
27
00:01:22.400 --> 00:01:26.439
is probably something most of you guys have come across,
28
00:01:26.920 --> 00:01:28.560
and it drives me up the wall.
29
00:01:28.439 --> 00:01:30.000
That these people are able to get away with this.
30
00:01:30.920 --> 00:01:33.400
So the email says, Hey, Matthew, I know over the
31
00:01:33.480 --> 00:01:36.280
years you've talked on the Matrics Minute about not paying
32
00:01:36.400 --> 00:01:39.959
upfront for a manager or booking agent, but I feel
33
00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:42.680
like my situation might be different from most artists.
34
00:01:43.319 --> 00:01:44.799
It's not going to be different from most.
35
00:01:44.680 --> 00:01:48.000
Artists, The email says, I'm just starting out in the
36
00:01:48.040 --> 00:01:50.079
music industry and I know that it will be some
37
00:01:50.239 --> 00:01:52.519
time before I make enough money for a manager to
38
00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:55.840
get paid just off of royalties in a traditional way.
39
00:01:56.719 --> 00:01:59.280
And I've also realized that no manager or booking agents
40
00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:02.280
should be expected to work for free. So I've been
41
00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:04.879
in discussions with someone who wants me to pay five
42
00:02:04.959 --> 00:02:08.479
hundred dollars a month to be managed by them. Everybody
43
00:02:08.520 --> 00:02:10.840
in the music industry, whether you work, whether you're a
44
00:02:10.919 --> 00:02:13.319
record label, a booking agent, a manager.
45
00:02:14.400 --> 00:02:18.879
They all roll the dice on an artist.
46
00:02:19.400 --> 00:02:21.680
Doesn't matter how big the artist you could work with.
47
00:02:22.039 --> 00:02:23.639
You could work with the biggest artists in the world
48
00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:24.960
and they're gonna get me too, and then all of
49
00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:26.479
a sudden that drives up. Or you can work with
50
00:02:26.520 --> 00:02:29.400
the smallest guy who turns in to be the next
51
00:02:29.400 --> 00:02:33.400
big thing. Or you can work with an artist and
52
00:02:33.479 --> 00:02:35.960
nothing happens. You do roll that dice.
53
00:02:36.039 --> 00:02:36.879
I don't care.
54
00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:39.680
Everybody always looks at these major labels, and when I
55
00:02:39.719 --> 00:02:42.120
worked at Sony and Warner at different times, of course
56
00:02:42.599 --> 00:02:45.800
people always looked at the top one percent artists, but
57
00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:49.280
they didn't realize that at that time we had eighty
58
00:02:49.400 --> 00:02:51.919
ninety artists that you've never heard of that we signed.
59
00:02:51.919 --> 00:02:54.879
They got the signing bonus, we threw them in the studio,
60
00:02:54.960 --> 00:02:59.039
and nobody cared. So when you're in the music industry,
61
00:02:59.080 --> 00:03:01.199
if you are doing a management company, if you're doing
62
00:03:01.199 --> 00:03:06.719
a booking agency of publishing paying up front for your services,
63
00:03:07.680 --> 00:03:10.120
it's not really that you believe in that artist. It's
64
00:03:10.199 --> 00:03:14.199
really that you're just whoever's check claars. You'll be passionate
65
00:03:14.240 --> 00:03:17.199
about them. But let's continue. This email says this guy
66
00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:22.719
says they're very exclusive management company representing only nineteen other artists.
67
00:03:24.479 --> 00:03:32.479
So five hundred dollars a month with nineteen artists, that's
68
00:03:32.479 --> 00:03:38.960
pretty good money right there. To do absolutely squat, that's
69
00:03:39.000 --> 00:03:45.000
good money. That's close to ten thousand dollars a month.
70
00:03:46.919 --> 00:03:48.280
If they added you, it would be.
71
00:03:48.280 --> 00:03:51.159
Ten thousand dollars a month that they're making if they're paying,
72
00:03:51.199 --> 00:03:54.479
if they're charging everyone five hundred dollars, which why wouldn't they?
73
00:03:58.080 --> 00:04:01.599
And then the email also says that I would also
74
00:04:01.639 --> 00:04:04.199
have to pay fifteen percent of all revenue that comes in.
75
00:04:04.280 --> 00:04:07.520
So five hundred dollars a month plus fifteen percent of revenue.
76
00:04:08.080 --> 00:04:09.960
They know there's no money coming in because you're a
77
00:04:09.960 --> 00:04:13.120
brand new artist, So they got to make their rent.
78
00:04:13.159 --> 00:04:15.919
They got to you know, pay for their date nights,
79
00:04:15.919 --> 00:04:18.000
they got to pay for their vacations to Vegas. So
80
00:04:18.040 --> 00:04:20.279
the best way to do it is grift a bunch
81
00:04:20.319 --> 00:04:24.800
of unsuspecting artists five hundred dollars a month.
82
00:04:25.199 --> 00:04:26.000
And here's the thing.
83
00:04:26.680 --> 00:04:30.240
Back in twenty fourteen, we did a live event in Austin, Texas,
84
00:04:30.240 --> 00:04:32.560
and I met a guy who he had paid I
85
00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:34.399
want to believe, I want to say he came up
86
00:04:34.439 --> 00:04:35.759
to me and he said, I wish I would have
87
00:04:35.920 --> 00:04:39.800
discovered you before because I had spent I think it
88
00:04:39.879 --> 00:04:43.040
was like fifty two thousand dollars on internet scams from
89
00:04:43.040 --> 00:04:44.639
people who are going to like pitch his music to
90
00:04:44.680 --> 00:04:48.920
record labels and all this stuff. And he was like embarrassed,
91
00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:52.800
and I get it. You you just spent a year's
92
00:04:52.800 --> 00:04:57.279
salary for some people on guys who have no connections.
93
00:04:57.600 --> 00:05:00.720
They don't know what they're talking about, and they're just
94
00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:01.519
praying on your.
95
00:05:01.399 --> 00:05:02.959
Fears, he goes.
96
00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:05.480
The email goes on to say, for context, they told
97
00:05:05.480 --> 00:05:10.480
me they would handle setting up my music distribution, so
98
00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:13.639
they be into. The email doesn't say, but if they're
99
00:05:13.639 --> 00:05:17.560
setting up your music distribution, well then they pay you
100
00:05:18.399 --> 00:05:20.680
what comes in for the stream, So now they're handling
101
00:05:20.720 --> 00:05:23.800
your money as well. And if you don't pay or
102
00:05:24.040 --> 00:05:28.279
money's tight, they can lock your royalties. They could lock
103
00:05:28.319 --> 00:05:32.399
your album up because they're the distributor for it. Email
104
00:05:32.439 --> 00:05:35.319
says they'll start making calls to record labels and agencies
105
00:05:35.319 --> 00:05:38.639
to try to secure me a record deal, and also
106
00:05:38.800 --> 00:05:43.319
reaching out to booking agents on my behalf calls. I
107
00:05:43.319 --> 00:05:48.199
wouldn't be able to make myself if you got nineteen artists,
108
00:05:49.279 --> 00:05:54.319
and your first initial handshake with these people is pay
109
00:05:54.399 --> 00:05:57.360
us five hundred bucks. They don't really know a lot
110
00:05:57.360 --> 00:06:00.040
of people in the industry. Nobody's going to want to
111
00:06:00.079 --> 00:06:02.120
work with them because they know, like, you're not passionate
112
00:06:02.120 --> 00:06:04.920
about this artist, you don't love this artist. You're doing
113
00:06:04.959 --> 00:06:09.519
this to collect a paycheck. When I was in A
114
00:06:09.600 --> 00:06:12.160
and R, I was approached a lot of times by
115
00:06:12.199 --> 00:06:17.040
these types of managers and you just saw them coming
116
00:06:17.079 --> 00:06:20.439
a mile away because they're like really hopped up on
117
00:06:20.480 --> 00:06:22.959
this guy or this artist or this band or whatever.
118
00:06:23.560 --> 00:06:27.360
And then three months down the road, they don't even
119
00:06:27.360 --> 00:06:30.279
talk about this guy. Well, what happened. The artists lost
120
00:06:30.279 --> 00:06:32.600
their job, They couldn't pay the monthly retainer anymore.
121
00:06:33.319 --> 00:06:34.800
And I would usually push back.
122
00:06:34.839 --> 00:06:38.120
There was a record label at one point out of
123
00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:41.199
the Midwest in America that these artists were paying like
124
00:06:41.360 --> 00:06:45.279
five ten thousand dollars to be on their record label,
125
00:06:45.800 --> 00:06:47.839
and they'd send them to their studio and they would
126
00:06:47.879 --> 00:06:51.199
have their producer produce them, and they were kicking out
127
00:06:51.920 --> 00:06:55.079
hundreds of releases a year. All of them did nothing.
128
00:06:55.319 --> 00:06:58.279
All of them couldn't even, you know, sell a hundred
129
00:06:58.279 --> 00:07:02.439
copies and it was tip two types of demographics of artists.
130
00:07:02.480 --> 00:07:04.839
It was like the eighteen nineteen year olds that they
131
00:07:04.879 --> 00:07:09.319
can milk mom and dad to pay for the record deal,
132
00:07:10.319 --> 00:07:17.680
or middle aged married husband or wife who's got more
133
00:07:17.839 --> 00:07:19.000
funds to be able to do this.
134
00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:21.240
And this went on for you. I don't even know
135
00:07:21.279 --> 00:07:22.720
what happened to him. I need to figure out what
136
00:07:22.759 --> 00:07:23.279
happened to him.
137
00:07:23.720 --> 00:07:25.759
But they were doing this, and I made it my
138
00:07:25.800 --> 00:07:28.920
life's mission in like twenty thirteen, twenty fourteen to battle
139
00:07:28.959 --> 00:07:32.480
these guys because they were just they weren't Eve putting
140
00:07:32.480 --> 00:07:34.879
out good product like it was just it was like
141
00:07:35.560 --> 00:07:38.800
intern production, but it was a record label and these
142
00:07:38.839 --> 00:07:40.959
and these artists were running around things and they struck
143
00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:43.680
gold because they're ten thousand dollars check cleared.
144
00:07:44.959 --> 00:07:46.879
So if you have a manager who's like, well, if
145
00:07:46.920 --> 00:07:47.360
you pay me.
146
00:07:47.319 --> 00:07:49.959
I'm going to go and contact record labels or I'm
147
00:07:49.959 --> 00:07:54.360
going to go contact booking agents for five hundred bucks,
148
00:07:54.759 --> 00:07:57.160
they should be doing that for free. If they're your manager,
149
00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:01.920
they should be doing all of this stuff because they
150
00:08:01.959 --> 00:08:05.360
believe in you and they're going to roll the dice
151
00:08:05.560 --> 00:08:08.560
on the possible payout for you as an artist. That
152
00:08:08.600 --> 00:08:11.600
investment comes down the road. Well, let's continue with the email,
153
00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:14.120
he says. I feel like my situation is different because
154
00:08:14.160 --> 00:08:17.839
I'm not an established artist. I was discovered simply by
155
00:08:17.879 --> 00:08:21.879
posting a clip of my very first song on TikTok,
156
00:08:22.959 --> 00:08:25.879
and now this management company wants to roll the dice
157
00:08:25.959 --> 00:08:26.240
on me.
158
00:08:27.000 --> 00:08:30.480
What do you think? Thanks for your time, Bob.
159
00:08:32.840 --> 00:08:35.159
I'm confused how you're a new artist, but you've been
160
00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:37.080
listening to me for some time. I think you probably
161
00:08:37.159 --> 00:08:42.080
cherry picked some Matrix minutes and now you're just sending
162
00:08:42.120 --> 00:08:44.039
a question, and which is fine. I appreciate the question,
163
00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:47.840
but please don't be going around saying, you know, like,
164
00:08:47.879 --> 00:08:50.879
oh yeah, I follow Matthew Rick's work. But then I
165
00:08:50.919 --> 00:08:53.600
posted a fifteen second clip on TikTok. Some guy slid
166
00:08:53.600 --> 00:08:55.159
into my DMS, and now I'm going to pay him
167
00:08:55.440 --> 00:08:56.120
six grande.
168
00:08:55.960 --> 00:08:57.039
A year to be my manager.
169
00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:01.159
Because what's going to happen is is I will tell
170
00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:03.919
you the scam in the grift right now, because I've
171
00:09:03.919 --> 00:09:05.080
seen it happen for years.
172
00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:11.279
I actually manage artists right now, Okay, I don't.
173
00:09:11.759 --> 00:09:13.799
I'm not gonna make any money on these guys for
174
00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:18.000
the longest time because I'm making an investment in their future.
175
00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:20.679
I believe in them as people, I believe in their art,
176
00:09:22.279 --> 00:09:24.279
and I yeah, I'm not making any money. But let
177
00:09:24.279 --> 00:09:25.240
me tell you what the grift is.
178
00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:26.720
The grift is this.
179
00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:34.799
You keep paying, they will get you a meeting with somebody.
180
00:09:34.840 --> 00:09:38.799
It's probably going to be, you know, a guy who
181
00:09:40.279 --> 00:09:44.360
is starting a company, or a guy whose cousin is
182
00:09:44.960 --> 00:09:49.080
related to the janitor of the record label. And as
183
00:09:49.080 --> 00:09:53.080
long as you keep paying, they'll keep dangling the carrot.
184
00:09:53.279 --> 00:09:56.039
And when you start to raise questions, hey, you know
185
00:09:56.080 --> 00:09:59.120
I've paid six grand this year, nothing has happened. Oh,
186
00:09:59.120 --> 00:10:02.519
we're getting close. We're getting close. Don't you worry. We
187
00:10:02.639 --> 00:10:06.480
got something common. Or because most artists are so desperate
188
00:10:06.559 --> 00:10:10.720
for any type of movement, they'll book you up.
189
00:10:11.480 --> 00:10:13.440
You know, they'll help you. They won't book it, but
190
00:10:13.480 --> 00:10:14.399
they'll help you do.
191
00:10:14.480 --> 00:10:19.039
An album release show or a quote unquote showcase in
192
00:10:19.159 --> 00:10:22.240
Nashville or LA or New York and nobody will be there,
193
00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:25.960
and they'll just keep as long as you're paying every month,
194
00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:28.200
they'll just keep dangling the carrot.
195
00:10:29.320 --> 00:10:33.600
And I believe right now that the only the only.
196
00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:36.639
Person you should pay up front, and only half upfront
197
00:10:37.360 --> 00:10:39.840
for the work that they're going to do. Is a
198
00:10:39.879 --> 00:10:44.679
producer or a mixer, engineer, whatever, someone in the production side,
199
00:10:45.279 --> 00:10:51.840
anybody on the business side, manager, booking agent, a record label,
200
00:10:52.240 --> 00:10:54.440
A and R directors. That's a good scam. As well
201
00:10:54.480 --> 00:10:56.480
as that, there's there's a quote unquote A and R
202
00:10:56.600 --> 00:11:00.440
consultants on the internet who if you pay them money,
203
00:11:00.960 --> 00:11:04.440
they will pitch your music to a record label. And
204
00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:07.519
it's not just any record label, it's like Warner Universal
205
00:11:07.720 --> 00:11:12.519
Capital whatever. And you pay them and then you don't
206
00:11:12.559 --> 00:11:15.519
get signed obviously because they don't know anybody. And then
207
00:11:15.559 --> 00:11:17.200
when you don't want to pay any more, they're like, oh,
208
00:11:17.200 --> 00:11:20.679
we're close. I got an email. And that's the scam.
209
00:11:22.360 --> 00:11:25.360
I personally, right now, I'm not saying this company's a scam.
210
00:11:25.480 --> 00:11:30.039
It most likely is. I don't care how nice they are.
211
00:11:30.080 --> 00:11:31.759
I don't care how cool they are. I don't care
212
00:11:31.759 --> 00:11:33.759
how much they talk a good game. If they believe
213
00:11:33.799 --> 00:11:36.799
in you, they should they should roll the dice on
214
00:11:36.840 --> 00:11:42.919
the investment. They should know that they're going to work
215
00:11:42.919 --> 00:11:46.840
with you for months, maybe years, without making a dime
216
00:11:47.000 --> 00:11:49.600
or a little bit of money five ten bucks whatever,
217
00:11:50.120 --> 00:11:53.200
because they know what's coming down the pipeline. If they
218
00:11:53.240 --> 00:11:56.320
have real connections, if they have real smarts in the industry,
219
00:11:56.919 --> 00:12:01.840
then they should be able to overtime make more than
220
00:12:01.879 --> 00:12:02.399
that five.
221
00:12:02.240 --> 00:12:03.759
Hundred dollars a month as your manager.
222
00:12:04.120 --> 00:12:07.279
But to pay somebody five hundred dollars a month plus royalties,
223
00:12:07.600 --> 00:12:11.480
plus they're handling your distribution, you are setting yourself up
224
00:12:11.600 --> 00:12:14.240
to be locked out of your tune Core, Distro, kid,
225
00:12:14.360 --> 00:12:16.279
CD baby account until.
226
00:12:16.080 --> 00:12:16.679
You pay them.
227
00:12:17.960 --> 00:12:21.039
Because I can guarantee you when people when people volunteered,
228
00:12:21.039 --> 00:12:22.679
they're like, oh, yeah, we'll put your music out, we'll
229
00:12:22.679 --> 00:12:25.840
set it up whatever. They're technically the rights holder. They
230
00:12:25.919 --> 00:12:31.600
control the communication with that DSP. So no, if I
231
00:12:31.799 --> 00:12:36.679
was your friend, if I was your parents, your spouse, whatever,
232
00:12:36.759 --> 00:12:39.480
I would tell you right now save the five hundred
233
00:12:39.480 --> 00:12:42.360
bucks a month. These people aren't going to do squad
234
00:12:42.440 --> 00:12:45.320
for you. You're going to be locked into a contract
235
00:12:45.399 --> 00:12:48.519
that you have to pay them, and when you don't,
236
00:12:48.759 --> 00:12:51.559
they'll ruin your career. And what typically happens with artists
237
00:12:51.600 --> 00:12:54.360
like this is that they fell into these scams. They
