Welcome to Music Business Newsletter w/ Matthew Rix!
Nov. 5, 2025

7 Million Streams…Then Everything Fell Apart.

7 Million Streams…Then Everything Fell Apart.
Music Business Newsletter w/ Matthew Rix
7 Million Streams…Then Everything Fell Apart.

In this episode of the Music Business Newsletter with Matthew Rix, I share one of the most heartbreaking emails I’ve ever received.
It’s from Sarah, a pop artist who inherited $200,000 from her grandfather and wanted to use it to chase her dream. She recorded a full-length album in Atlanta, spent over $120,000 on production, and trusted a promotional company to help her reach real fans. Her songs hit 3 million streams on Spotify, but then came the nightmare.
Spotify pulled her album for fraudulent streams (bot plays), her DistroKid account was banned, and her name was blacklisted across all streaming platforms. Additionally, she later discovered that her producer was taking 60% of her royalties and 50% of her publishing rights.
To make matters worse, the same promo company “grew” her Instagram to 220,000 followers and her TikTok to 400,000, only for her engagement to crash to nearly zero views per post.
In this video, I break down:
-What went wrong and how she could have avoided it
-The dangers of bad contracts and fake promotions
-What to do if your music gets pulled from DSPs
-How to rebuild your career after a major setback
Sarah’s story is emotional, raw, and real — and every artist needs to hear it before spending a dime on promotion or production.
Got a question or story about your own music industry?
Visit https://MatthewRix.com. The more details you share, the more your story can help others.
#MusicIndustry #IndependentArtist #MusicScam #MusicPromotion #StreamingFraud #MattrixMinute #MatthewRix #ArtistAdvice #MusicBusiness #BotStreams #MusicMarketing #MusicContract


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Hey, this is Matthew Rix with the Music Business newsletter

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and today's email. We're gonna jump right into because it's

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a long one. I think this is a good one

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for everybody when it comes to the internet scams. This

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woman basically he's lost everything. We're gonna hear her story

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and then try to help her. So let's dive into

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the email. She says, Matthew, I don't really know how

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to start this email except to say that I'm just heartbroken.

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I've made a lot of mistakes trying to chase my dream,

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and I feel completely lost right now. A lot of

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people you might be watching this or listening and be like, well,

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we all made mistakes, girl, keep you chat on, just

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hang on, just hang on. Most people, I like to

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call it the illusion of action. Most people will do

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something because they have to make a move. They have

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to they have to do something to make make their

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careers feel like that's going in the right direction. They

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make stupid moves, they make bad decisions. Sometimes it can

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it can set you back in this situation, probably changes everything,

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probably changes the entire trajectory of your career as an artist.

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So she says, I feel completely lost right now. And

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here's her story. About eighteen months ago, my grandfather passed

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away and he inherited me two hundred thousand dollars. He

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always loved my music and believed in me and wanted

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me to use that money to take my music career

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to the next level. Well one, sorry for your loss too.

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You get two hundred thousand dollars sitting in a bank

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account and we just googled how to blow two hundred

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thousand dollars as an artist? She said. Prior to this,

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I had a few singles that I released through District Kid.

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Things were starting to build a little bit at a

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couple of thousand plays in the lifespan of my singles.

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So I thought, with this inheritance, this was my chance

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to really make my dream happen. Terrible mindset, terrible mindset

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to have, She says. I found a producer online and

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I went to Atlanta and recorded a full length album

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twelve songs total. I don't, okay, let's stop there. Why

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why why would anybody decide I need to release twelve songs.

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You know, I've done like one or two singles. Now

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it's time for me to get a twelve song full

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length album out. There like, why why would you do that?

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She says. The production quality is absolutely incredible. I sound

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like a professional artist. She says. It cost me one

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hundred and twenty thousand dollars to make one hundred and

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twenty thousand dollars for twelve songs ten thousand dollars a

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song from a producer she found on the internet. She says,

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I still believe that this was worth it, and I

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wanted my album to be done right, and I'm very

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proud of the finished product. What I didn't realize until

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later after the album was released that the producer slipped

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in a clause in the contract. Slipped in the clause

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in the contract giving him sixty percent of all royalties

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from the album and fifty percent of publishing. Okay, one,

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he probably didn't slip it in because you don't mention

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anything about an entertainment lawyer. It probably was in there,

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and you signed away sixty percent of all royalties from

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the album fifty percent of the publishing. Did you guys

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co write the songs? Did you just bring them in

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a complete song? I don't really know. You don't really

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tell us sixty percent royalties As a producer, he should

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be getting what is called You know, there's a producer,

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there's a producer royalty, there's mechanicals that at best should

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add up to four percent, not sixty. He actually owns

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more of the royalties from this album than you do.

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This is what I tell you, guys. Get an entertainment lawyer.

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Don't get a real estate lawyer or a banking lawyer

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or a person going through law school to read your contracts.

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You just spent one hundred and twenty thousand dollars for

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twelve songs, gave away sixty percent of all your royalties

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from this album. I'm sure as well. I'm sure there's

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a clause in there about how you got to work

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with them for future releases as well, when one thousand

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dollars would have caught this stuff. Now you're probably thinking

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we'll take them to court and you guys can reda go. Absolutely,

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But we have another problem we're gonna get to in

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a second. So the email continues. Once the album was done,

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I went back to my distro kid account and I

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released my album Congratulations, she says. Then I hired a

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promotional company that my producer recommended. The producer who's charging

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you on a hundred twenty thousand dollars for twelve songs.

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Who's taking sixty percent of your royalty? Said, Hey, I

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got this promotion company. They do great. Why don't you

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work with them? When when you contacted this produce. I

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don't mean to beat you up. I just got to ask,

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when you contacted this producer, did you tell him I

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was just inherited two hundred thousand dollars and he was

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just like, let's go. So she hires this promotional company

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to help get her playlist placements. We talked about that

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the other day because they were going to get her

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organic promotions. She paid them twenty five thousand dollars, and

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for a moment, it looked like it was working. She says,

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within the first forty five days, my album hit over

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seven million streams on Spotify. So when this was going

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on and in forty five days, you're getting seven million

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streams on Spotify, did you happen to look inside like

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the Spotify artist app and see where these plays were

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coming from? Where your plays like? Where you getting like

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five thousand plays like that? And then it would be

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quiet for twenty three hours and then the next you know,

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the next day you'd get five thousand more seven million

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streams on Spotify and forty five days, and you were

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not asking a single question. She says. I thought my

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life was finally changing. Well it did change, and you're

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gonna you're gonna find out how right here, she says,

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But then overnight everything's fell apart. Spotify flagged the seven

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million streams as fraudulent bot plays' so how it goes?

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She says. They pulled my entire album down and notified

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distro Kid that I was involved in fraudulent bot plays.

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Then my distro account was frozen, I was banned from

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uploading any future releases, and I can't distribute my money.

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She says. I am completely devastated, and I don't know

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what to do in this situation. I mean, you're screwed

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your your sol because let's be real, it wasn't your intention,

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but you did have fraudulent bot plays. I mean, if

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your last couple of singles before we're doing a couple

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of thousand, and now you're getting seven million streams and

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it's all coming, you know, they're all only playing the

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song for thirty five seconds, you know, and it's just

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it's hitting and then everything disappears for twenty three hours,

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Like that's fraudulent plays, and you know, for all you

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people want Spotify to pay more. Spotify is trying to

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figure out how to crack down even quicker on these

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fraudulent plays. And while they still are paying artists for

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this stuff, there's some people out there who are making

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a lot of money with these types of scams from Spotify,

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not even from the artist. So she's locked out of

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her distro Kid account. She can't get her money. Album's

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down everywhere. I mean, you spend one hundred and twenty

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thousand dollars on an album and it was it was pulled,

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So she continues, she said, still trying to fix things.

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I contacted distro Kid, but to no help. They will

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not work with me because they said that I was

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involved in fraud. You were, she says. I then decided

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to go to tune Core and rio blowed the album,

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thinking that distro Kid was the one that was blocking

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it from Spotify, Apple Music, in et cetera. But every

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streaming platform has my album flagged and it was not released.

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So I paid tune corep money to distribute an album

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that they refused to release. Yeah, you're flagged. I bet

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probably what happened was when Spotify notified distro Kid that

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there's a seven million stream fraud going on. Distro Kid

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just tagged your artist's name, album, the metadata inside your

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songs as fraud. And now no matter where you go,

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you're you're out of luck. So she says, apparently my

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name and music were flagged as fraudulent. Yep, And she says,

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I cannot release anything right now, not my full length album.

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I can't release a single. I can't do anything. I

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am blacklisted. Remember the producer who you paid one hundred

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and twenty thousand dollars and he owned sixty percent of

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your royalties, recommended this company to give you organic place,

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She continues, I feel like I've been branded as a

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fake artist when that was never my intention. Well, you know,

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scammers look for people who are trusting and have two

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hundred thousand dollars just laying around, itching to get their

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career going overnight, he continues, In desperation, I decided to

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rehire the same producer again, pay him another twenty thousand

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dollars to remix the entire album so I can release

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it under a new name. Your producer recommended a company

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he's probably involved in. Okay about that company's out of Atlanta.

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You paid them, what was it, twenty five thousand dollars.

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He recommended they destroy your career within forty five days.

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Now you're trying to figure out what to do, and

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you come up with another twenty thousand dollars. So I

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think between one hundred and twenty the twenty five thousand

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for promotion this, we're up to one hundred and sixty

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five thousand dollars of your grandfather's two hundred thousand dollars

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to help your career. So they're going to remix the

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entire album to change the metadata inside, and then you

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can release it under a new name. That might work. Okay,

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that actually might work. I have a feeling that if

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you told me that the producer came up with this idea,

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this isn't probably the first time this has happened, But

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she's gonna she's gonna remax it for twenty thousand dollars.

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Producers made one hundred and forty thousand dollars on twelve

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songs here now probably a cut from the promotion company

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as well. Promotion company, it's gonna release it under a

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new name. The question I have about that is whatever

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real fans you do have when you change your name,

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they how do they find you? If you play shows?

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How do they find you? Because now you're under a

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new name. Because if you're gonna go down this road

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and you get busted, it's gonna be for You're gonna

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get You're gonna get blacklisted everywhere again. So now even

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in your promotion, I would not have any reference to

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the old U. So those fans might just think that

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you got married or had a baby, or got hit

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by a bus, and you just your music's gone and

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you're just done with music forever. She says, I don't

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even know if that's the right move. I don't know

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what other I mean, the other move you could make.

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And I don't even know if this would work. And

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you probably should consult an attorney about this. You probably

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should have consulted an attorney about all of this. But

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you could contact a lawyer, an entertainment lawyer, show them

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all the paperwork, show them everything, and see if legal

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could get involved. To contact distro Kid and the DSPs

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to prove, to have them prove your case, because just

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because you email a contact distric Kid or Tunecore and go, oh,

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this wasn't me. They don't care. It's AI that's even

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responding and reading that email. Anyways, that is an option

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you could do, because what I am afraid about is

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that if you go and release it's under a new name,

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you remix the album. If there's anything in there that's

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flagged from the previous release, it could ruin that. Now

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you're out another twenty thousand dollars, She says, I'm just

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trying to find a way to get my music back

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out there and maybe recover some of what I've lost.

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I mean, you might be able to get your music

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back out there. I don't know how you're going to

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recover what you've lost because right now we're up to

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one hundred and sixty five thousand dollars and you have

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an album that is literally, in DSP world toxic as

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all get out. Is this hopeless? I mean, this is

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a cautionary tale of what not to do. Yes, but

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oh wait, it gets worse. She says. That same promotional

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company also manage my Instagram and TikTok. Was there nobody

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in your life at this moment in time who was saying,

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what are you doing? What are you doing. You found

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a producer on the internet. How's what you said. You've

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paid him one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. Now he

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has this promotional company that keeps recommending, and now we're

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up to thirty five thousand dollars for promotions. She says.

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This promotion company managed my Instagram and TikTok. I paid

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them ten thousand dollars. Thirty five thousand. We're up to

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this promotion company and they grew my account to two

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hundred and twenty thousand followers on Instagram and over four

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hundred thousand on TikTok. But now my reach is completely dead.

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I wonder why she says every post gets five views

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if that well, because the same idea. They had to

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run bots through your spot account to run your numbers up.

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This is how they got you on TikTok and Instagram.

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So when you were on Instagram and you sell that

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you got two hundred and twenty thousand followers and over

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four hundred thousand followers on TikTok, you and you're not

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getting any emails, you're not getting any comments, probably not

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getting any likes on these posts. You're just getting just

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a gang of followers. You didn't. You didn't ask any questions.

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You didn't go, hey, why am I getting all these

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followers but no traction? Why am I still getting the

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same consistent five thousand plays every day or ten thousand plays? Well,

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you had to get more than that to get seven million.

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The ask any questions, or you don't tell me you did.

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She says, I feel like my entire creative career on

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digital has been shadow band. Well you haven't been shadow

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banned on Spotify. You have been straight up banned, but

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your Instagram and TikTok. Yeah, your shadow band. And when

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you decide to change your name and release it, don't

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don't throw these accounts away as well. You just they're

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they're done. It's over. You're not gonna be able to

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salvage this. I mean, if you got two hundred and

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twenty thousand followers on Instagram, you're gonna go through one

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by one and block them. And the reason why you're

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only getting five views is because when you post something,

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Instagram is blasting that to two hundred and twenty thousand

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people and realizing nobody cares because their dead accounts, they're

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fake accounts. We talked about this the other day on

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this newsletter, and the same thing's happening on TikTok. TikTok

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actually is better at detecting bought accounts, like when you

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get a surge than Instagram is, and so Instagram TikTok

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will just be like, all right, cool, you got your

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four thousand, four hundred thousand followers. Great, here's twelve plays,

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you know, here's twelve views on your video. So yeah,

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you're in social media world. You're completely shadow band without

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a doubt. The email continues, I feel like I've lost everything.

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You have, my music, my money, my reputation, and honestly,

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my confidence. I mean your reputation. Who just your kid

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doesn't even know you exists, neither to Spotify unless you

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were like I'm going to be a star b and

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then this all happens, and now you gotta eat crow

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and my confidence, well yeah you have. You have blown.

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I mean, what are we up to one hundred and

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sixty five thousand dollars on an album that is not

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even available for anybody to listen to? You you want

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to recoup some of this money you're paying a producer

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sixty sixty percent. You need to you honestly need to

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get a lawyer, an entertainment lawyer, and you're probably gonna

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have to settle pay more money to this guy. But

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you gotta get out of this deal because I'm guaranteeing

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you you cannot. Really, you probably can't go work with

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another producer. Sixty is criminal. Criminal. She said, I just

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wanted to make something beautiful with my music, and now

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I live in this nightmare. Yep, she said. I wanted

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to make my grandfather proud. I don't even know what

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to do next or where to start rebuilding from here.

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I'm just hoping for some guidance, or even a little

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bit of hope guidance. You're not gonna get guidance from me.

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I'm not a lawyer. I picked this email because I

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think it's a cautionary tale. Everybody's lives are either a

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warning or an example, and I think that this is

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a warning on what not to do if you. I mean,

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she yeah, she spent twenty five thousand dollars on promotions.

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But even if you spend two hundred and fifty dollars,

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they can still destroy your career. These you know, these

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promotion playlist companies will destroy your career. Giving. And you

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know the thing is that I do feel sorry for you,

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but to also blame that the producer slipped something in

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it doesn't You don't mention a lawyer anywhere here. You're

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just throwing money around, and so yeah, the producer should

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have never taken sixty percent of your music, but you

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did sign it. You did allow it to happen because

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you had two hundred thousand dollars just burning a hole

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in your bank account, burning a hole in your pocket.

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You wanted to get rid of it. You wanted to

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fast track success as much as you could. And these

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are the results. So where do you start rebuilding from here?

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I mean, honestly, go get a lawyer. I would not

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pay this producer twenty thousand dollars to remix album. Heck no,

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because it's his fault. You're the one who recommended this

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promotion company to me if I was in your situation

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we have. I mean, I don't know how much you

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paid for photography or an album cover. I don't know.

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I'm sure you spent a ton, and I'm sure this

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producer is probably involved in that. I would get a

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lawyer involved. I would make sure that you are able

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to walk away free. I trashed the album. I would

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trash the songs. I would trash everything that's involved with

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these twelve songs. And then I would find a producer

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who's going to be around the thousand two thousand range,

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and I would record one or two songs. Have your

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lawyer look at that contract, go under a different name,

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create brand new TikTok and Instagram accounts, delete those from

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your phone, delete them from your life. They're dead. You're

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not bringing them back, and you're gonna start over. That's

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all you can do. Because you get a lawyer involved.

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Let's say they contact just Distro Kid. Distro Kid lifts

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the band on you. You still have this producer who's

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taking sixty percent of this music, so that sucks, and

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that's not going away unless you pay him a ton

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of money. But what I would do is make sure

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from a lawyer that you do not have any strings

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attaching you to any future releases with this producer. And

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if you don't, I tell him to go pound sand.

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I would explain to your audience what happened to your

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friend's family, what happened. I would record a song or

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two and just start rebuilding that way. That's the only.

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That's the only that's the only, that's the only thing

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you can do. But first you got to get with

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a lawyer and make sure that you are not linked

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to this for future releases, because I guarantee you, I

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bet you are, I bet you cannot go work with

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another producer beside him. That. Yeah, sometimes on the road

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to success, it does get boring, it does get lonely.

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We do want to, you know, fast track, but you

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can't because this is what happens. There's people out there

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in the world who are just praying for some grandfather

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to knock off and give you two hundred thousand dollars

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so they can take one hundred and sixty five thousand

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or more from it. So, uh, Sarah, We're gonna call

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you Sarah to protect the innocent. Hang in there, get

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with an entertainment lawyer, find a good entertainment lawyer, and

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get to work reclaiming your career and breaking free from

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I'm not even worried about your album at this point.

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I'm worried about the producer if I was you. So anyways,

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if you have a question on the music industry that

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you'd like for me to answer, all you gotta do

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is Go to Matthewicks dot com click submit your question.

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Be like Sarah Harre, give me as many details as possible,

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and we'll answer it here on this channel. I am

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Matthew Rix and until next time, I will talk to

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you later