March 12, 2026

Artist feels like he is being scammed in the Music Industry

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Show Notes
Transcript

In this episode of the Music Business Newsletter with Matthew Rix, I read an email from an independent artist in Wellington, New Zealand who believes he might be getting scammed by a music promotion company based in the United States.
For the past two years, he’s been paying for services that promised:
• Spotify playlist placements
• US radio airplay
• blog features and media exposure
• industry connections in the American market
But the results don’t seem to match the promises.
Some playlists disappeared.
Radio spins can’t be verified.
Reports feel vague.
And every few months there’s another paid “opportunity” to keep the campaign going.
Now he’s wondering if he’s been paying for real promotion… or just activity that looks like progress but isn’t actually building a career.
In this episode, we break down:
• How music promotion scams usually work
• The warning signs artists miss early on
• Why playlist pitching can be misleading
• How some promo companies keep artists paying for years
• What legitimate promotion actually looks like
• And how independent artists can protect themselves
This conversation is especially important for artists outside the US, who often rely on overseas companies to help reach bigger markets.
If you’re considering hiring a promotion company, this episode could save you thousands of dollars and years of frustration.
Have a question about the music industry or something in your career that doesn’t feel right?
Send it to https://MatthewRix.com and include as many details as possible. Your situation might help other artists avoid the same mistakes.
#musicbusiness #musicindustry #musicmarketing #spotifyplaylist #matthewrix

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Hey, this is Matthew Rix and today on the Music

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Business newsletter, we got an email from an artist from

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New Zealand who wants to know if he is being

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scammed by his promo company. But before we dive into

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the email, if you have a question on the music

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industry that you'd like for me to answer, just go

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to Matthewicks dot com click submit your question, give me

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as many details as possible and we will answer it

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here on the channel.

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But now for the email.

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He says, Hey, Matthew, I am writing from Wellington, New Zealand.

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Love New Zealand.

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Was there in twenty fourteen to do an event. We

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booked at the wrong time and I got on a

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plane from Los Angeles in shorts and a T shirt,

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and when I arrived it was the dead of winter.

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But I digress. Wonderful people can't wait to go back,

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he says.

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I'm hoping you might be able to give me a

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bit of a perspective because I'm starting to feel like

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I've been taken for a bit of a ride. I

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love the way all non Americans speak. He doesn't start

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off with I've been scammed. I feel like I've been

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taking for a bit of a ride, he says, for

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about two He goes about two years ago, I was

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contacted by a music promotional company based in.

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The United States.

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They reached out after one of my songs picked up

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a bit of traction locally and said that they specialized

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in helping independent artists break into the US market. So

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locally in Wellington did a I guess that's what you mean,

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not in the US, he says. At the time, it

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sounded pretty exciting being down here in New Zealand.

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The idea of getting.

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Exposure overseas felt like a massive opportunity. Yeah, they knew

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what you wanted, and they knew that you'd find the

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money to pay them to do nothing.

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But but let's let's not jump ahead. Let's not jump ahead.

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He says.

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They pitched a package that included things like playlist pitching,

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blog placement. There were go looking, Okay, here's the deal.

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I wish I could say that over the last five

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months or whatever, I think we've done like sixty newsletters.

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I think this has probably got to be close to

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like the tenth email I've gotten from somebody saying that

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somebody reached out to him with blog placement.

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So We're gonna go ahead and just paint, just.

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Paint a giant canvas with one brush, and say, if

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anybody reaches out to you and wants to help you

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with your career as an artist or anybody in the

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entertainment industry, and one of the things that they pitch

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you is blog placement, just know it's a scam. Why

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do you say that, Matthew, Well, it's twenty twenty six.

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Who's reading blogs? So what a lot of times is

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they're just pulling everything and they don't they don't live

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in the US. They probably are in you know, Nigeria

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or Cambodia or something like that, and so they don't know,

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they don't know if the US is still in the blogs,

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and they just you know, a lot of times I

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got Ai right and the stuff, and they just pitch everything.

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But I digress.

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So, yes, anybody ever pitches you about blog placement, it's

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a scam.

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But anyways, I digress. He says.

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They included playlist pitching, blog placement, radio outreach, and social

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media campaigns. Well, they just covered everything, now, didn't they.

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He says, I'm not rolling in cash or anything, but

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I've been working a regular job and saving money for

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my music. So I decided to take a punt on it.

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Take a punt, all right, because here in the States,

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if you're punting something that means you're going to you're

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kicking the can down the road for a later time.

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I guess in New Zealand, take you decided to take

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a punt on it. If anybody wants to send me

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a message, to leave a comment and tell me, I guess,

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take a punt means take a chance.

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We're gonna go with that stupid American here, he says.

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Looking back, now, there are a few things that didn't

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say right. First of all, the playlist placements they promised

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were meant to be on high traffic Spotify playlists. A

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few songs did get added to playlist, but when I

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actually looked into them, a lot of them seemed pretty questionable.

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Yep.

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That's why I always say playlist placement is a scam.

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Anybody offers it to you, Anybody says they can they

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can pitch your song to playlist or get you on playlist.

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It's a scam. This is it is, he says.

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A lot of them seemed pretty questionable. Some had thousands

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of followers, but almost no engagement. Yeah, because they buy

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followers to follow that playlist to dupe you into money,

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so you take a punt on it.

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He says.

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A few even disappeared completely after a month or two. Yeah,

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because Spotify caught it, realized what it was, and booted it.

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That is spot if I is getting really good at

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being able to track these playlists scams, and they're booting it,

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and you ain't getting your money back because I guarantee

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you if you did a PayPal thing and you had

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to pay them through PayPal, you clicked it as for

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friends and family, because then you can't dispute the charges

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when the playlist that they got you auted tode just disappears.

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Overnight, he said. Then there's the radio promotion side of things.

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They said they were pitching my songs to college and

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independent stations across the states. Every so often they send

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me a report saying things like added to rotation or

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spins confirmed. But I've never been able to independently verify

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most of these stations even played the song. I mean,

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one way you could do it is if they gave you.

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The call letters.

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You know, here in Nashville, a big station that plays

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independent artists local artists. Is Lightning one hundred, you could

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probably reach out to, you know, if they have the call,

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you could reach out. If they said Lightning one Hunter

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in Nashville, you reach out to Lightning one Hunter in Nashville.

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Hit them up. Hopefully somebody responds. That's one way of

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going about it. But if you're relying on them and

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they're not providing you the information.

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They should be.

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I mean, I work with radio promoters all the time,

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and if a radio station in Sacramento adds a song.

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We find out the call letters and all that. He says.

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A couple of the stations listed don't even seem to

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have working websites anymore.

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Oh dear God, he says. Another thing that's been odd

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is the communication.

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Whenever I ask for specific questions, like which DJ's played

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the tracks or if they can provide airplay logs, the

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response is usually vague, right, because I mean, if they're

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saying a radio station's playing your song, and that radio

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station doesn't have a website.

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They're probably not in business anymore.

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So they can't really provide you with any kind of

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airplay logs or anything because the radio station doesn't exist.

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And what they're hoping for is that you don't ask questions. Now,

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you said, this has been going on for two years,

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and I mean, dude, like, when did you get the airplay?

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You know, when did you ask for the airplay logs

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and not get them two years ago and you're still

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riding with these guys, he says. The response is usually vague,

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something along the lines of our partners handle that side

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of things, or radio promote Radio reporting takes time. If

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you okay, this is for anybody. If you hired a

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radio promoter and they say this station in to Peeka,

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Kansas is playing your song, they should be able to

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get all that information for you. Not it takes time

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to get Why would it take time to get the information?

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You already got confirmation they're playing your song. Why would

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it take time then to get that information. That's that's

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pretty that's pretty easy.

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He says.

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Then they also keep suggesting new campaigns. I'm sure they

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do because they want more money from you.

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He says.

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Every few months, there's another opportunity, another round of playlists, pitching,

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another radio push, a new industry connections package. Industry connections package. Okay,

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I remember back in twenty fourteen, I was still working

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for one of the majors and it was on Twitter

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and this artist was like, hey, this guy hit me

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up on Twitter and said that, like, you'll work with

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me and X, Y and Z. And I was rounding back.

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I'm like, I don't know who that person is. I

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don't know who you are, but I did ask. I

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was like, how much do they want? And it was

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it was like five grand up front and then there's

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gonna be a monthly retainer. And I was like, bro,

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I don't charge people to work with them, definitely not

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indie artists, like just run, just run as far as

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you can.

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I wonder if I'm including any.

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Of those industry packages these days. Anyways, he said each

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one costs more money. Yep, that's how it goes. He says,

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I've probably spent several thousand dollars.

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Over the last two years.

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My guy, why would you I'm not gonna beat you up,

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but if you give them an initial money, which you

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should never do because you're just gonna roll the dice

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in hope that something happens, and then they don't get

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you anything and they're being vague, why would you keep

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giving them money like this relationship if you're gonna go

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down this road, this relationship should have lasted no more than.

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Two months, not two years, he says.

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But when I actually look at the results, it's hard

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to see what's changed. My Spotify numbers have gone up

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a bit, but not dramatically. There's been no real industry contact,

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no booking opportunities, nothing that suggests I'm building a fan

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base in the US. Okay, so the booking opportunities. You

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hired these guys so that they could promote you in

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the States. I don't know a lot of promoters. I

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don't know a lot of venues. They're gonna bring an artist,

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an unknown artist, an up and coming artist from Wellington,

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New Zealand, to the States.

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To play for a doorspit, door split. You're gonna lose

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a lot of money there. You're gonna lose a lot

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of money.

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You don't even have a fan base here, So why

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would you get booking gigs like that? See this is

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the kind of stuff when these guys approach y'll you

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should be asking yourself is like, Okay, they want to

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book me shows in the US. Nobody knows who I am,

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Who's gonna want to book me? And who's gonna actually, okay,

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let's say you do get a show. Let's say you

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get a show in Little Rock, Arkansas. Who's coming out

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to see you? So if it's a door split, you're

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gonna make eight bucks. You're gonna fly over the whole

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Pacific Ocean to play for eight bucks in Little Rock.

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Like it doesn't know, he says. It feels like a

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lot of activity with very little real movement. I don't

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think there's a lot of activity. I think you're just

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getting a lot of generic emails that probably your name

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out with the last artists they scammed.

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He says.

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I'm starting to worry that I've been paying for smoking mirrors.

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I don't even think you've been paying for smoking mirrors.

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I think you've been paying for literally nothing, like just

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just nothing, he says. At the same time, I'm hesitant

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to just cut them off because part of me keeps thinking,

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maybe the next campaign is the one that finally works.

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Okay, okay.

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Every single time we do these emails and one of

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you artists is caught up in one of these scams,

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you're like, Okay, here's all the proof that I'm being scammed,

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that they're lying to me, that they're not doing what

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they're supposed to be doing X, Y and Z, and

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then you guys always throw in here. But I don't

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want to break up with them. I don't want to

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fire them. I don't want to cut them loose, because

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what if the next thing is is is the thing?

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You've been working with a company now for two years.

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Two years you said you're giving them several thousands of

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dollars and nothing has happened. And you don't think that

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they're scamming you. You don't think that your money is

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more important than those Really, you can hang out them

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for another two years and you can give them more

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thousands of dollars and you'll email me in two years

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from now, because you'll be in the exact same spot.

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Because these guys have zero game plan zero.

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He says.

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I suppose that's how these things keep going. I suppose,

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he says, maybe the next campaign is one that finally works.

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I suppose that's how these things keep going. No, you

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got scammed. You don't want to admit you got scammed.

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So instead, fingers crossed toes crossed, let's keep giving them money,

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hoping I'm not being scammed, Because if I'm scammed. Then

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everybody I went and told them, I'm working with this

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great promotion company in the US is gonna blow me

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up bigger than you know the Rolling Stones as a scam.

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And now everybody can laugh at me, cut your losses

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and move on, Okay, he says, So I wanted to

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ask you, are these kinds of promotion companies actually legit?

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No they're not.

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There is no such thing. I've said this for months.

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I've gotten the emails, I've gotten the threats, I've gotten

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the comments that've had to be deleted. There is no

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such thing as a legit music promotion company. Not one,

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not one at all.

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He says.

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Are they legit or are most of them just taking

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advantage of independent artists? Most of them, All of them

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are taking advantage of independent artists, all of them because

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they don't believe in you, because of your talent, they

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believe in you. And you know, you want to see

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any of these companies how much they genuinely love your career,

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how much do they genuinely think you're amazing? Stop paying them?

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See who's gonna roll the dice and take the chance

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on working with you, knowing that the payout comes after

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they can get you on radio, after they can get

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you booked on a tour, after they can get you signed.

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They can get a much better payday doing it that

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way than this, he said. Our playlist pitching and radio

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promotion services something artists should even be paying for in

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the first place. Okay, playlist pitching is a scam. It

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does not exist. It's a way. It is the new

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scam that Nigerians and Cambodians and fraudsters in the US

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scam artists thinking that that's gonna be their big break.

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They do not have any connections. You cannot call up

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Spotify like it's a radio station and pitch a song

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to a playlist.

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It doesn't work that way.

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Radio promotion services is legit depending on who the promoter is.

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But I'm gonna be honest with you, depending you don't

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tell us bok to the genre of music you do

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a lot of times because iHeart owns majority of all

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the commercial music stations in the US, they're not picking

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up random independent artists with no traction, with nothing going

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viral doesn't happen, and a good radio promoter is not

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gonna waste your time. And also, I'm gonna be honest

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with you, most good radio promoters you can't afford to

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talk to. We're talking one hundred thousand dollars retainer the start,

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not a couple of thousand bucks. So these guys, they're

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gonna get you on some internet radio stations that they

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probably own, and they did their job. So should artists

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be paying for this stuff? No, he says, How can

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someone in my position, especially being on the other side

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of the world, tell the difference between real promotions and something.

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A bit dodgy. There we go again, something a bit dodgy.

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There is no such thing as a real music promotion company, none,

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not one that's reaching out to the independent artist. I

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mean there's you know, there's groups, there's companies, there's organizations

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that labels work with, and tours work with the help promotion.

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But they but one, they're so expensive to work with.

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Two they're so busy. They're not reaching out to artists

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in New Zealand. They're not reaching out to artists in Alabama.

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You know, hey, you got twelve followers on Instagram. We

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really believe in you pay a couple of thousand dollars

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will blow you up. They would never do that because

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you couldn't they know you can't afford them?

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Dodgy, he says.

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I feel a bit foolish even writing this, but I

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figured if anyone might have seen this sort of thing before,

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it'd be you.

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I have seen this sort of thing before.

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I've answered this sort of thing already on this channel

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a few times. There is no such thing as a

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legit music promotion company going after independent artists. That's it,

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he says, chairs for taking the time to read it. Bob, Bob,

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I know you're worried about if I blow this whole

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thing up, then I might miss the next window.

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This might be my big break.

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Blah blah blah, YadA, YadA YadA, whatever you want to believe.

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This is a scam. Here's the thing.

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They are sending you radio airplay report. It's that they're

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working your song to radio with websites that don't work.

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How many radio stations do you know? They don't have

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an active website. Legit radio stations, A lot of them do.

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Most of them will, and here's why, because they pay

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advertisers to promote on their website, so the website is

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an revenue.

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Income for them.

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You also mentioned how you have been placed on playlists

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at the playlist disappear and there's thousands of followers on

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these playlists and you're not getting any traction.

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Wonder why because it's all a fraud.

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But then you're gonna sit there and go, well, I

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don't know if this is real or not, or I

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don't want to fire them because I might lose my chance.

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What chance You're gonna give them more money and go

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on a phishing expedition trying to find radio stations that

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don't exist or went out of business.

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I got bought by.

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Clear Channel ten years ago. You guys gotta be smarter

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with this stuff, man. I mean, I know we're hungry

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out there to have success. I know we're hungry out

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there to make a name for ourselves, to prove the

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naysayers wrong. I get all of that, But what you're

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forgetting is is you also do have to be realistic

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and honest with yourself and go who does this make

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sense to I'm in Wellington, New Zealand. These guys want

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to get me shows in the US. Who's gonna book me?

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And then to keep going back to this blog placement

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that every time you guys get scammed, you always throw

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up blog placement, like who's I mean, a bigger scam

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is not talking about playlist placement. It's talking about we're

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gonna get you on blogs. Who's doing blogs these days?

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But anyways, if I was you, i'd fire them.

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I'd save your money, and I'd start putting your nose

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to the pavement and start working as hard as you

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can to create a name for yourself, because you've wasted

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two years and thousands of dollars on these guys and

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all you've gotten are broken links to apparent radio stations

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of player music.

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And I hate that for you. But thanks for the email.

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If you've got 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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give me as many details as possible, and we will

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answer it here on the channel. I am Matthew Ricks,

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and until next time, I will talk to you later.