People will always try to take advantage where they can so you will need to be vigilant to avoid scammers in the music business

I think we have all had experience with someone in the music industry that leaves us boggled as to how they are still in business. Maybe it’s not completely accurate to say that they are scammers but they seem to be highly ineffective at the job that they do.

You know the type we mean. The PR agent who charges you an arm and a leg and gets you 5 new fans in a month. Or the radio plugger that only manages to get you playlisted on an internet radio station in Antarctica. These are just some of the things scammers in the music business do. There are a lot of these people/companies out there. It’s in your best interest to do as much due diligence that you can. Especially before you part with your hard earned cash for some of these services.

One of the best ways to find out if a service is worth your investment is by doing a Google search. See what comes up. If others have had bad experiences with them, hopefully, they would have posted it somewhere and this will come up in the search. Be prepared to look beyond the first page though as the truth can be buried deep.

The Paper Trail

Another good way to do some research is to get feedback from previous clients. Sometimes this is advertised publicly. Sometimes you might have to ask them if they are happy to give you some details of their previous clients. Just make sure the previous client is not their 1st cousin. Or their stepmother or someone of that nature who will, of course, sing their praises.

Ultimately though, as a musician, you should have a highly developed intuition. So if all else fails, trust your gut in order to avoid scammers in the music business.

Through our collective experience here at The Xube, we have tried many of the services out there for musicians, so if you would like a second opinion on whether it’s worth investing in a particular service, feel free to drop us a line and we’ll share our experience with you or at least let you know what our gut says.
It would also be useful if you could go to our resources section and leave a review of any of the services there that you have tried so that other musicians can see whether it’s worth their time investing in any of these companies.

Have you had any experience with people/companies you consider to be scammers in the music business?