But in any case this sounds far more like the automated “we love your music” spam stuff that is basically trying to leverage the myth/pipe dream of being “discovered” for cash gain.
CYNIC WARNING:
it was always a bit of a myth, but now unless you have already built your own massive following/buzz very, very, very few people are genuinely taking a punt based on “talent” or “good music” - there simply isn’t enough money in the industry (or a lack of artists). Those that are are probably realistic that neither of you will be making much money and that isn’t their motivation in being involved.
For that reason, they’re probably going to sound a bit more genuine. Trust your gut in such situations I reckon.
It might not be a scam. The label has their sites, they have their marketing channels and they maybe have a dedicated fanbase who check out their releases. By making a first time producer pay for the mastering they’re eliminating all costs and thus risk. Most likely the track won’t get enough streams to make back the mastering costs, so they don’t want to pay for it.
In the band world DIY bands often pay for recording, mixing and mastering and the label pays for the physical release pressing costs and possible marketing. Then after the label has made their money back, the profits will be shared and the band MAYBE breaks even. Most likely not, and will just make money from touring and selling merch. The album is a promo expense in a way.
I agree (and said so!)
But they usually come across a lot more genuine than this c&p “we love your music” nonsense.
If I can get 1000 people to send me $69 AND (this is conjecture) sign over some of their rights, then just throw all their tracks at the wall to see what sticks…
It looks pretty scammy to me.
Also their homepage has “NFT” in big letters. Strong “whatever sounds cool is going here” energy.
No, it’s a “Who’s Who of Poets” scam, preying on persons who want clout and to feel good about their creative work and have a modicum of disposable income to siphon out.
They don’t blast every single track, they curate and build community.
Many to most labels are run for if not “fun”, for a purpose. But this is not the same thing as demanding you use their producers and mastering guys and milking excited neophytes REGARDLESS OF THE QUALITY OF THEIR TRACKS.
Labels that don’t care about the quality of their roster are scams, by definition.
It’s a shell, a front. The promise is that they will promote you, when they are promoting your wallet and their “services”, charging $69 to hackishly open up an iZotope Ozone present.
If they’re broad blasting their “services” as a label with no regards to filtering beyond who will open their wallet, it’s a scam.
Eh, maybe we have a different view on what’s a scam. I think a scam is something where you’re promised something but not delivered. If someone tells you up front that if you give me 69 bucks, I’ll put your track up on my bandcamp or w/e, it’s not a scam.
well OK - I think we’re arguing semantics here - I think trying to persuade people to take a bad deal by buttering them up and making your website look way more legit than it is IS a scam.
I accept it is also widespread tactics…
Oh yeah, but why pay for a cloud sub when they can just warez it?
The “label” and the “mastering” and the “marketing” are all the same person.
Pretending to own a “label”, claiming you’re interested in their work but need it “mastered” by the same person is a scam, and it’s not done once you’re on the “label”.
They’ll then continue milking the mark for everything they’re worth, offering nothing.
Again, if there’s no curation of tracks beyond “what sad, trusting mark will pay for my shit services”, it’s a scam.
I think the scam is that they’re making out it’s because your track is a special shining diamond that they are super interested in pushing to great heights through their immense industry contacts and al you need do is pay the small fee of $69 for them to put your track through LANDR and then stick it on their Soundcloud and their Spotify/Beatport . Then forget all about it… Unless it makes some money at which point they will take all credit and half the money for doing precisely f-all.
I suspect they then spend the $69 everyone has given them on going to Ibiza or ADE to network and party and make insta content to suck in the next bunch of marks.
If you scratch under the surface of their website there is some fairly large artistic licence being taken with their involvement in hit records and artists.
I’d like to take this as an opportunity to announce my new record label!
Presenting: Not A Scam Records!
In these days, you need a record label for people to take your music seriously, and that’s why I created this label so that people can legitimize how people perceive their music.
For the low low submission cost of $100, I will preview your single/EP/Album and if approved i will master it and release on the label. 50% SHARING OF ALL REVENUE MADE FROM ROYALTIES! You won’t find a better deal in the music industry!
What resources and networks the labels have developed
Ultimately, in this case it’s a scam as you are the product and your work is seen as worthless and ancillary.
These people curate not for good music, but for people to prey on. They work the person, they do not see your work as a product to sell.
Like Multi-level Marketing, if 99.999% of their money comes from onboarding people (not selling actual products) one can confidently call them a scam, even if “legit labels” can give someone a bad deal, or “hobbyist labels” do not perfectly self-fund and lose money hand over fist.
Hobbyist labels are community-based and can subsidize riskier art with more popular artists on the roster. They also have a large presence in organizing live events…
