Hi everyone!
Happy New Year. So; I've got something I want to talk about. Don't want to give you an impression of me being a grumpy old man just because I'm low on success and not so famous as Metallica, Foo Fighters, Joe Bonamassa and those guys but aye, you know what I mean. OK, here we go.
All you “so called” artist and music promoters out there who's been contacting me via e-mail, Instagram and Soundcloud, showering me with offers I should not decline or be missing out on, let me tell you this: You're unbelievable. Not giving up, are you? And then there's these other guys encouraging me to step up and post my music on facebook promotional groups and pages because they need new artists for their radio shows as well as new music to listen to. They also promise to add my music to their many and hot Spotify playlists. Yea right! The best part is; they want all my stuff for free and since they are so tremendously nice, they want me to pay for their playlist add in return. Awesome deal or what? Alright, there's nothing wrong about sharing but for which purpose should I be sharing? Promoters or whoever you are; 1. Are you really listening to the musical content us artists are posting? 2. Are you really adding the artist's songs to your Spotify playlists as you promise? 3. Are you really giving the artists that airplay you say you will be giving them? Nope, I don't think so. I've been digging real deep into this matter and I found out that at least 90% of you are fake. You aren't even real music lovers or enthusiasts and you do not serve the artists the way you say you will. I've been contacted countless times by fake promotors and artist agents over a period of time (approximately 6 months) and some of them even approaches me anonymously with all kinds of offers to boost my popularity. They don't even introduce themselves in a proper manner because they're too busy looking for my VISA card. If that ain't all, now they want my music for free, included all my money to run robot-campaigns to make me famous. Well, nice try. I've stopped contacting them back though. RULE #1: Learn how to spot fake promoters so you don't end up spending your valuable writing and recording time on talent wasters like that. Want to get in touch with real promoters? There are infact a couple of services that might work very well for you. Those websites are MUSOSOUP and GROOVER. Both are Music Promotion Sites and PR Marketplaces. It's like FIVERR but for musicians and artists only. Try them, they're great and you're actually going to achive something by taking advantage of their services.
Now then! A lot of you “promoters” reading this may find this post a bit offending and unfair to your profession. If you do, you're probably one of the good guys and I apologize for that. On the other hand, if you think I'm a complete idiot and totally brain dead, you are one of the bad guys and this post was clearly meant for you. Not apologizing at all. There was a time when radio hosts, DJ's and promotors would kill to be the first to get their hands on the latest awesome new music available in the record stores AND they WOULD PAY for the music without absolutely no discussion or argument whatsoever. Those were the good ol' days when artists were really appreciated and respected. Things were very different then. Those radio hosts, Dj's and promotors really had the true spirit. It's up to all of “YOU” to restore that spirit and make music promotion great again! Or should I say “REAL” again! There are however a very tight bunch of true souls left working their asses off to promote unsigned, up-and-coming indie artists finding their audience. All hail to them!
Promoters; have some pride in your work. Do it out of heart for the artists and the love for music itself. Not out of indifference and lust for personal gain.
Thanks for reading all this. Here's a “must-read” link for you.
https://www.reddit.com/r/musicmarketing/comments/1dbqg7a/how_to_recognize_a_scam_in_music_promotion/?rdt=45217
Cheers, Alf - LIGHTNING GUSTO.
