Its really simple, you get an short and sweet, unsolicited email direct to your ReverbNation.com account saying something like, “your music is GREAT!” then prompting you to get your demo to one of his associated asap so, “you should submit your e-demo to Sam Reed at Columbia Records”. The email comes from another ReverbNation.com account holder who doesnt use his last name, only an initial, and when you do a WhoIs lookup on the domain, recordlabelconnect.com, the domain administration and contact information is “private” which is a service domain name owners PAY for to not let the public know who they are. Legit companies have no need to do this.
In any case, the email you get looks legit. The photos of the record company exec, in his 40’s or 50’s, wearing a suit in he photos, looks like the real deal. In his profile he is pictured on a sofa with a Columbia Records sign behind him and with a bunch of A&R guys and artists, etc. Maybe the photos are the actual person, who knows. But maybe he lost his job at Columbia a long time ago and is trying to make money with a new artist scam, er, uh, internet scheme, err… whatever. Regardless, it’s most likely just another online money making venture by ex record company boobs, or wannabee record execs. If you and your music are THAT good, it wont cost you a “fee” to send your demo.
Then what? You get all excited, go to http://www.RecordLabelConnect.com to submit your demo thinking you are going to be recognized, finally, for all your hard work and become the “next big star” because your music was good enough to get the attention of an A&R exec online. Oh but wait, there is a cost: $25 per submission. No guarantee a real A&R executive will hear it, consider it, and get back to you. Here is an actual email received by an artist:
An article about Rob Stringer came out recently that said,
“music industry insiders have branded the exec with a sly nickname: “Fredo” – as in the weakest Corleone son in “The Godfather” saga. The moniker refers to the fact that Stringer works for his older brother, Sony Entertainment CEO Howard Stringer.”
Rob Stringer is chairman of the Columbia Epic label group, a division of Sony Music. Do you really think he would make a ReverbNation.com account spend his days listening to unknown artists then send them an email?
