Do you have industry baggage?

[Thedy B]

Do you have industry baggage? Do you bring up past scams, past deals gone bad, past broken promises, past hurts or whatever happen to you in the music industry? Is that robbing you from what you're trying to do now with completely new people? Are those things something that you talk about all the time? Do you now have a skeptical attitude? Do you look for negative things or negative indicators to see if what you're involved in is a scheme? Do you tell others about your doubts? or tell people about all the past bad experiences you've had? Do you only think that people are in the business to take from you? Do you put your insecurities on others? Do you assume that someone who says you are not ready is saying it for the right reasons or the wrong reasons?

Granted the music industry has some bad apples. People have no doubt been abused, taken from, scammed and the like. People have taken people's money and didn't do what they said they would do. How do you recognize what is real and what is not? How do you recognize what is legit and what is not? How do you start trusting again? How do you know who to trust?

[AZONA THA-PRODUCER-SLA-YER]

Let me be the first to say if you are in the music bizz.someone will get you.depending on if you know the bizz or not.you have to be careful.and i think we all be in some type of scam or two.how do you get the trust back ?you must put god first in all you do.with that being said i mean learn the bizz.and get someone that you can trust and get them to help you.

[George Lott]

kudos!!! Azona
I agree....I let God Take the wheel....I'm in the passenger seat....along for the ride :)

I think if you "Go In" knowing there are wolf n sheep clothing your better off.
Dont have fear...."scared money makes no Money" ya gotta be willing to roll with the punches.
What successful person made it to their level, without the struggle?...

Whats a story without a Problem??...


GL

[Brandon Elliot Smith]

Wow, what a topic... Never get home from work in time for the chats but as for this, my my my LOLOLOL... While I can thankfully say that I have yet to be scammed out of mass amounts of money during the process of trying to make it in this business, pretty much everything else has occured at least once in my journey.

BROKEN PROMISES...

I've experienced a situation where a rapper asked me to do a hook for them (after doing the first one for free), he agreed to pay x-amount of dollars, and I spent HOURS on the joint because what he wrote for the hook was very "wordy"... Then after I sent the finished joint to him BEFORE getting paid (like a dummy) he all-of-the-sudden skipped town & came up with all these reasons why he couldn't pay me... It wasn't a HUGE amount of money but I can only imagine if this was another more lucrative situation and I got screwed like that! Never again lol

WASTED TIME...

I've spent about 8 hours at a songwriters house (approx 40 miles away) "co-writing" a song at his request, recorded all of the vocals, left exhausted only for him to call me hours AFTER I already left & tell me that the verse/hook/bridge I wrote/recorded was all-of-the-sudden not totally matching up with the ONE (1st) verse he previously wrote/recorded (according his wife/manager, who were not there at the session, not even in the house at the time, put no time into the project but then put in their 6 cents after I had already left)... In spite of the time/effort I put into the project in comparison to his ONE verse, he eventually decided to keep just the bridge that I did, ended up having me come to another studio closer to my home to oversee the process of re-recording the song with another girl but then scrapped it because he somehow asked this chick to do the session before actually HEARING her sing OR working with her previously (she sounded a mess and had a VERY unprofessional attitude)...

MORE WASTED TIME...

I've had a producer send me a handful of tracks to write/record to over a series of months and he basically talked alot of hot air about who he knows, who the songs would be shopped to, etcetcetc... Not one song was placed and according to him, my ideas werent "r-rated" enough to be placed with any of the artists he (supposedly) had connections to. During the time we had a working relationship, I also sent my package to him so he could get it to his "A&R" contact he (supposedly) had and unsurprisingly nothing came out of that either :-).

I've had other producers send me a track, I wrote to it, spent hours recording the backgrounds, had this girl come over to record the leads, sent it back to them and I honestly don't even believe that they got it in to the girl group that they stated it would be going to... Then a few months later, I get online and hear the instrumentation of the track they sent me playing in another groups online Youtube blog video lol... I thought they had ended up just selling the track to them for their upcoming album, but alas, the track was not on their album either.

I've had an executive assistant at a major label ask me to write to a track... As always, I put hours into it, sent it back complete but with a SIMPLISTIC hook that everyone can sing along with (ie: comparable to most joints you hear on the radio today) and she wanted me to completely re-do it because it wasn't "complex" enough... LOL

NOT FOLLOWING THRU/AKA-MORE BROKEN PROMISES...

Ran into a situation where I sent my package to a (supposed) record label CEO, put my all into getting it prepared, express mailed it to him only to have it sit there at his local post office for 2 weeks unclaimed... I called him & everything to let him know that the package was there waiting for him to pick it up, he never took the time to go pick it up and it eventually got sent back to me (lol unbelievable)...

I could name several other situations i've been thru but this posting would just be TOOO long lol. Sadly, all but one of the above working relationships were either damaged or totally ruined as a result of these experiences. All I can say is that as hurtful as some of my experiences have been, I have to still thank God for them because I always say if it doesn't kill you it should make you stronger... I wasn't dead the next day, so I allowed each situation to make me stronger and wiser than I was the day before. I don't know if I can consider these experiences as "baggage" but I do consider them as "tools" that will allow me to make better decisions in the future. I say this only because I totally handle each of the above situations differently now, i'm very cautious of who I work with and i've learned to put more of a value on my time. In one hand, situations like these CAN make it more difficult to take people seriously &/or trust them, but at the end of the day I see it as God only preparing me for the MUCH more major situations that are bound to occur at a broader scale once things finally come together for real lol. You live and learn

[j ellis]

I read everyones comments and agree with everyone but sooner or later you will have an probelm or someone will scam you. But we have all stories but its up to us to learn from them and always step out on faith.

[Hamlin]

This can be an ugly business. That's why we get contracts and lawyers! Even then, this can not prevent people from getting over on you. Just be real, but not everyone is. It really messes things up for those that do want to do right. Sometimes you can be labeled bad by your association. So be careful who you do business with and really check people out. Don't be afraid to move on or think about the situation on how it will make things better. Business is no joke! Take it serious and people will take you serious. There is alot of money in this business that people can share and not be greedy. We can all have a place here. We all have industry baggage if you have been in the business for at least 5 years or more. This is what helps you grow if you learn from your mistakes. Use this as a lesson and move on! Put it behind you!

[chillo]

I try not to comment on situations that didn't pan out. There's good in every situation and a lesson learned is beneficial the next go round. The problem with many people is that they use a lesson learned as standard operating procedure and use these same tactics on others they work with, which keeps the cycle of bad situations and shady business a way of life.

[Jon Linen]

I agree with you. This topic should be answered short and sweet, "Just Move on." Plenty people get jipped, it's a part of life. The sooner you can move on the sooner you can make something turn out the way you want it. Stop remembering the time when,........... lol.

[ATL'S OWN GREG-W]

This is such a good topic!!!

[Cameron.Alex]

Hmm.
Its hard to not be weary of people when you've heard the same things from previous people.

I've been managed and dropped because I wasn't urban enough. I've been managed and dropped because I wasn't pop enough. I've been managed and dropped because I was too serious and the like.

Right now, as I see my grind, I go forth with my music. I just pray that God shows me something in every opportunity and when the 'right' opporunity comes - which I think it has - actual work will get done and people will know what the heck I've been rambling about...

[NimbusRadio]

Thank the Creator that I've been enlightened enough not to run into the scammers. I've had a good team from the beginning and that team has grown in so many ways. I believe that I've been fortunate because there are quite a few steps people have to go through to get to me and the people I work with. If there tenacious and really about their business, they continue. If they're scamming and looking for an easy mark, they get tired before they get to my Marketing manager.

It is called the Music Business (a compound and compounded word) for a reason. Musicians, caveat emptor, if it seems too good, it's just that.