Members Contacting Listing Companies -- Ouch!

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Members Contacting Listing Companies -- Ouch!

Post by admin » Mon Jan 25, 2010 4:37 pm

Hi all,

We’ve been getting more and more complaints from companies who are getting contacted by members whose music we have Forwarded to them.

Of course, we certainly understand that if we didn’t tell you who your music was sent to, you’d have to wonder if something sneaky was going on. We get it.

On the flip side of that is the company perspective when members are told their music has been sent to company XYZ, and then some number of members Google the company’s name and send emails to general mailboxes like info@companyXYZ.com or send an email to several individuals in the company, not knowing who the contact is.

In the most recent case, the V.P. of the company went to the head of music after getting a member email and asked why HE was getting emails from musicians. The head of music had to throw us under the bus. Here’s his (total) email to the screener who brought in the listing:

“what i recieved forwarded (the member’s actual email was copied, but I’m not showing it here. – ML) for other employees. I told michael this could not happen and to not put our name in the listing, he assured me it wouldnt.

Strike two, mike is out. I will still use the other stuff when more movies come in, i just cant have this happen.”


Again, we understand the motivation on the members’ part. To add to that, we also understand that some of the members are completely professional in their emails and some are not.

I got a call about an hour ago from this same person complaining that another member had emailed them as well. Needless to say, that company will not be running any more listings with us, nor will they be providing any more opportunities for our other members.

This is starting top reach epidemic proportions. If we forward 10, 20, 30 or more pieces of music to this guy, then hypothetically, each one of those people could be sending emails to the general email boxes of the company or making follow up calls.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

Thanks,
Michael

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Re: Members Contacting Listing Companies -- Ouch!

Post by fusilierb » Mon Jan 25, 2010 5:15 pm

Wow, that's pretty unprofessional. I always Google the company after a forward out of curiosity, but have NEVER and will NEVER contact them directly. Seems like a good way to shoot yourself in the foot before you even get started with them. If its a huge issue, you might need to stop posting the name of the company in the forward "certificate" that you post up. Which would be a bummer. But if the children can't play nice with their toys, you might have to take them away.

B

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Re: Members Contacting Listing Companies -- Ouch!

Post by feaker66 » Mon Jan 25, 2010 6:02 pm

Sounds desperate.

Ain't me, never have had a forward yet.

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Re: Members Contacting Listing Companies -- Ouch!

Post by mojobone » Mon Jan 25, 2010 6:23 pm

@ ML: I think you should bring this up in the next several emails; only a small percentage of the members read these forums. @Passengers: These companies don't have time to hold the hand of every writer who gets forwarded, and being a pain in the ass is guaranteed to win you no favors with any sort of publisher.
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Re: Members Contacting Listing Companies -- Ouch!

Post by admin » Mon Jan 25, 2010 6:43 pm

Yep, I will be talking about it to the members at large. I'm a little afraid of giving the idea to people who hadn't thought of it yet. Sadly, one of the emails that caused this meltdown was from one of our very experienced and professional forum members. His email was short and professional, but apparently it got sent to some general e-boxes, and the execs who get those went to music boy and bammo, bye-bye :o

Hell, we hear about people who call companies and give them a hard time for not wanting the hear their material... when asked, "How did you get my name?" They respond, "TAXI."

They're trying to sound cool and like they're on the "inside," but in the cases we've investigated, these folks have NOT even been members, but they DID get the contact info from a well-meaning forum friend who was being "cool" and sharing info with a buddy from the "TAXI" forum. We've lost listing relationships as a result of those too!

we've all seen people mention deals here they got from being turned on to a company/person through a forum friend. It's become the wild West out there. In the end, I think we'll see the non-exclusives go away and the loosey goosey atmosphere tighten up over time.

There's a site that lists tons of libraries and allows any old person to rate them. That's a great example of trying to be Robin Hood and having it backfire. I've had two library heads tell me that they've lurked that site and determined that the owner is somebody they'll never work with. Can you blame them? Information IS free these days, but professionalism will ultimately rule the day would be my guess.

Michael

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Re: Members Contacting Listing Companies -- Ouch!

Post by keysmandld » Mon Jan 25, 2010 7:36 pm

Wow, can't believe people are doing this. After all we agreed not to when we signed up, right? Still awaiting my first forward. Hope some Bozo doesn't blow it for me by destroying a relationship that could be my key to success! The way I figure it, Taxi is sort of the security system that keeps the groupies away from the big boys. :x

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Re: Members Contacting Listing Companies -- Ouch!

Post by jdstamper » Mon Jan 25, 2010 8:08 pm

It's really helpful to know what company received your forward, I'd hate to lose that, but losing the companies in Taxi is much worse. So if we have to go dark on the certificates, then so be it. Has Taxi ever spelled out the rules of the road regarding following up with the companies or not? I may be wrong but seems I remember some Taxi articles advising that a polite follow-up after a few months was cool. Jim
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Re: Members Contacting Listing Companies -- Ouch!

Post by greggo » Mon Jan 25, 2010 8:46 pm

Wasn't me. I've been forwarded once in the last two years, and even forgot who it got forwarded to. Think I may have googled them, but never had interest in contacting anyone there. If they like the music enough, they can contact me. I learned the hard way when booking a band at clubs years ago, that being overly persistent pisses people off and hurts you more than help you.

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Re: Members Contacting Listing Companies -- Ouch!

Post by japaneseprincess » Mon Jan 25, 2010 9:09 pm

its good to be selfless and patient for ourselves and everyone else.

i make my living by *performing music, i dont do any other jobs than music .. i play in subway stations (Tube stations) in London, only 4-8 hours a week.

we are having similar situation in licensed busking (performing) scheme here. customers complain about high volume of amplifiers (very few musicnas play very loud, not all of us), some sell CDs (it is not allowed to do so). the rest of peaceful musicians (400 of us) are at risk of losing licenses because of few careless people breaking rules. they received warnings several times. this can lead to total ban of the scheme. its sad that 98 % of licensees stick to the rules. only a handful of people break the rules, according to them they make more money by doing so, otherwise they cant make their living... i told them that my amp is only 6 watt, i still make my living.. they use 50 watt amps.


*street performing has been legalized in subway stations for a while, it is well organized and its been very popular for London commuters and tourists :P ;)
Last edited by japaneseprincess on Mon Jan 25, 2010 9:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Members Contacting Listing Companies -- Ouch!

Post by davewalton » Mon Jan 25, 2010 9:10 pm

I disagree about going "dark"...

"We just sent your music to a great library/record label/whatever... sorry we can't tell you who it is"

There's no way that will fly in the long run... conspiracy theories will go through the roof with no info or real way to refute. Not to mention that getting forwarded to "someplace" really isn't very exciting. It's the "high bar" names and places that I get forwarded to that make it exciting. I *know* I'm getting somewhere that matters.

As an aside, I definitely don't understand this: They are a business and inqueries are just so normal for any business, anything from "are you looking to hire a secretary" to "we sell great copiers, can we make an appt?". They're in the music business with a public address, phone number. What do they say about the thousands of unsolicted contacts they receive outside of Taxi? A few members can't possibly account for any more than a micro percentage of their total daily/weekly/monthly/yearly call volume.

I just sent three inqueries last week to several companies (outside of Taxi). All were curtious and asked for music, one giving me a synopsis of their upcoming projects so I could target my music better. Compared to someone who doesn't want to be contacted... I don't know the situation but on the surface he wouldn't be my first choice as someone I'd want to work with. Taxi has *so* many great relationships (i.e. just check the panelists at the Rally), all are professional, etc. I don't know... the guy that fires Taxi because he received one professional request... well, he doesn't fit into the same category as the other listing people that we see at the Rally! 8-)

The Taxi Rally has a lot of great sessions and classes on professional conduct, networking, etc. That's a great idea obviously and so I can't see how extending that kind of information/education into the newsletter(s) could be harmful. Anyway, there are also more than just a few Taxi success stories that came about because of professional inqueries. Going dark... doesn't sound appealing to me.

FWIW,

Dave 8-)
Last edited by davewalton on Mon Jan 25, 2010 9:48 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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