I encountered a scam artist today...

[TerrellBurt]

Hey guys! Just wanted to share something interesting that happened to me earlier today. Thanks to this forum and things like Donald Passman's book on the music industry, I was on my P's and Q's when it came to the business side of music, even though I'm barely experienced with it.

I'm a Pop/R&B/Hip Hop songwriter and I had a demo singer just cut my first Pop demo (No link yet but when she posts it on her Soundcloud page, I will provide the link for feedback) and I was pitching it via some contacts through Twitter. This one guy from NY who claims to be a publisher/songwriter and have a lot of industry connections responded because he was looking for a co-writer for one of the artists he was working with. When he responded he said that the song was "Okay, but nothing great. You have potential as a writer but you still have a long way to go." (I'm open to constructive criticism but two other people with traceable experience and knowledge of the industry unlike this guy said that the song was good but who cares? His opinion is his opinion) but then it got shady shortly after. I had already had an uneasy feeling in my gut about this guy, but I still continued speaking to him on the phone. Never ignore your gut.

He seemed cocky and money hungry, which I suppose is the norm in this line of work, but still I just wasn't vibing with him for whatever reason. He offered to do me a "favor" and offered me a sync fee of $100 to buy the rights to the lyrics of my "mediocre" song (I knew $100 was lowballing it beyond belief). He then asked about the music (Who in the world buys the rights to the lyrics and the rights to the music separately?? I must've missed that chapter in Passman's book...) and I told him that I owned the rights to the music as well (Which isn't true but something told me to lie and say that I did). In a subtle way he asked who produced it and I told him. He then has the nerve to track the producer down via Google and e-mail him offering him money to buy out the rights behind my back.

Thank goodness the producer has morals and maintained his promise to me to hold the exclusive rights to the music until I came up with the money to purchase it. Once I found this out, I hung up with him but he kept blowing my phone up saying how he really wanted me to be apart of his writing team. He even had the "manager" of the artist he's working with call me and leave me a voicemail. This particular artist is allegedly negotiating a record deal with Universal and I wanted to get in on the ground level with the writing team before it was too late. Smh! The boldness of this guy to go through all of that trouble, especially for a mediocre songwriter in his words. He knew that I was onto him and he hasn't called or texted back in a few hours. I hate scam artists! Know the music business and take the proper steps to protect your work guys.

[stephendbennett]

Well it sounds like you dodged a bullet! That guy is super sketch.