I Am PR Agency – Marvelous Marketer: How To Spot Scams! [Editorial]

I can get you on the biggest blog in the world tomorrow with just 1 song, and a bathroom selfie.

Not.

You’d be surprised how many indie artists fall for the “I’m an A&R at [INSERT LABEL NAME HERE] and I can get you on [INSERT BLOG NAME/RADIO STATION/TV STATION HERE] tomorrow, just pay me [INSERT OBSCENELY LARGE AMOUNT OF MONEY HERE].”

We’ve seen indie artists take out loans, not pay rent, even skip out on a campaign that is rather successful, for a quick fix.

Always they come back, complaining about how they got scammed, how the so called “professional” took their large amount of money and did nothing.

Here’s a few facts about the music business :
Considering the risk/reward formula, if only 3-5% of all artists hit “mega-stardom” and make, lets say about $20 Million per year or more, how much time, energy, money, and risk would have to be leveraged to hit that goal?
Considering the pay scale of musicians nowadays, trying to sell alot of records for income isn’t a good business plan. Why spend thousands of dollars to promote one song? Wouldn’t it be better to hire a publicist and promote your personal brand to a market, creating demand for anything you produce?
Labels act as a gatekeeper, and nothing more. A whole world opens up to you once you’re signed. For example, companies are more willing to work with you, promoters are willing to pay you a bit more, etc. But it could take years of hard work to get a deal, not to mention they do nothing administratively [the most important part] to help your career.

So paying someone to get a shortcut in the game is akin to shooting yourself in the foot to spite your face.

Here are some facts about business, which should help you spot scams faster :
Business is an act of continuation. The goal is to start, and to continue the operation for as long as possible. The longer the operation, the more successful the business. I AM PR Agency has been operating for 6 years straight now.
Business constantly measures risk vs reward. Can’t continue operations without money! Therefore, a business must take risks. Risks that should push the business forward, if calculated enough, and rewards should match the risks.
There is no time frame for success – the whole “I need to ‘make it’ within 1 year” mentality – success is a series of events. Which means, stop waiting for someone to give you a million dollar check before you work like you have a million dollar check. First get good at getting a series of $100 gigs, and if you do that enough times, someone will offer a higher amount, and so on. The longer you continue your business, the more money you’ll be able to extract from the global financial system.

Long story short, if you’re looking to shortcut the game, you will get scammed.

If you understand that this is going to take time, energy, and money, you might still get scammed, at least until you fall on I AM PR Agency! But you stand a much better chance of making it versus the one who wants it easy.