Musicians are mugged over and over again!

Many years ago a famous singer was signing with a major label when he pointed at the date and said, “Jeez, do we owe you $1,969 already?” This is a true recollection from the sixties when artists were ‘mugged’ by Labels and Managers on a regular basis.

Its quite amazing to think that the same conditions still apply for many upcoming singers and bands fifty years later! However, the path to fame and fortune may be more hazardous now with the internet revolution and these ‘Make you a Star’ overnight systems.

Some sites match your music, with clever algorithms; to what music professionals are looking for. There is a wider market now with film scores, computer games, television and radio shows, etc. so the chance of your music getting ‘out there’ is greater than ever before! Give them $20 and they will make you famous!

Then you have the musician sites, where you register for free and they host your uploads. This will then be followed by the ‘upsell’ where you have to pay for larger storage space, more fan email systems and other similar ‘must have’ tools.

Additionally, you can get your music played on ‘radio’, where you set up your profile (yet again) and to actually feature on a playlist, another little ‘upsell’ comes along.

You may have noticed these little ‘upsell’s, keep appearing. Well, to put it bluntly this is where they mug you. Many sites will charge a simple $20, some others that prefer to get their hands deeper into your pockets will charge a monthly fee. If you’re chasing the fame and fortune route to success, well, I won’t even begin to mention the big labels at this stage. But, lets say you join a few of these sites at a cost of $20 here, another $20 there, before you know it you will have spent out $100-200 for no return. Now work out what income you have received from your music, are you in a plus or minus situation. The chances are that you will have a big, bold and red bottom line!

Consider a radio playlist opportunity, where for as little as $20 they will play your song on their little online radio station. Possibly twenty listeners on a good day, which works out at $1 YOU are paying somebody to listen to your music. Yes, they can play it more than once, but that’s not the point. It will be far better on your pocket to stop and think.

Go out and do a gig, where you’re playing or singing in front of fifty people for and getting paid $200. That works out at $4 YOU RECEIVE per listener. You’re a musician who gets a kick out of making and performing music. So the moral of this story is, ‘Don’t get mugged! Get out there and Play!”

"You never achieve success unless you like what you are doing." - Dale Carnegie