Read on Twitter
Was working on an article about the scourge of fake A&Rs, managers, and other self-styled music industry “gurus” on twitter and the ways they capitalize on the naivety of young & hopeful artists to scam them out of their $ but I’m just gonna turn the main points into a thread
Can’t tell you how many fake labels & management firms I’ve seen that charge artists for services like digital distribution (which you can DIY for cheap using distrokid, etc.), playlist placements, social media management.
They are glorified promotion companies that pay for fake followers/engagement and use other grey area methods to obtain metrics that give artists the ILLUSION of being popping. None of it is organic.
Examples of these are @iamnoahmiller’s @panoramicrecs and fake influencer/entrepreneur @JustinGrome’s @clonefluence. They don’t actually do anything substantial for your career or fan base and are ultimately just trying to scam you
If a ‘label’ does not invest in its artists expecting a ROI then it’s not a label.
Managers, like agents, work for commission. 15% is standard. If you’re directly paying for a manager’s services they are not a real manager.
Real A&Rs never charge producers for beat submissions. Dommy Divine was fired week one from an entry level A&R position at The Orchard for doing this https://twitter.com/sexgod_adot/status/1001170298400473088
Don’t pay for contact lists of spotify/apple music playlist curators. Cold emailing those contacts (scraped from online sources like linkedIn/google/hunter.io, not procured from personal relationships, mind you) won’t land you playlist placements.
Never, and I mean never, pay a promotor or anyone else $ to play at a show. You are getting scammed. More on these pay-to-play schemes: https://music.avclub.com/the-scam-industry-how-the-hip-hop-boom-sets-hopefuls-u-1827659662
Pay-to-play is pretty pervasive in the rap world. A good example of it is @grnbailey, who made thousands off selling fake Trippie Redd opening slots.
Don’t pay scammers like @iamnoahmiller $150 to secure beat placements using his ‘wide array of industry connections’. His entire personal brand is a front to con hopeful artists & producers out of their $ https://twitter.com/acfreedmanlaw/status/1044310525058969600
I could probably do a whole thread on just @iamnoahmiller. A couple things: no real label has a ‘services’ page on their website. Also, the beverly hills address/suite number listed as the 'head office' on http://panoramicrecs.com actually belongs to an immigration law firm.
I’ll give Noah Miller this: he’s good at building a personal brand. His timeline is full of generally sound advice and keen insights on trends in music. But none of it comes from actual experience like he’d have you believe. He’s not the self-made industry guru he pretends to be.
You can reach the same conclusions he does if you stay up on industry news by reading @hypebot and read a Donald Passman or @ariherstand book
Tons of his “insights” on trends in music are just rehashed versions of ideas first and better articulated by writers like @cheriehu42 @matdryhurst @lizpelly and a smattering of label execs / other industry professionals here on twitter
But Noah Miller was featured on Forbes! Surely he must be the real deal! Nope, read this article about paid Forbes placements https://theoutline.com/post/2563/how-brands-secretly-buy-their-way-into-forbes-fast-company-and-huffpost-stories and this reddit post that breaks down @iamnoahmiller's history of scamming https://www.reddit.com/r/musicproduction/comments/a0o4ra/breaking_down_the_scam_that_social_media/ https://twitter.com/iamnoahmiller/status/883518887400284160?s=20
A lot of these scammers are young 20 somethings with no industry experience that use their fake-it-til-you-make-it personal brands and blue checkmarks (very easy to buy verified accounts) to con kids into thinking they’re trustworthy, well-connected, industry savvy
Artists & producers: be smart. Do your due diligence and ask around before working with someone. People aren’t always who they claim to be and unfortunately the music world is full of snakes that prey on people who don’t know any better. Get educated on this stuff.
Might be adding more to this thread throughout the day but s/o @mattaielIo for his help with some of the research that went into this
“There are also people who offer ‘publishing deals’, but all they do is run it through online publishing admin services. Charging a fee to sign up, with massive amounts of people signing up, which they can’t realistically do publishing admin for.” – @nickvelo
Noah has a troubling amount of credible accusations of scamming and shady business dealings against his name and it’s something I plan on looking into further in the article I’m writing.
some additional good points from @iTerryTommy https://twitter.com/iterrytommy/status/1110216636513042433?s=21
Since this thread is making the rounds again I figured I should link to the article I wrote for @PigsAndPlans about how to identify and avoid common scams targeting independent artists and producers. Thanks for reading/sharing! 
https://twitter.com/pigsandplans/status/1184127500814897153?s=21 https://twitter.com/PigsAndPlans/status/1184127500814897153
https://twitter.com/pigsandplans/status/1184127500814897153?s=21 https://twitter.com/PigsAndPlans/status/1184127500814897153
