SONGPLUGGER…. OR SPAM?

Gosh, you should always take care about such things. There are hundrets of people out there trying to make money. There are people who post their lyrics somewhere, a Producer (or a company) writes them, promissing things and so on, making the folks pay. Some pay between 500 and 1000 Dollar for a song, which is not ready for production.

It´s always better to compose a melody for it, play around with it, cut a rough demo with a partner. And when you´ve done this you can produce this in a studio. With a well known producer or a friend.

And this is the key point: Don´t pay money to anyone you don´t know. Don´t pay money for anything, where you don´t know what comes out. When you are just a lyrics writer, make friend with composers. And after this, you can look for a professional producer to make a full blown demo (sometimes the composer can do this with you as well).

lyrics writers pay someone, who promise them to compose a tune and to record this for them. And then? There are “lyric´s services” as well (I´m a composer)  I would never send one of my tunes to a lyric´s service, paying them, without knowing what comes out. There are so many lyricists working for free, there are so many composers working for free. So - make friends and don´t trust people who “promise” you anything…

I hired Charlie Ray to plug 5 songs for $300 for three months. We checked him out on BBB and found little against him; but I have been skeptical all along- because I also was contacted by that Nashville radio station who found me on Reverb Nation and asked for mp3’s. I sent them. Then I got a form letter about Charlie Ray dropping by while my song was playing and being interested in working with me- And that was for one of my tunes and came to my home address. Curiously I got the same form letter with a different cut of mine filled in to my PO Box!

But I spoke with Charlie on the phone and decided to go ahead.  He picked 5 songs off the two CD’s (already released material) that I sent him.

This week I received two letters from supposedly different publishing companies asking for publishing contracts on two different songs. Highway 60 Music and Memories of Memphis. When I got the first one I was pretty fired up.  Then the second one came- It was the exact same contract but with different font so it wouldn’t fit the same on the page. Both letters were laid out the same way and had the same logo- (though one was smaller). Supposedly they are different companies. I couldn’t find anything about either company on the internet other than this blog.

When I called Charlie to ask about them he had nothing to say other than “If you don’t like the contracts don’t sign them” and that many companies use the same contract out of some industry standard book published in the 70’s.  In fact- it looks like it came from the 70’s- with no mention of digital media at all- only royalties on record albums and films. And both contracts tell you not to alter the contract. It was interesting that somebody on this thread thought that Highway 60 was Charlie’s Company- he said nothing about it being his company.

Now here is the question- what do they get out of this if they aren’t planning to promote my songs? So they must be planning to do something, right? They aren’t charging me for the contract. And these songs aren’t selling themselves when I’m busy gigging and teaching and taking care of my kids. 100% of nothing is still nothing- so maybe it’s worth a try. 

But something feels fishy.

What should I do?

Julie

Click thumbnail to see full-size image

If you already paid $300 to someone they’ve made their money. They don’t have to do anything for you. You can’t prove they didn’t try, and that’s all they have to say; they tried, but weren’t successful. They didn’t sign a contract to succeed; just to try. They don’t have to provide any documentation of their efforts. They can if needed. It’s easy.

But a publishing contract may lock them in forever, if it doesn’t have a ‘Reversion Clause’. That clause ends a contract, saying when the time span specified has expired, the publishing (royalties) rights to the song which you contractually signed over to them, revert back to you. You can then try another publisher.

But if there’s no time specified or reversion clause there’s no end. They lock in rights to the percentage of publishing royalties the song earns, even though they’ve done nothing to get the song to market where it earns royalties, forever. If YOU succeed in getting it to market, they collect. You signed a contract authorizing it. Once you sign the contract they may contact you for additional funds. If they get one person a day to pay them $300 they can make a nice living. If they get 2 a day, 3 a day…they can vacation in Hawaii, twice.

Any company that offers a ‘standard’ contract that has the same logo on two different letters probably isn’t a company that takes good care of business. The left hand should know what the right hand is doing. Companies the Better Business Bureau (BBB) doesn’t know about, or that don’t have an internet presence are suspicious in this day and age when the internet has become the modus operandi of commerce. At least half of all music sales now are via electronic downloads.

Accusing a company of being a scam may not be enough to get the BBB to publish that allegation. It might take a court case, decided in favor of a plaintiff, to qualify. Many scammers have been around a long time, decades, so they know how to cover themselves against the charge.

Hey all,

  My name is Sean, I am responding to the Charlie Ray saga, we should all get together and write a song about it and send it to them. I too was sent a message from Pamela Jennings the programming consultant from NBRN 256 Kitty Wells BLVD Madison TN 37115 saying she liked my music and would like to hear more so I sent 2 more songs (copyrighted of course) and she would put them in rotation on their radio station, well I just got the letter saying Charlie Ray had stopped by the studio while they were listening to one of my songs and said he commented on my song and she said If she reffered me to him he would work with me because he works only by refferals, she also said she is Waylon Jennings cousin, and the letter had a stamped signature, but did have pen writing for my address, so I e-mailed Charlie Ray, I got a response within 10 minutes, at the end he told me his fee of 600.00 dollars and can be made in 2 payments, lol. What a Joke, my daddy didn’t raise no fool, If someone is really interested in helping you and really likes what you have they will not ask for money like that, What the hell is wrong with people, I am 33 yrs old and a disabled Marine Corps Veteren and should ask them to send me money for protecting there freedom to rip people off, well hope this will help someone from making a bad decision.

Much Love,

Sean

I also received this letter from a “supposed” music director at a radio station in Nashville. I did things a little differently, I asked some people playing in top bands in Nashville. All had heard of Charlie Ray, none of it was good. These guys are the Bernie Madoff of music. Nobody is blindly mailing writers these days. The letter they send is an copy, the signature is photocopied, and his website is a joke. You will not be getting any food on your table from me Charlie.

I got the same letter.
Hi _______,
I’m a program coordinator for a 24 hours per day Country, Gospel, Americana and Bluegrass radio station in the Nashville market.www.NBRN.FM
I ran across your web site at ReverbNation.com and I like your music. We need more great music to add to our rotation.
If you send it by email, please send to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  Please include song titles, writer’s name, publisher, record label, singer’s name, and a Post Office box or other postal address.

If you send a hard copy, please send it to:
Marie Wilson, Program Coordinator
Nashville Broadcasting Radio Network
256 East Old Hickory Blvd.
Madison, TN 37115
Thanks,
Marie Wilson

Go to http://www.googlemaps.com & take a look at this address.  It’s a dumpy old house with an old wreck of a van sitting on the front yard.  I was stupid enough to send my mp3s to her email address.  I got a letter from her in the mail as well - same form letter saying that Charlie Ray was in the studio & heard my music etc.  I called him today and got the same song & dance as everyone else.  His website was a huge red flag, then I started doing my research and have come to the same conclusion as all of you.  I will definatelyn not be sending him $600.00. I would rather put than money to good use in starting my own business, which I might add is NOT in the music industry.  I have been burned so many times.  I am pretty much done with the music industry. 

Hope this helps someone else from making a big mistake.

KS

Funny thing? I got an e-mail from a friend warning me about these guys AFTER I told him to avoid them! Funnier thing? He said he shoulda known not to trust someone who looks like a child molester…LOL…Even funnier? I thought the same thing!