Are There Scams in the Entertainment Industry?

We’ve reached a sad point in society when the old expression “too good to be true” is a prevailing thought when a potential opportunity comes your way.  As fast as technology is changing and the good guys are trying to help us combat the bad guys, there are still countless folks out there with bad intentions who are trying to stay ahead of the game and con you (and me) out of your (our) hard earned money.

If you come to my blog (or my “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast) every week, first of all thank you for reading (and listening).  But secondly, you know that I focus on the creator world – indie music artists, podcasters, YouTubers, and other related forms of entertainment.  I am a longtime publicist and so I come at various topics typically wearing that hat of mine.

It’s for that reason that you might be wondering why in the world I would be writing this week about something like scams.  Sadly, more and more bloggers (and journalists and anyone else with any kind of audience no matter how big or small) need to be writing about it as well.

There are no limits, unfortunately, on where scammers will try to do damage.  And so yes, podcasters, songwriters, entertainers, and anyone else who regularly reads my blog and/or listens to the podcast should be aware that they too will likely be a target in some way.

I remember an author client of mine trying to decide which publisher they wanted to have put out their book and telling me one of the companies they were strongly considering.  I did a simple Google search and didn’t have to go far in the results before a red flag started its way up the flagpole.  I then changed the Google search to “(company name) scam” and, yikes, saw some scary results.

I also did this a little ways back with a different author client who had been contacted about an awards program.  Of course, you want it to be legit but at the same time you must be vigilant.

As recently as this morning I was answering an email from an author client who said they were contacted by someone offering to feature (part of) their work.  I’m going to sound like a broken record but maybe it’s best that I err on the side of repeating myself so that (a) you see how frequently this occurs, (b) you get an understanding of how wide scammers might cast their net, and (c) it becomes engrained in you to check out anything/everything that comes your way that you’re just the slightest bit unsure of.

Still another (performer) client emailed me last night about having been contacted – unsolicited, out of the blue – by someone (claiming to be) in the music industry and wanting to talk with them about their music.  Once again, yes, by all means, we certainly want this to be legit.  After all, there are, thankfully, stories that you do hear of people getting a cold call (or email) from someone (some company) saying, “We’ve been following what you’ve been doing and want to offer you a job working for us.”  Those do happen but you can’t just sit around waiting for it to be you who it takes place with next.

Tell yourself, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”  Do the very basic exercise of going online and doing a search that includes the word ‘scam’ or ‘review’ to see if the person or the company or the opportunity is legitimate.  If you’re in doubt, do as I described above that my clients do – they check with me.  Who in your professional circles do you value to give you some good insight if you went to them and asked, “Do you think I should do this?  Does this opportunity sound real to you?”

In a roundabout way this all is actually a good case for why you truly need to be strong in networking, as I so often write about in this blog and talk about on the podcast.  For starters, the more people you make nice connections with, the better your chances are of collaborating with people you know and/or them introducing you to people that might have an opportunity for you.  But also, these folks just might become the very person you go to when something comes along that seems fishy.

We hear all too often about Amazon gift card scams.  There are people who contact me all the time claiming they can get my podcast to rank on the iTunes charts.  We all get the DMs on Instagram from people who say they can get you more followers on there.  And then, for recording artists, there are things like Spotify streams or playlist placements that they’ll try to sell you.  If it looks like a scam and sounds like a scam, it probably is a scam.

And by the way, as a public service, tell some seniors about what you’ve just read because they are the ones who fall prey to these schemes first and fastest.  Those folks are a prime target, and we need to help them know how to avoid getting duped.

For 20 years now I have been helping indie music artists, authors, actors, entrepreneurs, podcasters, small business owners, and more.  What challenges are you having in your creator career that I can lend some insight to?  Let’s have a ten-minute call so you can take advantage of all my experience, and I can help and keep you moving forward.