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By Steve Perrett

Scams, and how to avoid them.

Songwriting! Sometimes it's a thankless task. You rack your brains for days, sometimes weeks, sometimes years on end to come up with something new and original, a new hook thats going to catapault you into the big league! Maybe a new and unusual chord progression or a knockout lyric that is irresistable.

In reality, most of us like to think we write good songs, but they're probably not! We probably write average songs that are never going to make it into the big league. We write songs that our friends think are great, because they're our friends. But that doesn't mean we have to stop writing. One of the biggest selling songs of all time is still making lots of money for it's writer. He never had any real success with any other song, so it's worth plugging away. To write better songs, you need to keep writing songs. It's called practice! What was the song? 'Unchained Melody'

One of the greatest leaps forward for aspiring songwriters (as far as I'm concerned) is the advent of the World Wide Web. The window of opportunity has been thrown wide open to us as regards a global audience. It is now a matter of a few mouse clicks to set up a web site and display your songwriting skills to an unlimited audience. The Indie music scene is growing at an astonishing rate and you can download some very good music FREE and legally.

Of course, there is a downside to this huge global village!

THE SCAM MERCHANTS!

One of the biggest pitfalls for songwriters is the amount of scams out there. It seems there are a great many talented people thinking up as many new ways to part us from our cash, as there are good songwriters. The really annoying thing is, most of these scams are legal! Some are easily spotted and ignored by the great majority. Some are less obvious and lure many unsuspecting wannabe's. And some are brilliantly executed and fool hundreds maybe thousands of people!

I hope to show here, how these scams work and what to look out for in the 'music marketplace'

Melody Writers

It's a fact that there are an awful lot of lyric writers out there looking for musical collaborators. There are many lyricists around that play no musical instruments at all, and are ever hopeful that somebody with a flair for a good tune is going to appear and magicaly transform their written word into the next big hit for Robbie Williams! The fact is, it's not always easy for musicians to write music to somebody elses lyrics. I know, I've tried! And trying to come up with something the lyricist is happy with is even harder! This is where the melody writer makes his/her appearance.

The melody writer pops up everywhere and offers to write a melody for your lyric for a fee. Here's an example:

"Hi my name is Stefanovich and I will help you find the next hit tune!

With your wonderful lyrics, I will create for you a number one hit

melody! For a one off fee of $25 I will transform your beautiful words

into blah blah blah..."

So you send off your $25 and your lyric and you get back a melody. This could be a piano part or anything really? What you don't know is, how many other lyricists are using this same melody? Does this melody actually fit the words of the song?

Usually, these people post up their message in a forum somewhere and the webmasters are onto it in a flash and remove the offending post. Sometimes they slip through and stay for a day or two before they are noticed. But either way, THIS IS ALMOST ALWAYS A SCAM.

If you are a lyricist in need of a collaborator, post on a reputable forum. There are plenty of forums around that can help you out. Some even have sections where you can register your requirements as a lyricist in need of a collaborator.

If you decide to collaborate with somebody, you should come to an agreement (preferably in writing) of any future use for your song and what percentage split of any profits. This is generally a 50/50 split. Scam or not, your inability to know that it is a unique melody should be warning enough. You should NEVER pay for a melody for this basis alone, never mind a hundred others.

The Compilation CD

There are companies (individuals) that make Compilation CDs for distribution to various labels and radio stations. What these companies (Individuals) do, is perfectly legal. Here's how it works.

They trawl the boards of places like songplanet or soundclick and look for new or likely looking songs that have been posted. They then send you an email saying that your song has been chosen to appear on a select compilation CD. Or something like that. Here is part of an email I received shortly after posting a song at soundclick. (I have changed the names for legal reasons)

"I noticed that you are an aspiring songwriter. My name is Bert Scam and

I am the founder of Scam Music, a site geared towards the discovery

and recognition of emerging and developing songwriting talent. We are

currently welcoming submissions from solo acts or bands of any age group

or music genre that would be interested in appearing on one of our 2004

Compilation CDs, which will be distributed to various record labels and

radio stations nationwide.

If any of your songs are invited to appear, each CD would contain your

contact information for listeners interested in getting more info on

your music. ........."

It then goes on to give details of how to submit your song and the website address where you can check out the credibility of the proposition. So off you go and check it out and when you've read all the blurb, (Which all sounds very plausible) right at the very bottom of the page is the price! In this case it was $50. This is just to cover the administration and production costs...

So you submit your best song, send off your $50 and wait. After a time you recieve an email informing you that your song has been chosen to appear on the July issue (or April or whenever) of the CD. So you wait some more, and eventually, you recieve a CD with your track on and a load of others.

I checked out the site of the above Bert Scam, and discovered it had a forum, which I found a little surprising...

So I read a few of the posts wondering if they were genuine or not. The great majority of posters were seeking reasurance from each other that they were doing the right thing! I was again surprised to see how many had sent $50 to this guy! So I decided to contact a few of the posters to see if they were satisfied with the service they had received. This was typical of the replies I received. (And I did get quite a few replies)

"I'm very glad to hear from you. I am very unsatisfied. As an

aspiring musician, when I recieved word that I would be involved in a

compilation of the "cream of the crop" as they said, I was very

excited. But when I recieved a burnt cd with a hand made cover, I was

very upset. The whole thing is definetly a scam and if the entire

purpose of this record was to be sent to "major labels" and radio

stations that will never even listen to it then it was a huge waste of

50 dollars and then 10 dollars for an additional burnt cd.

Sincerly,

*******"

I did have one email back giving a more positive response.

"Hi,

I can understand your scepticism, however, there's no need for that - I

sent off my $50 and got a receipt email.....about 4 months later, I got my

CD,and my band were the 2nd track...so it was all good. My one criticism

would be that the standard of the songs aren't, in my opinion, all that

high...however that's a subjective argument.

So, basically, it isn't a scam, and I'm waiting upon any feedback I get

from the distribution of this CD (the distribution is taking place from now

till around december, so fingers crossed!).

Cheers. *****

"

I guess it depends on how you define "scam", but I suspect there will be little response to this bands hopes and dreams through this venture.