Sharks

I was on a industry event a couple of weeks ago. The event was really good in itself but it was full of sharks.

It all comes from the song (Rock) Superstar with Cypress Hill. In the intro he tells how the industry is like sharks swimming around and wants to take a bite of you.

And it's a kind of truth to it. It's a lot of people that really don't care about you or your music. They also talk a lot and promise much but never achieve much.

I have become rather good to spot these sharks nowadays. I have been trapped several times with them and know their modus operandi.

First they talk about "big" artists, producers you never heard of. These are big but mainly in a country, local stars. In reality there numbers are good but since it is local numbers they can be faked.

Then they also talk about things that was in the past. Trends that are dying. This is a bit harder to see if you are not around on showcase festivals and hear the latest. But some sharks are that old they still talk about physical products. Also they talk 360 deals.

In many cases they are old. Their claim to fame is artists in the 90:s in really bad cases even in the 80:s. They still keep coming that they worked with Vanilla Ice and think it should impress you.

They want money. Sure we all do, but there are limits. If someone fix a gig in their town taking no cost I do the same. Here is more you fix a free gig and when they return the favor they want payment as a middle hand. It's like budget airlines, nothing is for free and to tune up it will in the end cost you more then a first class ticket on a normal airline. If you stick to the budget one it will be a bumpy ride.

Major labels, they always talk about their connections to the major labels and how good it is and they can be the gateway. It's never that good. Actually in this case a shark came up and talked how good and tight he was with Universal. I replied with a fake smile and a pretend to be impressed wondering if he had good connections to Universals streaming division. And of course he had but none of the names he mentioned worked there. How did I know, well I had meeting a couple of hours before with the streaming department and know them all. This trick I work with alot. Usually if they know the right names and you know the same people they are legit. Many times the people the shark talk about work as the coffee maker on the company.

Of course when you are new it's harder to read the sharks. You will probably end up doing with one of them and learn the lession.