There are a ton of people out there claiming to be music marketing experts, music publicity experts, and social media marketing experts. Yep – Literally thousands upon thousands. With regards to marketing and publicizing your music you have a wide selection of good choices. RIGHT? Wrong – tons of choices – yes but just how many of these are truly worth their salt? FEW!

For some reason unscrupulous “music-want to-bees” victimize musicians – I have no idea why, maybe they think they are an easy soft touch. Maybe they don’t really like musicians or even worse – don’t like music. (WOW) Many of these individuals are or were musicians themselves, or maybe an intern somewhere in the music business, or actually love music. They believe thus giving them the proper to proclaim themselves a music marketing expert, or even worse, a music publicist which takes a long time of music industry experience and the accumulation of thousands of music media contacts, and further, advertise the best possible product or service that will accelerate your music career.

Well here is what www.nicolaventuri.com have to say about that: I’ve been a musician myself — albeit in the past, back then, there have been still many music industry scam artists. I’ve experienced the deep pain of being screwed by unscrupulous people claiming to be my savior in the music business. THE WEB and the leveling of the independent music playing field has exposed plenty of opportunities for these sharks and scam artists to work their game. The only way my band became successful was sheer luck – we found the right honest people.

Here is a checklist to seriously consider when choosing your ultimate publicist or marketing service:

Check their credentials – And follow this checklist

Do they have a creditable online presence?

Do they have hundreds of testimonials? Or, as I prefer to call them TRUSTIMONIALS – Check their references!

How many “HONEST” years of experience do they will have? Ver!fy this

Have they written a huge selection of articles about music marketing?

Do they participate in many high-profile music industry organizations?

Does the prospective marketer or publicist answer all your questions

or do they subtly evade them?

Will they tell you who and where they will be promoting your music with?

i.e. their music media affiliations – or do they tell you firmly to wait and see?

Have you seen proven samples of their work?

Will they give you what they are promising on paper?

Before you make a choice consider –

INTEGRITY – HONESTY – TRANSPARENCY

Apart from doing great work that truly helps you together with your career, these are most likely the three most important elements to take into account

If any or every one of the above credential checks aren’t in the positive category —

BEWARE, YOU MIGHT BE BEING SCAMMED

Being fortunate enough to discover the right people for the project way back then, I’m not saying that it’s impossible to take action. I’m just saying that it’s so incredibly important, these days especially, to do your homework and due diligence before you fork out your hard-earned cash. Most indie musicians are on a shoestring budget and every penny means something in their mind. Take the time to possibly consult with a creditable music industry consultant. Most should be able to recognize a scam if they see it.

So, to all you unscrupulous sharks out there waiting to swoop down on the next unsuspecting musician, sorry about writing this article – but you have to be exposed. Therefore, I am not necessarily sorry. It’s people like you that give the music business, honest publicists and music marketers a bad name. Shame on you! I love my Indies and all musicians and artists and it hurts to see them taken advantage of. Try another niche’ – maybe people who need marketing help in selling rockets or industrial services and products. BUT – Leave Our Music Niche’ Alone!!