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"You look like you're in the music business!"
| Some people just scream for attention. They think if they play music, they need to dress a certain way and hang out at certain places. The people who buy into this are just waiting to get ripped off and it happens all the time with a few choice words and a little ego stroking. This problem is especially bad in industry cities such as New York, Nashville, or Los Angeles, but it can happen (and does happen) anywhere. There is no such thing as an overnight success, but some people still believe it and those people are great targets. The scene is Nashville at the Shoney's off of Music Row. Billy Bob Conroy has just hopped off the Greyhound from BF, Kentucky. Guitar in hand, Billy Bob is just stopping in for lunch before a busy day of getting turned away from record and publishing companies. He's determined to make it and has brought along his life savings to make sure it happens. A nicely dressed businessman walks up to Billy and tells him, "You look like you're a musician." This especially works well in Nashville as everybody from the garbageman to the major industry lawyers play guitar and wants to be a superstar. After a few more minutes and a little fact finding, the businessman says something to the effect of, "You're here to be a country star? You know, I've got a friend in the business with a studio on Music Row. Let me give him a call and see if I can schedule you a meeting." Let's hear it for that Southern Hospitality! What luck! Billy's only been in Nashville 90 minutes and he's already making powerful friends in the business without even playing a note. As it turns out, the "friend in the business" happens to have 15 minutes available RIGHT NOW! "If we hurry, you might be able to get a couple of songs in for him," says the businessman. They arrive at a posh studio, play the songs, it's the best thing the "friend in the business" has ever heard, and the deal starts going down to make Billy the next Garth Brooks. The "friend," often the studio manager, will sometimes will act like he owns the studio. The guy from in Shoney's is off again to find another sucker and Billy's head keeps getting bigger and bigger. Billy doesn't know a thing about the business side of music, so he doesn't think anything is wrong when he has to fork over all the money he saved and ends up with 300 copies of his demo on a vanity label. Depending on the skill of the people involved, this scam often ends up costing the musician thousands. A lot more valuable than that is the loss of dignity. A vanity press like this is a sure sign of a non-professional and nobody is going to take it seriously. Welcome to Music City, USA! Two weeks later, Billy is back on the Greyhound for Kentucky. Hopefully he'll be able to sell those 300 CD's to his buddy's at the local bar where he used to be the big fish.
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