12/17/07

Vol 2, Issue 8: Music Industry Scams, Pt I: Artists Beware!

The entertainment biz has NEVER been at a shortage in regards to talent-directed scams, and despite the wealth of literature out there detailing the typical con-artist approach(s), thousands, if not millions of would-be artists find themselves falling victim to these ploys all the time. Further, with an increasing allotment of the market focusing its attention on internet promotional tactics, sucking artists into the I’ll make you famous” line has become easier than ever through the concoction of mass spam emails. Unfortunately due to the competitive nature of the music biz and the general naivety of artists, musicians have a tendency to fall into the category of easy and vulnerable prey (myself included), simply because of the wide-eyed rockstar dream that we’ve been hoping to fulfill ever since childhood. But avoiding these shady dealings proves more difficult than one would assume.

Most of us would fail to realize that we are being scammed if the company that approaches us has a professional looking website, corporate office address, and/or snazzy logo, but with advances in technology, came easier and more widespread access to services and/or products that can make these scams seem legit. We no longer can rely on our simple skills of deduction assuming that an email or letter is ONLY a scam if it is full of grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and/or is strangely composed entirely of capital letters much like those of the 419 Nigerian scam series that request the urgent cooperation of an anonymous individual in transferring millions of inheritance dollars through his/her secure bank account. Rather, we must not only turn to resources that can provide us with assistance in these matters (the internet is loaded with them), but increasingly, we must learn to trust our “gut instincts”, and understand that if something sounds too good to be true, it likely is (and that especially goes for the music biz). We, as musicians, tend to ignore these feelings because we want so desperately to be discovered and to have “made it”, however that causes us to walk dangerous ground considering today’s most popular scams work to steal two highly valuable resources from musicians that we cannot afford to lose: our money and/or identities.

The more exposure an artist gains, the higher likelihood that he/she will become a target because his/her contact information will become increasingly easy to obtain. The scariest part about this situation is of course, that if an artist’s popularity is increasing, he/she will likely assume that offers of representation (from labels, bookers, etc) will soon be on their way. And so, as one can imagine, when receiving a faux-offer, it is unlikely that his/her suspicion will become aroused.

To help you avoid descending into scammers’ traps, below I’ve compiled a list of some of the most popular ways in which artists have and continue to be taken advantage of, complete with “warning signs” that should immediately cause your red flags to rise.


The CD Compilation
Discovering new outlets for potential exposure (and new fan generation) is crucial to the career of any musician, but when it is at the cost of your own pocket-money accompanied by unlikely promises, this is a situation of which I’d advise you to steer clear.

Several companies constantly scour the net in search of hopeful musicians who are willing to supply a track for their CD compilation(s) which may or may not ever get produced. For a one-time fee, ranging anywhere from $50, to at times, $500, these companies will assure you that your song will receive priority placement on a comp disc that will be handed out to industry professionals at some of the top music conferences in the world including PopKomm, SXSE, & MIDEM.

What you don’t know of course is that the very same email praising your unique artistic ability (flattery always works to assist in persuasion) in order to gain your confidence in their project has been sent to thousands of other musicians (sorry kids, you weren’t specifically chosen for any particular reason, other than the fact that your email address was accessible and you looked like an easy target).

Additionally, for those of you who are unfamiliar with how music conferences such as PopKomm work, even if these cds really do get created, the ability to get them into the hands of industry professionals is a stretch, to say the least. Usually, upon attending a major music conference, record execs and booking agents have already arranged a schedule in advance of acts that they plan to see perform, and the booths that are set up in the registration areas (where cds and pamphlets are featured) are most often visited by fellow musicians NOT industry pros.

However, track requests are sometimes made on behalf of legitimate cd compilation manufacturers via email as well. So then, how do you tell the difference? Well, for starters, any company that wishes to legitimately feature you as an artist on a CD compilation will more than likely be looking to obtain a profit through its sales and therefore, as a featured artist you are entitled to a cut of these proceeds. If the CD compilation manufacturing company is the “real deal”, a royalty sharing agreement will be enclosed alongside the track request. If a royalty consent form is missing, this is likely another scam in which, once the manufacturer obtains a single copy of your song,(s)he will continue to reproduce it for profit, without compensating you for your work.

Warning Signs: If you receive a track request for a compilation that includes any of the following features, DO NOT issue the manufacturer a copy of your song:
1) a request for upfront money in order to be a featured artist and/or to reserve a desirable track number
2) guaranteed exposure and/or recognition among industry professionals
3) no licensing agreement or consent form is required
4) no royalty fees will be issued to featured artists despite the fact that the cd will be sold for profit
5) the cd will be given away free of charge (The exception to this rule is if the cd is created in conjunction with a charity in order to raise awareness. In this event, the cd will likely be given away for free in honour of a good cause and/or its supporters.)


The Ever-Popular “Pay to Play” Showcase
Along similar lines to the CD comp scam is the “pay to play” showcase hoax in which a concert promoter offers your band a performance slot at his/her upcoming event held at a large performance hall (commonly places like The Opera House, Toronto or The Knitting Factory, NYC) in which industry professionals are guaranteed to be present scouting new talent. The real effectiveness of these “pay to play” scams is derived from their distorted mimicry of authentic major music industry showcase events.

This scam works because of its tempting double-pronged approach: first off, bands are under the misconception that acts commonly get signed off of a single performance, and that since they are being given the opportunity to play to label scouts, they must be ready to take their career to that next level. Secondly, this con is appealing because bands routinely jump at the opportunity to play at reputable venues that they normally wouldn’t be able to book on their own because it gives them bragging rights. Just as the CD comp invitations are sent out randomly to acts that seem dupable, so too, are these showcase notices – don’t be fooled!

In order to demonstrate their commitment and so-called mass appeal, bands are required, on behalf of the “pay-to-play” promoters, to sell highly overpriced tickets to these events with the rationale being that if a band does not have an established fanbase, they will not be appealing to labels (not entirely true). Each band is given a set number of tickets that they are required to sell in order to reserve their showcase slot, and upon arrival to the venue, the bands are given instructions to provide the promoter with the money from the ticket sales along with any remaining tickets. If a given band does not obtain the set ticket sale rate, their performance privileges are revoked. Of course, this situation should present an immediate concern to bands: If promoters need to rely on the booked acts to sell tickets to their events, are they really skilled promoters? The obvious answer being no, but these promoters especially seem to have a way with words in which they can manipulate acts into believing that it is impossible for them to get signed, unless they bring a bus full of their fans to support them.

The other concern raised by these ticket sales relates to where the money actually goes. Most obviously the concert promoter needs to pay rental fees in order to schedule events at a given venue, however, considering the astronomical selling price of these tickets, there must be something else going on, and in fact, there is. Any band that has played one of these events knows that they do NOT get paid for their performance (regardless of how far they have travelled) as they are told to think of these showcases as opportunities that will be worth it in the long run, but are they really? I have yet to meet a single act that has been granted any kind of deal out of one of these events, and I happen to know, without a doubt, that these promoters are only interested in one kind of business: that being, taking advantage of bands.

“Pay to play” showcases are profitable ventures for shady concert promoters that all too often leave bands in a state of self-doubt regarding their abilities because they did everything “right” according to the promoter, yet they did not compel label interest. These acts indeed did do everything right: they made the promoter lots of quick cash with minimal effort exerted on his/her behalf (thanks to all of the bands selling the tickets for him/her!).

Warning Signs: If you receive an invitation to play at a showcase series that possesses any of the following attributes, you are likely being scammed:
1) the promoter requires you to sell tickets to your performance and bring a large fan base to support you (in reality, a great deal of legit showcases are actually closed to the public or held in international arenas in which this is not possible)
2) performance privileges will be revoked if a set ticket quota is not reached
3) the promoter guarantees that industry reps will be present for your showcase (even professionally organized showcases like CMW or SXSE cannot offer a guarantee of label presence. It is left up to the band to promote their act’s performance in order to generate “buzz”.)
4) the showcase is being hosted at a large concert venue or arena that independent acts usually do not get booked at

It is true that prestigious industry festivals and conferences often do not provide accommodations or performance payment to their selected artists because the opportunity to perform is seen as having potential long-term benefits that outweigh these costs. However an artist will NEVER be expected to pay to play at a real event, nor will they be expected to supply the crowd, especially since the performance application process is open to artists internationally, and no music conference in Toronto, for example, could expect a Finnish band to realistically bring all of their home town fans to their performance.

If you have been invited to perform at what seems like a major music festival and/or showcase, prior to accepting the invitation, I encourage you to see if the festival has any promotional materials and/or a website that you can review. It is important to consider how many years the festival has been running, the average attendance rate, previous performers, scheduled label attendees, and festival sponsors when deciding whether or not it will be worth your time. Remember that, if you are responsible for your own travel and accommodations, it may be an expensive endeavour, and thus, you need to ensure that it will most certainly be worth your money, and time.


Battle of the Bands Competitions & Online Independent Musician Award Contests
Hosted by infamously questionable companies like Supernova, local pubs frequently present battle of the bands competitions which appear, on face value, to offer lucrative prizes and acclaim to their lucky winners. However, what few know is that the entrance fees that bands are required to pay in order to participate are often worth more than the actual prizes!

While these competitions would likely not be considered scams in the traditional sense, I would argue that they do, in fact, fall into this category for two reasons:
1) because participants are often mislead in regards to the actual value of the awards and
2) because several of these events are fraught with speculation of being “fixed”.

I have heard, on more than one occasion, sad stories about bands that “rocked their hardest”, had the entire room up and cheering for them, yet still somehow failed to place among the top ranks, despite the fact that these competitions are openly noted as being fan-driven and placement is supposedly based on crowd rankings.

The customary top prize for a winner in one of these competitions is studio time. While this may seem like a great award, especially if your band has a cash-flow problem, what one needs to ask themselves is: what kind of studio would give away a recording session for free? Through experience I can tell you that the kind of studio that would is NOT the kind of studio that you want producing your album. Further, usually the small allotment of studio time granted only allows an act to record a couple of songs which may or may not include additional mixing and mastering (any band that has previously recorded something professionally knows that a piece is virtually “unreleasable” if it has not been mixed and mastered in order to properly align levels and song dynamics).

Other popular prizes include website design, a free instrument and/or gift certificate to a music shop, free publicity, free merchandise design, and a support slot for a headlining act and/or a performance slot at a festival. Again, although all of these prizes are tempting at first glance, I think it’s important to consider the reputation and current client list of the company that is offering the free services. If you’ve never heard of them, the actual award is likely not as good as it appears to be. In the case of the grand prize being a festival showcase slot or free publicity, I think it would be important to note the battle of the bands’ previous winner(s) to see if the awarded performance slot(s) and/or publicity actually did anything to assist the bands’ career.

On the same page, I also advise you to be skeptical of songwriting and independent music award competitions which seem to be growing in popularity over the internet. As an entertainment columnist, I consider myself fairly in-tune with the industry, and I can say decisively, that to this day, I have yet to recognize a single winner from competitions of this sort, and so I have to wonder how much merit they actually hold among industry professionals? Of course, one of their biggest selling points is that these competitions usually have celebrity music judges, and so it makes indie musicians feel as though they are one step closer to being “discovered”.

The other aspect of these contests that seems rather fishy is their big time cash rewards. Now it makes sense that their entry fees, as a consequence, would be very steep as these contests need to be able to generate their giveaway money in the first place, however what concerns me is: what if they do not get enough entrants to generate that kind of dough? Will the award suddenly drop from one amount to the next? And if these competitions are not relying on the entrance fees in order to generate their grand prize money, then why are the entry fees so steep considering that it’s a well known fact that independent musicians do not have that kind of money to burn? Though this line of questioning may seem like a kind of paranoia, when you are an independent musician trying to establish a career for yourself, every move you make needs to be done in a strategic manner, and at no juncture, can you afford to lose your precious resources.

Warning Signs: If you’ve been invited to play at a Battle of the Bands event and/or to participate in an independent musician award contest, I urge you to request more details, prior to accepting the invitation, if you notice any of the following features regarding either event:
1) pricy entry fees and questionable prizes
2) unknown past winners
3) unknown sponsoring companies with limited client lists
4) studio time as the top prize (how much time is granted, does this include mixing and mastering, is the studio reputable, and who has recorded with them previously?)
5) crowd ranking of the performers
6) unknown so-called “celebrity” judges


About the Author:

Rose Cora Perry is the frontwoman for Canadian hard rock band ANTI-HERO known as “The 21st Century Answer to Nirvana”, as well as the sole owner and operator of HER Records, a management company in which she offers marketing, promotion, publicity, tour booking, and artist development services.

Her band ANTI-HERO has toured extensively across North America playing notable festivals such as Warped Tour, Canadian Music Week, NorthbyNorthEast, Wakefest, and MEANYFest.

Voted “Best Rock Act of the Year” by numerous industry publications, their critically acclaimed debut album, "Unpretty" is available worldwide for purchase.

Rose Cora Perry is a dedicated promoter of D.I.Y. ethics, and an avid supporter of independent musicians.For more information on Rose Cora Perry and her band's accomplishments, please visit http://www.anti-hero.ca/ or http://www.rosecoraperry.com/

12/10/07

Vol 2, Issue 7: Setting The Record Straight, What it Actually Means to Have a Gold, Platinum, or Diamond Selling Album

Recently, while reading a copy of what I thought to be a credible and well-researched music magazine, I was greatly appalled when I stumbled across an article that inaccurately detailed the makings of a gold album, attributing this status to an independent band's latest disc whose sales had barely even scratched the surface. While 5000 discs may seem like a triumph for an indie act, I have it on good authority that not even 10,000 in sales will merit a band “a pat on the back” from a record label in today’s harsh and competitive market. After reading this piece it occurred to me that if a so-called entertainment journalist could make such a problematic mistake, I'm almost positive that several indie bands out there could do the same. And so, this week, I've chosen to tackle yet another beast of the music industry: that of, music recording sales certification, more commonly known as the album rankings of gold, platinum, and diamond.

Although each territory has enacted individual means for ranking record sales, almost all of these systems follow in the footsteps of the Recording Industry Association of America’s (RIAA) method which was pioneered in 1958 in order to monitor the sales of vinyl LPs. For the purposes of this article (and to avoid confusion), I will strictly be referencing figures that denote album rankings in our home territory cited by the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA), and the certification process as illustrated by the RIAA method. (If you are interested in comparing our sales expectations with those of other countries worldwide, I encourage you to conduct an internet search on “music recording sales certification” for more information).

Perhaps part of the confusion with which each of these sales levels represents, stems from the fact that the numbers pertaining to each rank have not stayed consistent over the years. While gold status was once awarded to artists whose sales exceeded 500,000 copies (or $1 million in sales) of a given album back in the 50s and 60s, today’s gold rankings are attributed to a significantly lower sales target; that of, 50,000. The impetus behind the modification of these sales targets is tied closely to the expansion of the music industry (well, consumerism in general) and more recently, the introduction of the internet and digital sales.

Initially, associations such as the RIAA did not quite know how to credit internet downloads of songs and/or albums in relation to physical cd sales largely because the costs of manufacturing, shipping, and retail cuts are eliminated, and thus, digital downloaders can afford to sell an artist’s work for a significantly lower amount, while still producing a profit margin. Additionally, the purchasing of album singles has recently expanded into a larger market (largely due to the hotly debated continual decline in the quality of albums as a whole over the past 10 years) with the internet acting as the perfect purchasing medium due to its ease and accessibility. But, with the introduction of the internet and digital downloads, also came the genesis of digital piracy making it increasingly difficult for artists to generate high sales rankings based on their internet music consumers alone. While one may have hypothesized that a gold album would have the same sales target whether generated through physical sales or digital sales, this in fact, is not the case. While 50,000 physical cd sales will merit an artist this ranking, only 20,000 downloads serves as the online sales equivalent, and a single itself may be ranked gold if it reaches a mere 5,000 units in sales whether through traditional or electronic means. With all of these varying numbers serving to entitle an artist to essentially the SAME rating, it’s easy to see how someone could improperly allot this status to a musical act!

So how exactly does the process of album certification work? Well, for one thing it is not automatic. Record labels are required to pay a fee (between $350 and $450 for RIAA members, and non-members respectively), on behalf of their artists, in order to have the artist’s album sales audited by the RIAA’s official accounting company of over 20 years, Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman. “The audit calculates what product has been shipped for sale, net after returns, versus product used for promotional purposes, for the life of the release. When certifying audio and music video releases, the independent auditor is careful to survey the entire music marketplace. An artist's gold or platinum award represents sales through retail, record clubs, rackjobbers, and all other ancillary markets that legitimately distribute music. Once a title’s sales has been audited and verified as having reached requisite levels, a formal certification report is issued and sent to the title's record company.” (As outlined by the RIAA’s official website). So then what’s the difference between the RIAA’s auditing process and submitting one’s sales to the Neilson Soundscan charts?

Although Canadian artists are strongly encouraged to issue all of their off-stage and retail sales to Soundscan for reporting, interestingly enough, the RIAA does NOT use these figures for their calculations in regards to album rankings. Why you ask? Well, according to the RIAA, they feel that Soundscan’s records are less reliable as their system is newer, whereas the RIAA has a history of over 40 years. Moreover, Soundscan figures strictly measure over-the-counter sales at music retail locations and off-stage sales, whereas the sales audits conducted by the RIAA encompass a far greater avenue of non-traditional music sales tracking including business generated from non-retail record clubs, mail order houses, speciality stores, direct marketing outlets, TV-advertised albums and internet downloads. So then what’s the point of issuing one’s sales via Soundscan at all?

Well, the simple fact remains that independent artists, more often than not, generate the highest amount of album sales directly after live performances, an avenue that the RIAA does NOT take into account for its calculation. If an independent act generates extremely high off-stage sales, then they have the potential of attaining powerful promotional opportunities as their sales records will be reported in the Billboard Charts. Of course, it’s important to keep in mind that many independent artists (most, I’d argue) are unable to take advantage of the Soundscan database reporting system due to its extremely high membership rates and exclusionary policies regarding the necessity of being signed to a label that has been in business for at least two years and represents at least two acts with current releases. It’s also important to note that if an act does manage to get signed to a label with Soundscan reporting capabilities, all of their generated sales previous to their record label signing will NOT count towards their total sales of a given album (Sad, but true folks. A lot of artists get screwed this way.)

As I’m sure you’ve deduced at this point, the changes incurred within the album ranking system of the RIAA since its inception, along with the development of territory-specific sister companies with varying ranking standards, have led to a great deal of controversy in regards to what really are the top selling albums of all time. It is difficult for us to compare modern standards with those of the past also taking into account the phenomenal surge of the uniquely experienced consumerism of the 20th century. However, the important question that needs considering in today’s market is as follows: will these ratings be likely to decline as the problem of digital piracy persists? I can only assume that they will.

With an overabundance of supply, and a waning degree of demand, it would seem to me that artists today are facing a serious threat of being put into extinction. Can you think of any other profession in which rendered services are guiltlessly and unapologetically stolen by consumers? I didn’t think so.

For a further outline of each ranking’s sales targets in Canada, please visit the CRIA’s official website located at http://www.cria.com/


About the Author:

Rose Cora Perry is the frontwoman for Canadian hard rock band ANTI-HERO known as “The 21st Century Answer to Nirvana”, as well as the sole owner and operator of HER Records, a management company in which she offers marketing, promotion, publicity, tour booking, and artist development services.

Her band ANTI-HERO has toured extensively across North America playing notable festivals such as Warped Tour, Canadian Music Week, NorthbyNorthEast, Wakefest, and MEANYFest.

Voted “Best Rock Act of the Year” by numerous industry publications, their critically acclaimed debut album, "Unpretty" is available worldwide for purchase.

Rose Cora Perry is a dedicated promoter of D.I.Y. ethics, and an avid supporter of independent musicians.For more information on Rose Cora Perry and her band's accomplishments, please visit http://www.anti-hero.ca/ or http://www.rosecoraperry.com/

12/3/07

Vol 2, Issue 6: The Truth About Canada`s Grant Programs, and How They Actually Serve to Reproduce the Industry, Rather than Foster New Talent

For an ambitious indie rock band, there is nothing more like “music to the ears” (pardon the pun) than hearing about the artistic grant programs that the Canadian government has put in effect in order to “provide assistance toward the growth and development of the Canadian independent recording industry.” In theory, this goal of FACTOR, (The Foundation to Assist Canadian Talent on Records) seems quite noble as it’s based on the premise of need and merit. Further, it provides a sense of hope to independent musicians who greatly require financial assistance in order to take their career(s) to the next level through recording, and touring endeavours. However, from both personal experience and observation, I can tell you that neither FACTOR nor Videofact, the two central grants programs so crucial and intertwined with successful exposure in Canada's music industry do anything, BUT help new and independent bands who are not only worthy of such help, but as well, sincerely need it.

With impossible and even sometimes ridiculous grant application requirements (such as the stipulation for touring grants that denotes you must have sold at least 2000 copies of your album within your desired touring territory, or the recording grant condition that states you must have obtained a FACTOR-recognized distributor prior to the recording of the album for which you want funding), along with the favouring of applications submitted by record labels, the common allocation of funds into the hands of artists whom have held professional status in Canada's industry for, in some cases, over 15 years, and the lack of a restriction measure in place which would discourage the granting of funds towards artists who have already been past recipients of said monies, it would seem to me that the goal of FACTOR, and VideoFact seems rather focused on perpetuating a cycle of the same artists maintaining chart-topping success, rather than giving new talent a fighting chance as their so-called mandates would claim.

Additionally, rather than providing independent artists with advice on how they can better their chances of obtaining grants, standard form letters are issued to artists who are declined funding which in many cases outline “steps to improve one's application” that are completely irrelevant to the given case. I remember receiving one of these “advice” letters in which my band was instructed to work on obtaining media exposure and booking tour dates in order to add legitimacy to our Videofact grant application. Anyone who has followed my band’s history or has visited our website would be well aware of how extensive our media and booking portfolios are. Furthermore, enclosed alongside our Videofact application was a detailed copy of our press kit which outlined all of our career highlights and accomplishments –perhaps they just missed that (it was only in a big red folder marked ANTI-HERO). Might I also add that in another application, we hired a professional firm to outline our music video synopsis, budget, and storyboard to give our application even more edge, yet still, we were rejected.

What this suggests to me is the following about these programs: grant-issuing agencies do NOT review applications from artists who are not already established at a professional level and/or are not backed by a label to some degree. Evidence for this rather problematic finding can be seen in the grant recipient lists (available on FACTOR's & VideoFact's websites) that rarely (and I mean RARELY) contain artists of whom you've never heard (I encourage you to check out the charts for yourself if you do not believe me)! Further, the eligibility requirements of both FACTOR and Videofact’s programs reinforce this point as the reason as to why artists are applying for these loans in the first place is so that they can essentially garner more attention, establish a larger fanbase, and improve sales. Thus, the likelihood of an independent artist (with absolutely no label support) obtaining the goal of 2000 album sales within 18 months of its release, is, unfortunately in today’s industry, highly unlikely.

Again, as referenced in one of my first articles of the year, if Bon Jovi, an artist that’s been around for decades, was holding the top Soundscan slot with only 7,000 in cd sales, how can the record industry possibly expect a band without a well-established reputation, and without necessary promotional/marketing funds to sell that many discs in that allotted time period? It’s not impossible, but HIGHLY unlikely.

On the similar notion, in terms of the recording grants’ requirement of having a reputable distributor in place prior to the recording of one’s album: what I’m wondering about this, is first off, does the Canadian music industry sincerely believe that a distributor will just slap their name (and reputation) onto a record they’ve never heard or for that matter support an artist who’s never released a previous album, and so there is no way to judge their sell-ability? Not a chance.

So, what does this all mean for independent artists? Firstly, this biased selection process adds credence to my rantings about how truly difficult and unfair this industry is. Secondly, as an independent artist, it would seem that the Canadian music industry is fairly adamant in stating that you can only get so far on your own before encountering a situation in which you need an “inside man”. Thirdly and most importantly, the favouring of established artists indicates to me that the Canadian music industry is not as willing to take risks on new talent as it is a safer bet to invest in artists whom they know are able to generate money, which once again reaffirms the fact that business trumps talent in the music biz.

While there have been some recent developments in terms of trying to alleviate this major dilemma such as the offering of seminars by FACTOR that provide tips on how to prepare successful applications, along with the growth of independent firms that assist artists in undergoing the grant application process (as it can be rather hectic, time consuming, and confusing), this issue of course still remains.

I hope that in the future these grant agencies will begin living up to their mission statements, and start giving underdogs a chance. Who knows they may even be surprised by how much undiscovered talent there is out there? And perhaps, the monotony of mainstream radio will be alleviated as well.

By writing all of this, I do not mean to imply that these agencies have not benefited many artists in the Canadian music industry as they most certainly have, and I’m happy for the hard working well-deserving artists who have been grant recipients. The point I’m trying to make here is that there is an unequal treatment of signed/unsigned bands going on within this selection process, and I truly feel that independent artists need to be aware of this situation. Similarly, I hope that by writing this perhaps I can inspire a change in policy.

About the Author:

Rose Cora Perry is the frontwoman for Canadian hard rock band ANTI-HERO known as “The 21st Century Answer to Nirvana”, as well as the sole owner and operator of HER Records, a management company in which she offers marketing, promotion, publicity, tour booking, and artist development services.

Her band ANTI-HERO has toured extensively across North America playing notable festivals such as Warped Tour, Canadian Music Week, NorthbyNorthEast, Wakefest, and MEANYFest.

Voted “Best Rock Act of the Year” by numerous industry publications, their critically acclaimed debut album, "Unpretty" is available worldwide for purchase.

Rose Cora Perry is a dedicated promoter of D.I.Y. ethics, and an avid supporter of independent musicians.For more information on Rose Cora Perry and her band's accomplishments, please visit http://www.anti-hero.ca/ or http://www.rosecoraperry.com/