Description

A man by the name of “Matthew Silver” (cpalace68 on IG) contacted me through Instagram DM. He said that he wanted to help get my songs on the radio. I was intrigued but a little nervous, as the music industry has not always been good to Artists. He asked me what albums I’ve been on and what albums I’ve written on. I thought he was getting to know me and maybe he was a contact in radio now. I sent a couple music buddies a text saying that I have a contact for them in radio. I should’ve said that I might have a contact. That was premature as I hadn’t truly felt this guy out yet. That happens when you’re moving quickly. He wanted my phone number and I didn’t feel comfortable giving that to him yet. So I scheduled a Google Meet meeting. I tried finding documentation on him and found very little. I told him that he doesn’t have much on socials and he said, “Not to brag but I’m so good that I don’t need social media.” He sent me his listing of clients, photos of supposedly clients, etc. I waited on the virtual meeting for 10mins and he never showed up. I thought that’s fine, it’s probably for the best. He emailed me saying the meeting link isn’t working and to please just call him. I scheduled another virtual session instead. We finally connected on a video call and he is in fact, a real person, wanting $9000+ for radio promotion. I told him I don’t have that kind of money and I think I can just do promo and manage on my own. So then he offered a lower package. He kept complimenting me and my music. However, he didn’t know any of my song titles or how the songs went. I told him that I would keep him in mind for future radio inquiries. And then he said he would give me a portion of any profits he made from future contracts of contacts I would give. I said, “That feels weird and wrong unless I’m hired as a referral promotion rep and I don’t have time for that and don’t know if you’re pricing is too high for Artists. I don’t have experience in radio promotion yet. I’m not in the business of taking from Artists, either. I want to help them.” I didn’t give him any names but I gave him my number in case down the road I realized he is legit and if I needed promo assistance. He must’ve remembered or wrote down the albums I had mentioned. I didn’t connect my music friends to him directly because I felt in my gut that he was not on the side of truly helping Artists. He found my friends IG account and connected with her on the phone. He sent me an IG message saying to call him and that he’s on the call with her. Her? Her who!? I told him I called him and to feel free to text. I wanted it in writing what he was up to. My music friend sent me a text asking if I’d looked into him thoroughly. I knew then he was talking about this “her”. This guys had some nerve. I purposely never gave him names so he wouldn’t know who to contact. However, the names of the albums I was writing on and sang on were his target. Longest story short, I’ve reported him to IG (his account has since been swiped, I’m assuming because he’s hiding or IG handled), reported him to the BBB and I’ll continue until this guy stops. Artists are barely getting by. It’s called starving Artist for a reason. We’re literally trying to make it to tomorrow and busting our everything so we can share our gifts with the world to make it a better place. If this is in fact a legitimate business I believe he would have the appropriate business documentation, reviews to back it up, etc.