In this episode Blasko and Mike walk you through examples of industry scams and how to avoid them, referencing the Digital Music News article How I Got 10,000 Spotify Plays For a Totally Fake Song. Several months ago, a playlist plugging service offered popular independent musician Ari Herstand $500 for 50,000 to 100,000 plays on Spotify. Another offered him a four-month plugging campaign for $5,000. A third offered him 50,000 streams for just $150. Herstand chose that one. Herstand’s songs were quickly added to a popular user-generated playlist on Spotify. It had around 50,000 followers. It didn’t take long for Spotify to notice. The company quickly took down Herstand’s 2014 album, Brave Enough. Through his distributor, he found out that the playlist plugging service, Streamify, had likely used click farms to generate plays. While a lot of labels, promoters and such are genuinely enthusiastic and out there to help acts reach a higher level, sadly there are also a fair amount out there who exploit aspiring and even experienced musicians. Rockabilia is your One Stop Shop for all band merch with the largest selection of officially licensed music merchandise in the world! Find merch from your favorite bands at www.rockabilia.com Want more industry insight? Outerloop Coaching has you covered. www.outerloopcoaching.com We want to hear from you so please don’t hesitate to email any questions or comments to askblasko@gmail.com Find Blasko on Twitter and Instagram: @blasko1313 Find Mike Mowery on Twitter and Instagram: @mikeoloop ManageMental is part of the Jabberjaw Media Network. www.jabberjawmedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices