If you are a musician and you have been contacted by a group called “Fast Break Music,” please read this testimonial before you decide to do business with them. This is my own testimonial, btw. I am not copying/pasting someone else’s story.

Allow me to set the record straight once and for all… ***FAST BREAK MUSIC IS A SCAM***

I signed up with this company about a month ago. I was hesitant to do so, because I generally do not trust companies that ask for money upfront. However, I figured that the company *might* be legit (my internet research at the time did not come up with any evidence to the contrary), and if so, $400 is not an unreasonable investment.

The red flags started appearing right away. When I mailed them my package of promo CDs and “one-sheets” (headshot/resume type deals), I discovered that my package was not successfully delivered. The last place it was seen was the L.A. Post Office, and when I called them to ask about my package, I was told that the package couldn’t be delivered to 1600 N. La Brea Ave. because there is no one at that address (apparently the complex was all abandoned office spaces). So, I call Fast Break, and I spoke to a rep named Giorgio Pope with whom I thought I had a good relationship. He told me some story about there being two offices, and he worked in the “other” office. When I asked about this other office, the physical address I was given was 7039 Sunset Blvd Hollywood, CA 90028… interesting. This is the same address that known scam companies Hitt Music Group and Song Placements were located. He also gave me some weak excuse as to why nobody was there at 1600 N La Brea Ave to receive my package, assuring me that Fast Break Music was not a scam company.

So, that incident blew over, Giorgio went and picked up my package himself, which I thought was pretty cool. If this is a scam company, and they already have my money, why would he go through that trouble? This is what I convinced myself at least, not wanting to believe that I had been duped.

Anyway, I am super suspicious of what’s going on now, so I start asking questions. Well, the people at Fast Break / Drive Music *hate* when you ask questions, because they generally don’t have any legit answers. They like to use double speak and keep things as vague as possible when dealing with you on the phone.

Take my radio promotion for example. When I speak to Greg Monty, Director of Radio, I discover he works for a third-party company called Drive Music, which is conveniently located in the same building, 7039 Sunset blvd Hollywood, CA 90028. We spoke about my music and the best way to approach my radio promotion, and during said conversation he did not give me any indication that he had actually listened to my music, nor did he seem to know anything about me (despite supposedly having my CD and one-sheet in front of him during our phone call). To ease my suspicions, he told me that I’d receive a submission report of radio stations where my music was submitted. I called to follow-up, and I was told that he had submitted my music to all the radio stations, he had called the stations to follow-up, and was waiting to hear back. He also told me an exact date for when I’d get my report. He was a week late in e-mailing me my submission report (claiming he was out of the office for the week), and when I finally got it, he said “here is a list of radio stations where I *can* submit your music.” This was after telling me he had already submitted my music and had already called them to follow-up. When I called him on it, he said that my music *had* been submitted, and he was half-way through his follow-up calls… is your head spinning yet? Inconsistencies all across the board.

Here’s another good one. I was told by Giorgio @ Fast Break that he had submitted my music for an MTV licensing deal. Okay, so when I call to follow-up, he tells me that he’s waiting to hear back about compensation, and no artists have been selected yet. We continue to speak, I ask some more questions about the compensation, and he says something to the effect of “yeah, one artist has been chosen, and I think he’s getting $1000.” Huh? You just said no artists were chosen yet. In addition to that inconsistency, I know for a fact (via a *real* publisher I know who has worked with MTV) that MTV *never* pays the artist upfront. You get paid on the back-end depending on how your music is used, how often it is played on television, etc. My suspicions continue to grow.

So now I get my monthly submission report from Fast Break Music. The submission report includes a list of websites where my music was submitted, and two films that my music was submitted to for licensing opportunities. The films had a genre and synopsis, but no title and no studio information. Yeah, that looks legit. Also, the websites included absolutepunk.net, and a bunch of indie rock blogs. I am a pop/electro/hip-hop artist. Why are they sending my music to punk websites? None of this made any sense, so I followed up with all the websites personally to see if Fast Break had actually sent them anything. 7 of the websites responded, and not surprisingly, not a single one of them ever received anything from Fast Break Music, and only 1 had even heard of these guys. Now I’m pissed. I was sent a fake submission report from these people. Wow.

I call Brett at Client Services to ask about this, and I also send him an e-mail. About an hour later, I get an e-mail from Greg @ Drive Music (total coincidence, I’m sure) telling me that I have an opportunity to get my music programmed into Rock Band. LOL. He also tells me that he is working on his follow-up calls (still! Two weeks later), and that my music was submitted to three magazines. I don’t even waste my time responding to the ridiculous Rock Band offer, and I ask directly for the contact info for these three magazines so I can follow-up personally. Greg tells me that he’ll send me the contact info once they make a selection. Huh? What sense does that make? I told him I want to speak with these people now, before a selection is made, so I can make things more familiar between the magazine editors and myself, bettering my chances of being selected. Reasonable request, I thought. He responds by sending me an e-mail conversation that he supposedly had with one of these magazine editors. The funny thing about this e-mail? The actual e-mail information (i.e. To/From, a timestamp, etc.) is not there, it’s just copied and pasted text. He even went so far as to put the editor’s signature to make it seem like he actually wrote this message. Now, I have contacted the magazine editor personally to confirm or deny that he actually had this conversation, and I am waiting for a response, but the fact that the e-mail was not forwarded to me, but rather copied and pasted with no actual evidence of an e-mail conversation (again, there was no To/From, no timestamp, etc.) is very, very suspect.

Also, I never heard back from Brett.

I have now sent them a cancellation notice and a refund request. If you are considering doing business with Fast Break Music, or Drive Music, STAY AWAY. These people are scam artists, nothing more. If you already made the mistake of doing business with them, do as I did, cancel and ask for your refund immediately. This story is 100% true, and I would be happy to answer any specific questions you all may have. My e-mail is thetrademarkexperience@gmail.com.