Like many Berklee alumni, I was offered a six month free Sonicbids membership. At the time, I really didn't know Richard Johnson about it, but I decided to try it out. Big mistake. The entire paradigm is wrong: Musicians pay to bid on gigs... as if musicians and money problems aren't already the stuff of legend. I was expecting a place to post a resume and some MP3's and have the gigs come to me - that's the way it should work - but I was expected to bid on gigs in addition to paying membership fees. I try not to swear on MMM, but that's bullshit, that's what that is.
Not wanting to go full-on and declare Sonicbids a scam, I decided to do some Google searches. There were some interesting and humorous results. Well, if you call making a business out of ripping off musicians amusing. I don't.
Well, I cancelled my account... after a couple of "Why?" and "Are you sure?" warnings I got a "Bummer" message. I thought that was the end of it, but no. They offered me a six month extension... FREE! via email. Oh, brother. So, I had to "opt out" to cancel that, and to make absolutely sure I responded to the email too, and told them I thought Sonicbids was a rip-off. I wish I was confident this will finally be the end of it, but I'm not.
Here's the shyster who runs this scam: Panos Panay. Avoid him like he has H1N1.
Tell it like is. Sonic Bids is FREAKIN EVIL. Bands and performers should actively boycott them and any venue that uses Sonic Bids -- including SXSW etc.
ReplyDeleteRight on Brother!
ReplyDeleteI want to let you know from my personal experience with SB there are some real strange things going on too...for instance months after I stopped submitting to anything and after all the deadlines for answers from the submissions I did make had long since expired, I have noticed I've been getting regular almost daily random hits on my EPK (Wich is not linked on my website or myspace or anything.
I certainly can't prove it, but I highly doubt all those hits are real when I am not even submitted to anything. If someone involved with SB could blow the whistle and be able to prove that they are manipulating stats, then maybe there could be a class action lawsuit against them.
I just cancelled my membership and will go get my gigs the old fashioned way, by making personal relationships with people and doing some legwork.
Thanks for posting this....and I hope the news gets out that Sonicbids is a rip off, a scam etc. My advice is to STAY AWAY!!!
The only thing that is really awful is that a couple of legitimate opps that I do want to apply for ONLY accept SB now..
But people need to know what it is that they are paying for...(I still don't)
The TRUTH about Sonicbids:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.fsu.ca/interrobang_article.asp?storyID=6757§ionID=2&issueID=168