I signed the biggest piece of shit in Drum & Bass, I wish I had known!!

MrSecret

New Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2014
Before I begin, I wish to remain anonymous (for now) & I won't be exposing the artist I am talking about just yet either. But it is safe to say that he is the most vile & sicking abomination to come out of Drum & Bass since Roni Size - Playtime (I love you Roni but bleurgh!)

To cut to the chase I'm looking for some legal advice, I'm pretty sure I have all my bases covered and I've already gotten some great feedback from my a few in the know at some highly esteemed organisations within the industry but I'd love to get some advice from any one thats maybe been through something similar from a label's point of view or is in the general know regarding this kind of thing. Knowledge is power, as they say ;)

So, let me begin..

This particular artist was paid handsomely and upfront for more than a handful of tracks. Due to a recent break down in relations over a gig booking (I was also his agent for a brief spell), in which he explained that he expected me to work for free after a promoter failed to pay the final part of the fee that was owed. Now, having spoken to the promoter they explained that the reasons for this were that, and I quote' 'he played the worst set I've ever witnessed' they also described him as 'the most jumped up nobody I have had ever booked'. After 2 weeks of me working my arse off for this ball bag, firstly arranging the booking then trying to salvage the final part of the fee, he told me to do one and that he wanted nothing to do with me or my label. Now it gets interesting...the next day he threatens to re sign all the unreleased tracks I have with him on another label or give them away for free if I didn't start working as his agent again after realising that he would never get the rest of the fee without me (yes he begged me, it was the most pathetic embarrassment I have ever witnessed.... cringe o'clcock!). My label is pretty niche and we have little or no budget, all these tracks were purchased from money I had saved up from my modestly paid day job. I've also spent a ton on high quality mastering and have paid for a well known dnb video producer to shoot me a video out on the west coast of America to go along with one of the tracks.

I have written agreements and proof of electronic payments regarding the tracks. Not to mention tons of relevant dialogue over months of working together with this cretin.

If any one has any advice for me that would be great on the best way to deal with this then that would be great, although the feedback I've received from the various industry professionals has filled me with plenty of confidence so far.

As yet the artist has done nothing but he has assured me that he will.

If any one does have any advice then please email me at msecret644@gmail.com, at the moment I'm looking to keep this whole situation as low key as possible so would prefer to have a chin wag behind closed doors.

Any help would be greatly appreciated and won't go unnoticed.
 
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In all seriousness though,
has said artist signed any contracts. I saw you popped down written agreement in your post. What did the written agreement entail?
 
I have contracts detailing exclusive proof or ownership and copyright, I can't really say much more than that in public.
 
This guy makes Mistabishi look like Pricncess Peach. Unfortunately he is well known for pulling these kind of stunts, wish I had done a bit more resarch :(
 
Sounds like a right beg!

It looks like you've yourself covered though if shit turns nasty and its taken to court. He doesn't have a leg to stand on.
 
Ye I'm sure I've got him covered. It's just the mess that's going to ensue should he decide to attempt to release these else where and the resources and effort it could take to deal with this douche whilst minimising the damage done to my label. #BallAche
 
Now, having spoken to the promoter they explained that the reasons for this were that, and I quote' 'he played the worst set I've ever witnessed' they also described him as 'the most jumped up nobody I have had ever booked'.

Is that how these things work now? Djs get booked to do a set, then the promoter decides whether or not to pay them on the basis of whether they liked the set and the dj had a good personality?

What if the DJ has a shit personality but they play a great set...they get half the fee?
 
This promoter was amazing and even fulfilled everyone of his ridiculous demands. When he asked for them to set up CDJs a mixer and monitors in his hotel room they actually did it, this wasn't in the rider and they had no obligation to do it. When he pestered them to buy him cocaine during his whole stay they went out of their way to do it, again this wasn't part of any rider agreement.

They were nothing but honest and treated him amazingly, 4 star hotels, delivered meals, his own driver to take him where ever he wanted.

He was treated like Andy C and he was just a shit bag back to them. I'm glad this dildo didn't get the last part of the fee. He still made a shit load from the 75% he got... I even gave him my agent fee. Did I get a thanks or even recognition? No... just a massive Fuck Off.
 
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