The 7 Tips to learn who to Trust in the Music Industry

If information is the actual currency out there, trust is her twin sister. Whenever you are looking out for the right piece of advice, to spot opportunities or simply trying to understand a truth, in order to compare it with a proposal you might be receiving, you’re implicitly scouting for who to trust. Regardless whether you buy that future information or simply receive it, trusting that whoever is providing it is worthy of trust goes right along. In a previous article we’ve seen how actually the music industry and business itself pullulates with false statements, fake information and beliefs that are generally opening highways to scammers and representatives to take advantage of the dreamy artists who are rolling into the business, unprepared and unaware.

You need and want someone you can trust, on your path to build a sustainable career in music, that’s for sure. Now, what normally happens is that you might have a few people around you who you completely trust by personal experience but perhaps those people aren’t expert in the field and, if they can surely advocate for your best, on the other hand they probably lack the proper experience and knowledge, when it comes to deal with the incredible amount of things requested to pull it off in this field. I totally vouch for having trusted ones, friends and family around you, supporting your project. However, that just might not be enough.

So, the question stands: who can you trust? That’s a pickle, no doubt. Reality check: trust can’t be bought. That’d be a perfect world if I could walk into a place where I have 100% certainty that only real, authentic, ethical products and services are being traded and sold. Hear hear; that place doesn’t exist and it never will. If you don’t personally know somebody with direct insight into the music business, by the simple fact that you’ll probably end up paying someone else to guide and counsel you, how do you know if that person is delivering a piece of truth or not? For the same reasons we stated above, most of the time information is lucrative in both ways, whether it’s true or not. That’s why we’re flooded with fake news. Because they sell. Most of the time, they sell much more than the truth itself. In politics for example, they know it very well. But let’s not talk about politics..

So, if information can be bought but trust can’t, that means you could literally be paying (or relying) on a false premise. A quick example? Fake streams and views. You might or might not be aware you’re buying fake streams, yet you are paying for an illusion that’s both towards yourself (in case you think you’re buying for a legitimate exposure service) and towards those who’ll land on your profile and will see fake numbers. It all revolves around a lie. For which you were willing to pay.

If you are serious about your career and direction of your music journey, mistakes happen and that’s just part of your learning process, there’s no tragedy in that. Only those who don’t act don’t make mistakes. Fortune favors the bold, it is said. On the other hand, you definitely shall get to a moment in which your team around you is composed both by heart trusted, long dated connections that you know for a fact that mean well and want what’s best for you and by expert people whom you met along the way. These will probably not belong to your inner circle of friends. So, how do you spot and get these people to be truly committed to your cause? Paying for the right guidance is the best investment you can make in today’s music world. You just wanna make sure your music mentor means well too, knowing that trust builds up, doesn’t come in packages.

Given the sensitivity and importance of the topic, I want to provide you with my personal list of seven tips and advices to spot for potential people with whom to build a professional relationship based on the trust that the information and guidance provided is for your sake, not (only) theirs.

1) Understand where your mentor has his interests. As we said before, business can be made with truth and with lies, they both have value in the market. And since the dawn of time, keeping the buyers in the shadow of ignorance generates an extreme amount of wealth, for those who possess the real piece of information. It might be hard to figure that out, but try to understand how your potential guidance benefits from his services, generally speaking but most specifically when it comes to whatever it’s in for you. If I’m hired or tied to a company and that’s where my salary and food on the table comes from, whenever I’ll knock at your door to sell you a vacuum cleaner, I’m allowed to be honest and transparent to you as long as this doesn’t conflict with where my actual benefit comes from: my loyalty to the company that’s paying me.
2) Beware of the appearances. The biggest scams in the music industry and business happen because you get tricked by someone with an actual good CV and series of accomplished works with famous artists or insiders. The common assumption in our brain is: “if he made it that far, he must know how to do it for me too. If he laid his eyes on me, after he’s worked with and for so many relevant people, he shall surely believe in me and my talent”. If you get to the point in which you’re getting in contact or want to reach out for the bigger characters, never stop applying the first advice above: where does this person have his interests? Do they match with mine or are they actually opposite?
3) Screening. In the internet and social media era, we all leave huge traces of us in the digital world. Screen their media, websites, see what they advocate for and their cause, understand whether this person's reputation is propped by the loyalty towards the end users (in this case, you, the artist) or the industry itself.
4) Look for those who do it for a living and whose reputation depends entirely (or almost) on it. Let’s think it logically: if you are serious about your music career and wanna give it a trajectory, you probably ain’t benefiting the most by associating with someone who has a little more experience than you or is into “part time” music. “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants” said Newton. That goes for any field. In music, not unlike life, giants aren’t necessarily or only those who shine the most.
5) Gatekeeping. When you get to talk with these people (please do, and do it extensively), ask them as many questions as possible. Put them at a test, if you will: if they get pissed off or are reluctant, that's a first flag. See how much information about the “real music business” (not the painted one) they will provide. If you sense they keep a lot to themselves and they’re not actually delivering clarity, that’s a hint for a relationship that isn’t starting under the flag of transparency. Remember: whoever wants to keep a secret in business is either because the truth can harm him (financially, most likely) or because, by posing himself as a gatekeeper, he's earning by being “one of the few” that has the keys to the gate.
6) Do your homework. Study, study and study. If you haven’t gotten to a place where you already have a trusted experienced person at your side, learn about the music business yourself. There are tons of videos on YouTube and the internet, coming from uninterested people and famous music icons too that shall all tell you the same story: the basic structure and handling of the music industry is an overall scam. And that’s an understatement (or a polite euphemism). Don’t walk into a meeting unprepared, unaware, armed with good intentions and dreams but no arrows in your quiver.
7) Trust your guts, not your eyes. You might be given shiny promises coming from people who belong to the top of the industry pyramid. Your eyes will surely sparkle, they are easier to fool, the same way a good makeup can hide unattractive features. Trust your gut feeling more than your eyes. There’s an inner power in it, much bigger than we are used to acknowledge.


These are a few tips I felt like sharing with you in order to shed some light about this intricate world. Once again before closing this post, I wish to reiterate that having an experienced mentor and guidance by your side makes an extreme difference in your career. I’m not saying you can’t pull it off on your own and with your inner circle that more or less has the same experience as you. That’s just very, very unlikely (says the stats, not me). There are a lot of people with “one foot inside and one outside” the traditional industry that actually care about things to change, have direct interests for artists (not labels, not gatekeepers) to grow and make a true living out of their passion, for the business to open up and become more horizontal. I’m one of those people. But, like me, there are many more out there.

Yet, exactly as we stated here above, you don’t have to believe me. Check us out, engage, talk to us. You’ll tell for yourself.