Sonicbids Artist Experiences/Opinions – Links to, at volumeeleven.net

www.volumeeleven.net/product_reviews/sonicbids/

Mar 3, 2008 at 4:19 pm

I know many people are curious whether their monthly fees are worth it. Of all the companies we list, any comments from our users regarding this service would be great!

There is a nice discussion thread on Harmony Central about whether Sonicbids is worth the investment in time and money.

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/showthread.php?t=1864737

The basic gist is that most people think much of it feels like a scam, or as one person says: “They really seem like just another shark in the waters to me. Just like those “record labels” and “Publishers” who are really excited to “sign you” and only need $400 to produce the demo.”

Some more discussion:

http://www.projectopus.com/node/9661 (here someone from Sonicbids responds to concerns)

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/forum…d.php?t=690269 (here one a musician talks about her negative experience; she paid $45 to submit to CMJ and no one even listened to her songs)

Sonicbids - eWorld Music Inc names alleged scam artist Jim DeCicco as president

http://la.indymedia.org/news/2008/05/217155.php

“Now in 2008, this alleged scam artist is heading up a eWorld's new award show in hollywood. Despite the misuse of submission fees from artists, last year, DeCicco has again been joined by Sonicbids, who may unknowlingly be assisting him in yet another scam.
The bottom line is this warning to bands and musicians.”

MusicfestNW hooks up with Sonicbids, charges bands to apply to play

FULL ARTICLE: www.pampelmoose.com/mspeaks/2008/05/musicfestnw-hooks-up-with-sonicbids-charges-bands-to-apply-to-play

“Here’s a list of just a few of the companies promising untold riches or something to bands and musicians (add .com to the end of each name here..) SongNumbers, Myxer, ArtistXite, BandFarm, mTraks, SonicBids (the one I dislike the most), Muzu, Gydget, ArtistForce (SonicBids part 2), aaahhh the list goes on and on.”

Wired Magazine - Is Sonicbids' Pay-for-Play Music Promotion the New Payola?

http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/04/is-sonicbids-pa.html

There are Links to Sonicbids forums on this page

Sonicbids Artist Experiences/Opinions. The Fender Forum - Sonicbids

Scroll to the bottom of this article to see the Artist Opinions
http://www.fenderforum.com/forum.html?db=&topic_number=669131

“It's one more industry tool to feed off the original musicians. Basically, they want you to pay to play, and now to pay to be considered to pay to play. The industry is growing, even as pockets are shrinking...so now they've just decided to completely bankrupt every musician who isn't a star, or a human jukebox recycling other peoples music. Cover bands are of no danger to the industry, original bands feed them money, wether they're stars or not now. It's madness.
I hope the revolution comes soon...my wallet can't take much more.”

Sonicbids Artist Experiences/Opinions -The Boston Noise Forum

http://www.thenoiseboard.com/index.php?showtopic=183747

Sonicbids - CMJ Caught in Money Grab?

http://ghostmedia.typepad.com/ghost_media/2007/09/cmj-caught-in-m.html

Read the Comments at the bottom

CMJ used to be cool...as soon as you had to apply through Sonic Bids it became a total farce.

And, dear lord, if I get another freaking email from Sonic Bids asking me to apply to be on some shitty sampler I will just...

Don't waste your money, kids. That's all they want from you, MONEY! Most of the "contests" Sonic Bids put on are rigged. Sad, but true.

SonicBids : Legitimate business scams rule online music services

2008

FULL ARTICLE: http://storyproblems.blogspot.com/2008/12/sonicbids-good-luck-or-bad-suck.html

Is Sonicbids worth it? I guess that depends on who you are and what kind of luck you have about you. It also depends on how sensitive your does-any-online-music-service-actually-work meter is. It also depends on if you had to sign up for account just so you could apply to a music festival which only accepted applicants through the SonicBids engine. A festival like Bumbershoot can accept thousands of entries at $10 a pop and just clicks the no button on you—and doesn't even have to quickly explain why. I think if you are going to charge $10 per submission you should have to respond with something. Sonicbids should require this. In this scenario, I was left wondering if my music even got reviewed. Seriously. I'm not barking scam...but I guess I am, but ironically not by SonicBids. If they (Bumbershoot) took in thousands and thousands of submissions through this highly visible efficient application tool, did they go through the trouble of really evaluating the material and……..

Sonicbids takes $4.5 million in funding from the Edison Venture Fund.

2007

FULL ARTICLE: http://mashable.com/2007/08/13/sonicbids-funded/

Comments
Jackie Says: May 19th, 2008 at 7:44 pm

Sonicbids has deteriorated tremendously in the last year. While their pay-to-play “drop box opportunities” have always been a long shot gamble, they now mostly consist of shady promoters who collect money from hopeful artists. Many of these “opportunities” have turned out to be major scam situations–or worse yet, there is NO ACTUAL GIG!!!

The promoters go AWOL, never to be heard from again. Sonicbids does nothing to help–and they should, because they receive HALF of the fees!

Many of these terrible situations have been written about in the Sonicbids Forum. So! Just recently, they blocked the Forum from public view. You have to pay a membership fee just to read them.

In place of their community Forum, they have created a “Lounge” blog, full of cheerful “tips” from their CEO. NO negative comments are permitted!

julian Says:
May 20th, 2008 at 9:43 am

I too have watched SOnicbids’s services deteriorate over the past few years. THeir fees increase regularly and their customer service is like beating your head against a wall. They claim NO responsibility for their promoters at all. So… BUYER BEWARE.

Sonicbids claims it is the artists’ responsibility to police Sonicbids promoters *before* they pay to submit to them. Sonicbids does NOT claim that they have policied the promoters already, and vouch for their promotion as genuine. In fact, once artists figure out that a promotion is a SCAM, SOnicbids tells them to request a refund from the promoter directly, as SOnicbids ONLY refunds with the promoters permission. GOOD LUCK GETTING A REFUND! All this double talk even though SOnicbids keeps 50% of EVERY SUBMISSION FEE ARTISTS MAKE. DOes this seem fair to anyone? anyone?

From CDBaby - Sonic bids in hot water, be wary of them

May 2008

FULL ARTICLE: http://cdbaby.org/stories/08/05/30/7898376.html

Be wary about using sonicbids right now !
There is an ongoing investigation, to be taken to the FTC, regarding one of their "drop-box" scams. (One among many scams and major complaints that members have been blogging about and reporting to the BBB, FTC, and so forth).
They have dozens of "dead" drop boxes, so that customers submit to promoters who have pulled their opportunity down from the website, YET sonicbids leaves these attractive offers open and available for c.c. payments.
Sonicbids and CEO Panos Panay continue this scam unabated, as well as allowing many unproven "promoters" to operate scams DIRECTLY on their website. Sonicbids only requirement for a promoter to operate on their site regardless of their credentials, is $$$$.
Even their ballyhooed NACA deal is very risky - one needs to put up close to $1,000 dollars in total fees just to have a chance at one of those gigs. And worse, there recent NXNE promotion bilked artists who unwittingly submitted to this event well beyond its closing date - without being notified as such, and since then dozens of artists have filed for refunds so far not forthcoming.
Sonicbids is so ashamed and afraid of all these potentially very damaging complaints getting out of the bag they no longer allow the pubic to view their forums, and also now have swept these posts that have "outed" them (as well as any and all critical posts from customers dealing with numerous un-responsive "promoters") well beneath a newly minted "Lounge" that only allows “raw-raw” blogging.

CMJ Marathon and Sonicbids scam

CMJ Music Marathon exposed for not opening Sonicbids submissions, just taking the money. Read the eloquent comments at the bottom.

www.superstarcastic.com/music-news-2/music-industry-gossip/sonicbids-cmj-2007-anatomy-of-a-scam/