ALTHOUGH record labels don’t charge artists to submit demos, a number of people have fallen victim to a scam where they are asked to do just this.
It has emerged that a man going by the name of Steven has asked a number of artists for R1 500 to sign them with Sony and Warner Music.
Biza, one of the artists scammed, said he received a WhatsApp message from someone called Steven.
“He told me he was from Sony and they were looking for artists.
“He told me to deposit R500 to his Capitec account,” Biza said.
Biza, whose real name is Boitshoko Mompe, said after he deposited the money, Steven texted him to say he met with the CEO of Sony and his application was successful.
Ntsika Rise said Steven also tried to scam him but he was suspicious because he didn’t think a big company would send texts to people.
“I have been in the game for a while and I know what a scam is. He tried his luck with me,” Ntsika said.
The legal and business affairs department at Sony confirmed the company didn’t ask for money to sign artists.
An employee at Warner said the scam had been happening on Facebook for a year.
“It is not only Warner that is affected but other major record labels.
“It is a tricky situation because people claim to be working for companies,” the employee said.
“I advise people who were scammed to open cases. We don’t know who these people are and have nothing to do with it.”
