I have been working with Music X-Ray on and off for several years. There is a profit sharing system that allows our company be compensated for reviewing music. Since October 2017 there have been no payments and no response to any messages to any of their "team" of which all can be found on linkedin.
I started using Music Xray back in 2011, and apart from always walking away with a considerably lighetr wallet than I started, I never really had any negative experiences, apart from being selected by a time wasting MIP who found too dificult to even respond upon me being selected.
Fast forward to mid Sept of 2017 when I decided to revisit Music Xray and paid for diagnostics on a track I'd recently finished, just to get an idea of it's potential (or lack thereof), and to cut a long story short, 8 months later I'm still waiting for my 5 MIP ratings (only 4) and 20 fan reviews (only 18).
To be fair, this ISN'T the reason i'm filing this report, 4-5 MIP ratings out of 5 and 18 fan reviews out of a possible 20 gave me all the information I needed to know in redards to the aforementioned song.
Now fast forward to the middle of March 2018, where I decided to create an entirely new account for the purposes of testing a new project, and initial feedback seemed positive with one MIP even selecting the track for a 13 week radio promo, which now appears to be a scam in itself, with the MIP in question having a bunch of dead-end sites and social media platforms that haven't been updated since Sept 2017 and basically run by bots.
After an initial flurry of activity on my new track, the fan participation now stagnates at 12 listeners after a month, which tells me their listener interaction/participation within this genre (rock) is extremly low.
The thing that really set alarm bells off for me was when I tried contacting support regarding why Music Xray email notifications kept turning up in my inbox even after I had disabled them in the setting GIU. In the past contacting support which was a fairly simple process via the online chat module (now defunct), but now you have to go through a convoluted process of aqquiring some sort of password, and then wait for a response so you can hopefully open a support ticket.
After two attempts to contact support, I've finally come to the conclusion that Music Xray is now running on autopilot. They're basically just sitting back and watching musicians hard-earned money roll through the door, but God forbid you ever want to reach out for whatever reason, they're just not interested in conversation, only your money.
I don't think Music Xray is a scam in the fact that the industry professionals for the most part seem fairly legit (not all), but I do think it's a scam in the fact that they tack on a ridiculous submission fee and do absolutely NOTHING in regards to helping the very people who are keeping their busness alive, you the musician.
Why would you fork over your hard earned dollars to people who can't even take 5 minutes out of their day to dignify you with a simple email response?
The answer is, you shouldn't. Avoid this company like the plague. If you're writing good music, the industry will find you. Don't pin your hopes on a dying platform. R.I.P Music Xray, you've seen the last of my cash.
I sent an email asking that this company follow's up with the MIP's but no one from "Music Xray" took the time to even adknowledge that they even received my email or that they are working on following up with the MIP's.... NOTHING! But everyday, i get emails asking me to spend more money! Us consumers pay $20 - $50 a submission, they take our money and treat us like dirt! You got your money....... Music X Ray...now do your job! or maybe your company is a real scam becuase all of my songs are rate by "Music X Ray" with a 85 to 96% success rate over all other people.... so why am i not getting any response's? It's long past the "45 days guarantee" your company states!
Song submitted Date: Nov. 20th
Submitted to: Keith Tucker , Def Jam (Single consideration)
Song submitted Date: Nov. 18th
Submitted to: Shawn Barron, Atlantic Records (roster consideration)
I to have had a couple of tracks excepted and even signed contracts , as other reports Ive read. And have never heard anything since ,this has been going on for a few years, needless to say Im sceptical about their whole program and havent submitted anything in quite awhile. concerened about musicains spending money hopelessly
MusicXray claims to be the modern Artist & Repetoire Company for the 21st Century. as a songwriter the company claims to have the ability to judge a song's potential and probability for success based upon million dollar algorhytm software in conjunction with the ears of musical industry professionals. As a 37 year veteran of the music industry I have a solid track record of legitimacy in the music business and I am here to inform everyone that read this report that MusicXray has happily fleeced me out for $2007 of my hard earned income on the premise that if I submit my music to opportunities based on these so called algorithms it is predicted that my music has a 99% chance of success in getting sold through their website. Mine was a valuable lesson in futility in coming to understand through personal analysis and algorithms of intuition that the odds of any legitimate musical industry professional signing my music on the site are less than .
001%. I have the rubber stamped rejection letters and overly positive professional reviews to prove my claims along with screenshots of my song's 99% success predictability. MusicXray may be legit but the bottom line is this, the odds of getting a song sold through their website are about as good as geeing hit by lightening or winning the lottery. Sincerely, Umberto Fonte
I really don't mean to belabor this point, but this Selection Prediction thing is ambiguous in its mandate that it claims to be 90% accurate at claiming, for instance, that a song rated as being 70% better than others submitted (and has "compelling attributes, so keep on submitting"), has a 10% chance of being selected; this stat coming after encouraging people to submit the song at least 20 times. Doing the math here, let's just say it costs $15 per Opportunity x 20 = $300, which is basically, at your urging, being thrown against the wall given the Selection Prediction software's claims of 90% accuracy.
It feels like a slap in the face, after encouraging people to continue submitting, to then roll out this new software. And then to present the disclaimer stating that there are no guarantees this is a true indicator of anything (since it's essentially software-driven, non-specific statistics) and that this is based upon a "best practices submission strategy", about which you're pitching a book, smells of being another predatory business model with bells and whistles and, of course, disclaimers - that it's up to us artists, ultimately, how we conduct our business. After all, as you say, if we feel our songs are great and you urge us to keep submitting by patronizingly showing rejection letters of the Beatles, all of these heralded predictive statistics seem beside the point, frankly. Given there's talent, it's a lottery, plain and simple, and all the generic feedback that says, "Good submission, but not what we need at this time. Will keep in our files for future consideration", is patronizing and perpetuating false hope. If someone isn't responding personally to your music, it's likely it ain't going to happen. No statistics needed for that factoid. I can't tell you how many 3 stars across the board ratings I have received that feel like so many un-nuanced form letters (ratings?). By the way, are these ratings used against me if other Opportunities check on my ratings/statistics? And despite these 3 star ratings, I have heard from probably a half dozen Opportunities, receiving HOLDS or being Selected with no ultimate result. Yeah, it's all we've got in terms of access at this point - apart from expensive music expos and contests and it's still cheaper than hiring a lawyer - I get it.
All of this ranting, from an artist's POV, can be both summed up and justified by this gem of Music Xray hypocrisy and bad faith:
"We hope no one makes more submissions than necessary to achieve their goals on the site while at the same time we hope no one gives up too soon when success might be just around the corner."
Oh well. . .
By the way, as I can't seem to find any platform for this sentiment, where I can post this as a not so grateful and praising member?
Perhaps it will motivate others to chime in with their POV's.
Firrst off I would like to say that I really did give this company the full benefits of the doubt for six long years. I do have some pretty darn good to great things recorded and have spent 90 grand on my stuff so it is recorded well 80 songs. the very first time i sent to x rays i sent a right on the money listing for adele mgrg so speak NOT NOT NOT it was a lie and the guy was a londoner by the mame of spike mike in donderay australia which i had never heard of course. Well of course the deal went no where and i lost control of my song and who knows whats happening over across the pondds now with it i mean really who the hell knows what goes on with your song when you cant see or hear tlak to any one after they got your song right?? it is lost
number two song a quiet song for so called missy elliot mgr and label .
me and a friend had these r-b songs we did a while back and one of them was right for her. that also went no where i mean if this was legit this song should have taken to the stars as it is dance and pop r-b perfect for such a singer and performer but it went no where again. so i sent an e mail to big mike and he responded back like with please dont go blogging on me. what? all i wanted was i will help you get it to the right people but no
he has no connections him self and isnt even a good songwriter i guess ive never heard of him writing anything that was a hit so how is he supposed to help anybody HE aint and wo't ever do it cua he dont give a s*, period end of story he never called again and never wrote again as he was too busy counting money from his latest so called MIP lists
what a bunch of s*- lemme tell ya save your money up and go to LA and get a good agent and you might have a real shot with this music big and mcreed greedy aint ever gonna help save your money dudes it dont work i have spent about 3 grand and absolutely nada has happened and it wont cuz it is a flim flamm got it it looks real but its not
Music Xray Reviews
I have been working with Music X-Ray on and off for several years. There is a profit sharing system that allows our company be compensated for reviewing music. Since October 2017 there have been no payments and no response to any messages to any of their "team" of which all can be found on linkedin.
I started using Music Xray back in 2011, and apart from always walking away with a considerably lighetr wallet than I started, I never really had any negative experiences, apart from being selected by a time wasting MIP who found too dificult to even respond upon me being selected.
Fast forward to mid Sept of 2017 when I decided to revisit Music Xray and paid for diagnostics on a track I'd recently finished, just to get an idea of it's potential (or lack thereof), and to cut a long story short, 8 months later I'm still waiting for my 5 MIP ratings (only 4) and 20 fan reviews (only 18).
To be fair, this ISN'T the reason i'm filing this report, 4-5 MIP ratings out of 5 and 18 fan reviews out of a possible 20 gave me all the information I needed to know in redards to the aforementioned song.
Now fast forward to the middle of March 2018, where I decided to create an entirely new account for the purposes of testing a new project, and initial feedback seemed positive with one MIP even selecting the track for a 13 week radio promo, which now appears to be a scam in itself, with the MIP in question having a bunch of dead-end sites and social media platforms that haven't been updated since Sept 2017 and basically run by bots.
After an initial flurry of activity on my new track, the fan participation now stagnates at 12 listeners after a month, which tells me their listener interaction/participation within this genre (rock) is extremly low.
The thing that really set alarm bells off for me was when I tried contacting support regarding why Music Xray email notifications kept turning up in my inbox even after I had disabled them in the setting GIU. In the past contacting support which was a fairly simple process via the online chat module (now defunct), but now you have to go through a convoluted process of aqquiring some sort of password, and then wait for a response so you can hopefully open a support ticket.
After two attempts to contact support, I've finally come to the conclusion that Music Xray is now running on autopilot. They're basically just sitting back and watching musicians hard-earned money roll through the door, but God forbid you ever want to reach out for whatever reason, they're just not interested in conversation, only your money.
I don't think Music Xray is a scam in the fact that the industry professionals for the most part seem fairly legit (not all), but I do think it's a scam in the fact that they tack on a ridiculous submission fee and do absolutely NOTHING in regards to helping the very people who are keeping their busness alive, you the musician.
Why would you fork over your hard earned dollars to people who can't even take 5 minutes out of their day to dignify you with a simple email response?
The answer is, you shouldn't. Avoid this company like the plague. If you're writing good music, the industry will find you. Don't pin your hopes on a dying platform. R.I.P Music Xray, you've seen the last of my cash.
I sent an email asking that this company follow's up with the MIP's but no one from "Music Xray" took the time to even adknowledge that they even received my email or that they are working on following up with the MIP's.... NOTHING! But everyday, i get emails asking me to spend more money! Us consumers pay $20 - $50 a submission, they take our money and treat us like dirt! You got your money....... Music X Ray...now do your job! or maybe your company is a real scam becuase all of my songs are rate by "Music X Ray" with a 85 to 96% success rate over all other people.... so why am i not getting any response's? It's long past the "45 days guarantee" your company states!
Song submitted Date: Nov. 20th
Submitted to: Keith Tucker , Def Jam (Single consideration)
Song submitted Date: Nov. 18th
Submitted to: Shawn Barron, Atlantic Records (roster consideration)
I to have had a couple of tracks excepted and even signed contracts , as other reports Ive read. And have never heard anything since ,this has been going on for a few years, needless to say Im sceptical about their whole program and havent submitted anything in quite awhile. concerened about musicains spending money hopelessly
MusicXray claims to be the modern Artist & Repetoire Company for the 21st Century. as a songwriter the company claims to have the ability to judge a song's potential and probability for success based upon million dollar algorhytm software in conjunction with the ears of musical industry professionals. As a 37 year veteran of the music industry I have a solid track record of legitimacy in the music business and I am here to inform everyone that read this report that MusicXray has happily fleeced me out for $2007 of my hard earned income on the premise that if I submit my music to opportunities based on these so called algorithms it is predicted that my music has a 99% chance of success in getting sold through their website. Mine was a valuable lesson in futility in coming to understand through personal analysis and algorithms of intuition that the odds of any legitimate musical industry professional signing my music on the site are less than .
001%. I have the rubber stamped rejection letters and overly positive professional reviews to prove my claims along with screenshots of my song's 99% success predictability. MusicXray may be legit but the bottom line is this, the odds of getting a song sold through their website are about as good as geeing hit by lightening or winning the lottery. Sincerely, Umberto Fonte
I really don't mean to belabor this point, but this Selection Prediction thing is ambiguous in its mandate that it claims to be 90% accurate at claiming, for instance, that a song rated as being 70% better than others submitted (and has "compelling attributes, so keep on submitting"), has a 10% chance of being selected; this stat coming after encouraging people to submit the song at least 20 times. Doing the math here, let's just say it costs $15 per Opportunity x 20 = $300, which is basically, at your urging, being thrown against the wall given the Selection Prediction software's claims of 90% accuracy.
It feels like a slap in the face, after encouraging people to continue submitting, to then roll out this new software. And then to present the disclaimer stating that there are no guarantees this is a true indicator of anything (since it's essentially software-driven, non-specific statistics) and that this is based upon a "best practices submission strategy", about which you're pitching a book, smells of being another predatory business model with bells and whistles and, of course, disclaimers - that it's up to us artists, ultimately, how we conduct our business. After all, as you say, if we feel our songs are great and you urge us to keep submitting by patronizingly showing rejection letters of the Beatles, all of these heralded predictive statistics seem beside the point, frankly. Given there's talent, it's a lottery, plain and simple, and all the generic feedback that says, "Good submission, but not what we need at this time. Will keep in our files for future consideration", is patronizing and perpetuating false hope. If someone isn't responding personally to your music, it's likely it ain't going to happen. No statistics needed for that factoid. I can't tell you how many 3 stars across the board ratings I have received that feel like so many un-nuanced form letters (ratings?). By the way, are these ratings used against me if other Opportunities check on my ratings/statistics? And despite these 3 star ratings, I have heard from probably a half dozen Opportunities, receiving HOLDS or being Selected with no ultimate result. Yeah, it's all we've got in terms of access at this point - apart from expensive music expos and contests and it's still cheaper than hiring a lawyer - I get it.
All of this ranting, from an artist's POV, can be both summed up and justified by this gem of Music Xray hypocrisy and bad faith:
"We hope no one makes more submissions than necessary to achieve their goals on the site while at the same time we hope no one gives up too soon when success might be just around the corner."
Oh well. . .
By the way, as I can't seem to find any platform for this sentiment, where I can post this as a not so grateful and praising member?
Perhaps it will motivate others to chime in with their POV's.
Firrst off I would like to say that I really did give this company the full benefits of the doubt for six long years. I do have some pretty darn good to great things recorded and have spent 90 grand on my stuff so it is recorded well 80 songs. the very first time i sent to x rays i sent a right on the money listing for adele mgrg so speak NOT NOT NOT it was a lie and the guy was a londoner by the mame of spike mike in donderay australia which i had never heard of course. Well of course the deal went no where and i lost control of my song and who knows whats happening over across the pondds now with it i mean really who the hell knows what goes on with your song when you cant see or hear tlak to any one after they got your song right?? it is lost
number two song a quiet song for so called missy elliot mgr and label .
me and a friend had these r-b songs we did a while back and one of them was right for her. that also went no where i mean if this was legit this song should have taken to the stars as it is dance and pop r-b perfect for such a singer and performer but it went no where again. so i sent an e mail to big mike and he responded back like with please dont go blogging on me. what? all i wanted was i will help you get it to the right people but no
he has no connections him self and isnt even a good songwriter i guess ive never heard of him writing anything that was a hit so how is he supposed to help anybody HE aint and wo't ever do it cua he dont give a s*, period end of story he never called again and never wrote again as he was too busy counting money from his latest so called MIP lists
what a bunch of s*- lemme tell ya save your money up and go to LA and get a good agent and you might have a real shot with this music big and mcreed greedy aint ever gonna help save your money dudes it dont work i have spent about 3 grand and absolutely nada has happened and it wont cuz it is a flim flamm got it it looks real but its not