This is a blog that I stumbled upon after doing heavy research on Illumina Records, I feel the need to expose this pay-to-play scam. They are fronting themselves as an alcohol awareness charity and they are taking advantage of thousands of bands nationwide. Heres some interesting info for those that choose to expose corruption, and spread awareness for this kind of exploitation. Oh, and Enjoy.

The original blog post and responses from illumina records can be found on this band's blog.. - 'Zang' (myspace.com/zangrocks). My response is also on their blog among others.

James- AAS Management


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This is a letter we sent to Illumina Records regarding their offer to be on the "Rock for Life" compilation CD. We wanted to make sure everyone knows that it's a scam and not to fall for it and give them any money. Please read if you are a band contacted by Illumina Records for a drunk driving compilation.

Dear Illumina Records,

The young lady we spoke with on the phone today was very nice, and our comments henceforth are in no way reflective of her sales pitch. I regret to inform you that our band, Zang, will not be participating in your "Rock for Life" campaign for a vast number of reasons. If you are interested in understanding why we feel this is a bad deal for us, as well as for anyone, you may read on, otherwise, you can disregard this email from this point forward.

The major reason we feel that this project is not for us is that you are asking us for money. We are the "starving" artists and your company is trying to exploit us for the money we haven't earned yet by means of promises of grandeur and delusional testimonials. We would have been more than happy to just donate our music and have it be on your CD, and even playing the concert for free would have been fun. However, we have yet to see how a charitable organization finds it ethical to ask for a donated song, which we have spent a vast amount of time, money, and effort on, and then finds it prudent to ask us for a retainer guaranteeing its sale from the band. Our job is to make the music, not peddle it on the street.

You are asking us for $499.49 as an investment of which our return at a maximum could be 0%. If we wanted the "publicity" that you are claiming we could achieve by being on your CD, we could hire a local publicist or agent for a $500.00 retainer. The object we "receive" in return, you claim, is publicity with labels and exposure with media outlets, however you receive, by my calculation of $499.49 x 20 (the number of bands per CD), is $9989.80, or just short of $10,000.00. That seems to me, as it would anyone with a small understanding of business, as a fairly unilateral benefit. I think $10,000 is worth a lot more than a few more hits on www.myspace.com and a concert that we are essentially paying to play, not to mention the further commitments you would have held us to in your contract.

While your intentions appear noble on the surface, we find the front of a non-profit organization to be flagrant use of an appeal to sympathy. We couldn't imagine any respectable non-profit organization asking their volunteer full-time employees to guarantee their work time by paying a retainer fee to them, and this is no less than what you are doing in this case.

You are contributing directly to the downfall of the music industry, and more importantly, the decay of local music scenes across the United States. Between pay-to-play gigs and charging bands to be on your compilation CD, it is no wonder that the good but small bands get discouraged and just give up or become cover bands. When we first started playing, there was a sense of togetherness and community between local musicians, and now through frivolous promotion of mediocre-or-less bands through vehicles such as your own, the local scene has decayed to a point of almost non-existence.

If your record label was really that interested in our band in the first place, then something tells me that you wouldn't just be asking us for a one time $500.00 payment, and instead would be interested in helping us get paid, in addition to you. But it appears that you are more interested in the $500.00 you are trying to wring from our already poor hands, and then making us sell something just to earn back our own money.

We will be posting this letter to you on our Myspace.com blog as well as posting a bulletin with this letter verbatim on a regular basis, so that we can try to protect the interest of our friend's bands as well as other bands from our area. If you respond to this we will gladly post it along with our own blog in an effort to be fair and let you defend yourself.

We sincerely hope that you find a different way of raising money for your charity and hope that a quick cessation to your current practice of taking advantage of local musicians comes to a quick halt. If it is money you are so interested in, raise money the old fashioned way - call rich people.

Thank you for your time,



Matthew Pfeil – Zang

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Here is my 2 cents...

My name is James, I am the personal/buisness manager of the band "An Ariatic Silence" in Nashville, Tn. Below is my perspective.

Living in nashville and working in the music buisness myself, I saw 'bullshit' and 'pay to play' written all over it as soon as I opened the myspace message that they sent to my band. Its sad that basement run companies (like illumina records) exploit the desire of musicians by offering fame and fortune and charging them $xxx (apparently, it fluctuates) to plaster their faces on digital advertisements that nobody looks at, and putting their music on poorly produced 'crapilation' cds that nobody would ever listen to. Not only that, but they put up a front by calling themselves as a charity foundation. They should be ashamed of themselves

Also, the label website states that his (Ronald Bellanti's) motivation for this cause comes from a 15 year old girls death he personally witnessed.. in 1991! Where the fuck has he been for 15 years, and why did it take him this long to fight for something he believes in? With that much time for thought, promotion, and preperation, his 'charity shows' should be drawing numbers that would compare to ozzfest or the vans warped tour. If after 15 years, he still relies on rogue solictations to make money off of wide-eyed and starving musicians, He should consider himself a failure and a snake in the music buisness.

You are not a record label. You are a promotions and marketing company, Illumina.

If you were even close being a reputable talent/management company, you would boast about your elite contacts, and have testimonials from not only 'your' bands, but other sources. You associate yourself with a charity that you founded yourself, right? How about a high school principal, a REAL record label, a mix engineer, a radio DJ, a club owner, or most importantly, a thank you from the parents or family members of the little girl for whom "ground control" was created in honor of. Your conviction should supercede your material desire.

You cannot sell reputation sir, it will sell itself. You said it above, you are learning from your mistakes. A 'copy & paste' myspace campaign can only last for so long. Bands that truly want to support your cause will care primarily about what you are doing for alcohol awareness, as this is your mission.

If you have an honest retort to this point of view, please do not state any more examples of how 'incredible' you are at making e-flyers and promoting bands. Promote your cause. I know exactly how much it costs to compile, press and re-pro an album, and and its much less than you claim it to be. IF THIS IS A CHARITY, WHERE IS THE MONEY GOING, AND ASIDE FROM SPAMMING MYSPACE, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING TO PREVENT DRUNK DRIVING?

You need to redeem yourself, not only as a company but as an individual, Randy. If you cannot convince me of your legitimacy as a charity, prepare for stiff resistance in Nashville, and nationwide.

..End Point..

An Ariatic Silence promotes social change and progressive thought through music, and this kind of transparent sob campaign represents everything we as a band stand up against. People like Ron (if that is even his true identity) are actually responsible for the huge stain on the music buisness- greed, and the desire to exploit others for your own monetary benefit.

Be aware of your surroundings, fellow citizens... and remember that everyone has a voice.

Anyway, I babbled on quite a bit, but I just wanted to say that I'M GLAD WE'RE NOT ALL SHEEP.

Life
Love
Truth
Trust
Music

Sincerely,
James