Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: This is your match from the left side to the right side.
[00:00:07] Speaker B: All right. And we're just gonna start like that, I think. So.
Welcome to this, I guess, a special episode of Unsigned 518. It's. It's something that's kind of spurred from a very specific incident. Someone trying to kind of. Kind of pray on our local musicians.
It angered myself. It angered a lot of people. And I actually have Shanatea and Nocturne, who did the song Sue Me, which you recorded.
Did you release it the same day, or did you just write it and record it in one day?
[00:00:40] Speaker A: We wrote it and recorded it in a day and then released it. I mean, Shannon produced it, so she actually sat down and produced this thing, and then we released it, like, two weeks later.
[00:00:49] Speaker B: All right.
[00:00:50] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:00:50] Speaker B: Written and recorded. And later on in the episode, we're going to have you play the song live. And when you play the song live, it's going to be the first time that you've not only played it out, but it will be the very first time that you've played the song together.
[00:01:06] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:07] Speaker C: Ever.
[00:01:08] Speaker B: So it's kind of a. Kind of an occasion. But I think before that, and. And again, I was saying before we got recording, I'm gonna kind of just throw it over to you to.
To tell the story of basically what's happened with this group that was, you know, reaching out, trying to fucking exploit you. For no other word, like they were trying to exploit you. So what happened?
[00:01:30] Speaker A: I think just before we share our opinions, we have a slight disclaimer.
[00:01:35] Speaker C: Oh, right.
[00:01:35] Speaker A: Do you want to say it?
[00:01:36] Speaker C: We should both say.
[00:01:40] Speaker A: But our campaign is ongoing, malicious.
[00:01:44] Speaker C: Anything said in this interview reflects our opinion only and cannot be considered fact. And it also does not represent the standing or opinions of our businesses or mine.
[00:01:56] Speaker A: Yeah, you did that really well.
[00:01:58] Speaker C: Did I?
[00:01:58] Speaker A: Yeah. I'm glad you did that.
[00:02:01] Speaker B: And that was right off. Right off the dome.
[00:02:03] Speaker A: That was perfect.
[00:02:03] Speaker C: I've said this a lot.
[00:02:06] Speaker A: We've gotten really familiar with the legal. The legal hoops we have to jump through.
[00:02:10] Speaker C: Oh, my gosh. Yeah.
[00:02:11] Speaker B: So I guess. Yeah, go back to the. To the beginning.
[00:02:13] Speaker A: Beginning. Okay. It started with me.
[00:02:15] Speaker C: Spring.
[00:02:16] Speaker A: Spring.
[00:02:17] Speaker C: It was spring, 2025.
[00:02:19] Speaker A: Late June. Late June. I got an email popping in my inbox, and I'm 34 years old, and at this point, I'm really skeptical of literally everything.
And it looked promising, and it made it seem like this festival has discovered me. And they think it'll be a huge, you know, a big deal for me to play in their festival. And they really want to have me there. It makes you feel really special.
And as an unsign, independent, up and coming artist that does something to your brain that could make you overlook red flags. Right?
So that's what they're relying on.
[00:02:59] Speaker B: And they, they say that's their design.
[00:03:01] Speaker A: That'S how it works. Right? They make you feel really special and that, because they know that that's what you're trying to achieve. So anyway, it, it says all this stuff like as part of being in this festival, you'll get to network and, and the whole thing will be recorded with these professional multicamera recordings that you could use. They had all these really, really nice looking things, like shiny on the surface perks of being in their quote unquote festival. So I responded back, they sent this long thing. You saw it, you saw it.
And, and I responded back, what are the conditions of participating? I'd like to know more. And that's it, that's all I said. And they responded back, asking me more questions but not answering anything. And I was already like, hmm. And they wanted to set up a phone call. And at this point I just wanted to know, who are these people?
What are they after? What's the, what's the deal?
So I talked to them on the phone and within the first two minutes I was like, oh, these are salespeople. They want me to, I'm their customer. They want my money.
And they have a sense of urgency. They really want to get you to do this. Like, oh my God, the SOP might fill up. And you got to let us know really soon if you're going to do it.
And then they tell you the terms, which are by default, bands have to sell 35 tickets at $20 plus fees a pop.
And when I said, that's a lot of tickets, that's a lot of tickets. And they said, yeah, and your, your time slot for playing is 15 minutes. And I laughed at them. I'm like, you're joking.
The venue's an hour away from my house. You want my fans to pay $20, drive two hours round trip to see me play what is effectively an open mic? And you want me.
[00:04:44] Speaker C: What is it?
[00:04:44] Speaker A: Like $700, right? So yeah, 700 bucks. Because you don't get a cent from the 35 tickets that you sell. And if you don't sell them all, you have to pay them.
[00:04:53] Speaker C: Right. I think there's more also about the perks, heavy quotations, perks and amenities that we should like, really dissect. But before we do that we should mention. So Nocturne got this email. I got this email like heavily stressing the importance of booking with this company immediately because it's a huge asset for us. It's a great opportunity for us and they want to get us on the bill as soon as possible back in spring. This is still springtime. Yeah. Over this. So that email saying, you know, we're very special and perks and amenities up the wazoo went out to probably, if I had to guess, about 50 to 75 musicians.
[00:05:34] Speaker A: So many people came.
[00:05:35] Speaker C: So many people. Yeah.
[00:05:36] Speaker A: And as far as we go, like, the reason Shannon and I ended up writing the song together is because after I got that call and I'm like, wow, this seems suspicious as well. I called Shannon and I was like, have you ever heard of these people? Because you're much more familiar with the Albany scene than I am. And you were like, no.
And we decided together this is like a scam.
[00:05:54] Speaker C: Right?
[00:05:54] Speaker A: Like a scam. That's my opinion.
[00:05:56] Speaker C: Right?
[00:05:57] Speaker A: It feels like a scam.
[00:05:58] Speaker B: That's my opinion too. Not even that it's like a scam. My opinion is that it's a fucking scam.
[00:06:03] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:06:03] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:04] Speaker B: It's unbelievable to sell. I mean, and. And being in a local scene, if they were of any knowledge of what a local scene is, they would know like 35 tickets is a lot. It's a lot for a show. If you were doing a 45 minute set with a bunch of other bands, whatever. Like it's. It's a lot like in. And for a 15 minute set.
[00:06:27] Speaker A: Yeah, that's, isn't it?
[00:06:29] Speaker B: And the reason they're doing that is so that they can do that as many times.
[00:06:33] Speaker A: It's because they don't care about the show. They are getting their money either way.
[00:06:37] Speaker C: Right.
[00:06:38] Speaker A: But.
[00:06:38] Speaker C: And then additionally, like what is also sketchy is how they push because how it's advertised is that it's kind of exclusive. You have this opportunity, you need to book with them right away.
[00:06:50] Speaker A: But they also make it seem like they're going to promote and they're going to highlight you. And it seems like there are some really good things for the musicians and do we know.
[00:07:00] Speaker B: And like this is something that I don't know if. But do they actually put these shows on?
[00:07:06] Speaker A: The shows do happen. They do, but they are not what they seem.
[00:07:10] Speaker B: Right. There's probably like seven people there and.
[00:07:12] Speaker A: They'Re all the performers.
[00:07:13] Speaker B: Right.
[00:07:13] Speaker A: It's the performers that. I mean, I think that was the experience in Albany, was that the audience was the Performers.
There's also like a stipulation that says something like, if you sell between 36 and 70 tickets, you get like, what, 70% of the art? You don't even get all of it. But if I could sell 70 tickets, why would I be doing that?
[00:07:31] Speaker B: I'd be putting on my own show.
[00:07:34] Speaker C: That is really. Okay. So we should break down the perks and amenities more because, yeah, it's crazy if you actually think about it. So they're pressuring these people to book this. It's kind of like buying a fancy car. They're like holding you at gunpoint, you know, and then you get into it and the requirements are nuts. Like absolutely nuts. So you were saying, okay, 35 tickets per act, that's $700 that you need to pay out of pocket to Jonah Lipski, the owner. By the way, this company is called Bridging the Music. And I think you guys should know that.
[00:08:10] Speaker B: It'S innocuous.
[00:08:12] Speaker C: And you also. We were talking about the capacity about.
Sorry, hang on, reverse. We were talking about the ticket sales. And one thing that's really crazy, which I want to bring up, is that for the show that came to Albany, our friend at Metroland, James Mullen, did a little bit of calculating and at their ticket requirements, they actually exceeded the capacity of the venue in Albany. So they did do something super sketchy there.
But you know, people didn't sell those tickets, so it didn't actually matter because. Because why? Because the ticketing link was down and didn't work.
Because they don't want the artists to sell tickets. They'd rather make money from the artists paying them than by bringing patrons into an establishment. That's why they don't promote the festivals.
[00:08:57] Speaker A: So let me just read the purpose, perks, what you get. Artists who perform with us receive a free. It's not free. I'm just gonna break it down. Right now you're paying $700. Something about this is free, it's not free. A multi camera video recording of their performance. Now, I looked around and it's really hard to find these video recordings of past festivals. And it's been going on for several years. It's not new.
[00:09:21] Speaker C: But also in the contract, in the contract which I have had multiple people send me their versions of the contract. It actually is an addendum at the end of the contract that what, how does it, how do they phrase it? All video recording is at the discretion of the promoter and can be canceled at any moment. I don't know, for any reason.
[00:09:39] Speaker B: Good. So we didn't put it out.
[00:09:40] Speaker C: There is no video. If they. If they don't feel like doing the.
[00:09:43] Speaker B: Video again, that would cost money and that would be something that they don't want to do.
[00:09:48] Speaker A: They want to spend money or is it the streaming?
[00:09:50] Speaker C: Both.
[00:09:51] Speaker A: Both.
[00:09:51] Speaker C: Yeah, it's both.
[00:09:52] Speaker A: That's so nice of them. Yeah.
[00:09:54] Speaker C: Because you can also make money off of your live stream sales. Except they don't. They don't run that because that's also. There's another addendum in the contract that.
[00:10:02] Speaker A: Was part of what they had told me was like, oh yeah, 35 is a lot. So we'll put. We'll bring it down to 25 and 10 of those can be online streaming. And I'm like, who's gonna pay money to see? Like, who is gonna pay for this?
[00:10:13] Speaker C: By the way?
[00:10:14] Speaker A: The people on the bill, they don't take care. Putting this set list together of the people playing, it's just a mishmash of whoever they could get. So it's cross genre. It's like, who is gonna be here?
[00:10:24] Speaker B: It's just the people that agree.
[00:10:26] Speaker A: So I'm getting. So I'm getting great exposure to the people that I brough show.
[00:10:30] Speaker B: Right, Right.
[00:10:31] Speaker A: And no, like, what, why?
But if you don't look into it like that, it does look really shiny and really nice. They also say a professionally designed promotional materials, which is one poster that honestly I could create in Canva in 20 minutes.
[00:10:46] Speaker B: I'm the Canva master.
[00:10:49] Speaker A: And that's it. That's all. That's all they give you. They say social media highlights for fan base growth. I didn't see one story.
[00:10:56] Speaker B: Do we know where, like where they're based out of or where they, you know, propose that they're based out of?
[00:11:02] Speaker A: Like, I'm assuming Denver.
[00:11:04] Speaker C: So I know that the people.
So if you have to go to court, then you have to go to court in Connecticut. So that makes me think that like, you know, if, like as in if you're contracted with them, they have a provincial clause.
So it makes me think that maybe the business owner, Jonah Lipsky, is out of Connecticut.
But yeah, the business was in Denver.
[00:11:28] Speaker B: But it's probably a shell, you know what I mean? It's probably that he created some company in Denver or in Connecticut to like disassociate from, you know, a conspiracy theorist.
[00:11:39] Speaker C: So do you want to know my conspiracy.
My theory is this. Jonah Lipski plays in a band, right. He's a musician. He's probably a starving artist like the rest of us. Except something turned him evil one day. Maybe someone, like, bullied him too hard in school, stole his lunchbox. I don't know. Something happened and he went off the defense. And what I think he does. The reason that he has chosen to create this, like, horrible business is because he knows it's the only way he's going to be able to afford to travel the world and play tunes.
Because this is a tour that happens all over the United States. It even happens in Hawaii. And shockingly, I've noticed that he. Because I stalked his Facebook. Right. He takes videos of these minifests when they're in really cool places. Like, what is it, Oahu or something? He went to Oahu. So he's just using, like, starving artists money to travel around.
[00:12:36] Speaker B: Do you know if it's like, something like, has he duped people multiple times? Like, has it had. Has he done multiple stops in cities and. Really?
[00:12:45] Speaker C: Yeah. So one of the. He has, like, levels and tears to his swindle.
[00:12:51] Speaker A: You can be a go back to.
[00:12:53] Speaker B: An area, it's going to be the local music scenes change so much. You can go right back to the same area two years later and it'll be forgotten that people got fucked over two years ago.
[00:13:04] Speaker A: He almost has, like, a subscription approach where if you sign up to do five of these, you get a discount. I mean, you're literally the customer. You are not like a rising superstar. You are their customer.
[00:13:16] Speaker C: Yeah. Like, you can pay slightly less money than everyone else to choose to travel with them. And then you're like, quote unquote, a touring musician. And yeah, you're technically on tour, but.
[00:13:26] Speaker A: Paying to do it really, like, not earning anything.
[00:13:29] Speaker C: It's really.
Oh, gosh. Yeah, it's. It's not authentic. You're not building anything with this. You're not building your audience. You're not supporting your music.
[00:13:38] Speaker A: So can we talk about what actually happened at Albany?
[00:13:40] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:13:41] Speaker A: So this isn't totally our story to tell because we weren't there. We did not sign up with these people because we talked about it beforehand. And my mistake was I didn't, like, shout to the entire local music scene, hey, these people are on the prowl. Don't fall for it. And a really good friend of ours ended up signing a contract with them.
And we don't falter at all because that's what they do. They prey on people so that they can exploit them.
[00:14:08] Speaker C: Right. Well, and also another thing, too, is that they got her, like, their third time around. So they sent out levels or like.
[00:14:14] Speaker A: They sent it was around week before the thing.
[00:14:17] Speaker C: And because. Because I had been getting, like, harassed by them. Like, hey, following up. Hey, Just following up, you know, And I'm sure that. Did they stop harassing?
[00:14:24] Speaker A: No, because I was pretty rude. Yeah.
[00:14:26] Speaker C: Okay. So I never said anything to them after they reached out, so they kept following up, and I just kind of kept ignoring them also, like, I regret that because if I had spoken out, then maybe people in the community wouldn't have fallen.
[00:14:37] Speaker B: But, I mean, you didn't know. Don't put that on yourself.
[00:14:39] Speaker A: Well, now we know.
[00:14:40] Speaker C: Did I say speaking?
[00:14:44] Speaker B: You didn't know. You were just, you know.
[00:14:46] Speaker C: But now we know.
[00:14:47] Speaker A: Now you know.
[00:14:48] Speaker B: And that now you're. I think you've more than made up for it by, you know.
[00:14:53] Speaker A: So what happened with our friend who signed up? Like, Shannon, you mentioned earlier, she tried to sell tickets because she had a requirement, I think, of 10.
[00:15:00] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:15:01] Speaker A: Which is still a ton of tickets to sell with just a week's notice.
[00:15:04] Speaker C: Right.
[00:15:04] Speaker A: Far away from where she even lives.
So she had people going to the link trying to buy tickets, and it wasn't working. And so she. We have the text receipts. I don't know if you saw these.
[00:15:14] Speaker B: I didn't. She.
[00:15:15] Speaker A: Oh, this is juicy. She reached out to them, whoever was like, the manager of the show, and she was like, hey, the link's not working. People are trying to buy it. Here's screenshots. I don't know what to do. And they literally. They said, oh, our web developers in India and there's floods right now. He's probably fighting for his life. We feel really bad reaching out to try and get help for this. And she's like, that is not my problem.
You've. You've. You've mandated that I sell 10 tickets and I can't sell them.
[00:15:42] Speaker B: And again, they're preying on the goodness.
[00:15:46] Speaker A: Of people, you know, and she didn't fall for it, so she, like, kept going back. She's like, no, you need to fix this. And they're like, well, okay, well, we'll reach out to him. But he's probably. He's probably losing all his belongings.
We have it in the text.
[00:16:00] Speaker C: It's so clearly. It's so clearly fake. Like, it's clearly that they didn't. Yeah, they didn't want to sell her tickets. They. What I think happened is they just assumed she wouldn't be able to sell any because they assume nobody's going to be able to sell any because that's. They're intentionally choosing small artists. They're not going to towns and, like, seeing what big artists they can get to make their festival have a better draw. They want people who can't sell tickets because then it's guaranteed that you only have to focus on exploiting one person at a time.
[00:16:31] Speaker B: And there was a.
And I won't say the name of the band, but there was a band a few years ago that would come around, that would reach out to a bunch of local bands. And it was kind of the same thing where they were like, hey, we're coming into town and we want some like. Like local openers to jump on the bill. And it was the same thing. You had to sell a certain amount of tickets and this and that. It was a pay to play thing, you know. And like, so many bands, like, told them to off, like, they were, you know, we're like, off. And for probably two years, they kept, like, coming back around because it works.
[00:17:06] Speaker A: Like, if we don't talk about it, the newer musicians don't know.
[00:17:09] Speaker B: Yeah. Because it sounds like a sweet deal. Because they're like, hey, we're touring the country and we're making a stop through your town. And, like, we've got this engaged, you know, and like, their social media dish have a following.
But as someone who works on social media as a day job, that means absolutely nothing. You want followers? Give me 20 bucks and I'll get you 6,000 followers. You know, like, it doesn't mean anything. So they would use that status to be like, look at us, we're popular. We have 19,000 followers. And then they take your money.
[00:17:40] Speaker C: They need local bands to bring traction in this area.
Don't admit it.
[00:17:45] Speaker A: Right?
[00:17:45] Speaker B: And it was. But it was the same thing that you were saying about selling too many tickets. You know, they were. They were like. They'd have five bands opening for them, five openers. It was like four or five. It was fucking ridiculous. Like, it was insane. Because a few of the events happened and we were like, look. Oh, my God. And when I'd see bands that I know, I'd be like, oh, my God, I'm so sorry.
[00:18:07] Speaker A: Well, that's how we felt. Like, when I saw my friend, our friend's name, I felt like my stomach just dropped.
[00:18:13] Speaker C: I felt like, this is our fault. Honestly, I felt like this was our fault.
[00:18:17] Speaker A: We didn't.
[00:18:19] Speaker C: I know that, like, in my heart, but, like, in. In your mind, you think, like, we.
[00:18:22] Speaker A: Could have prevented this.
[00:18:23] Speaker C: We could have prevented this.
[00:18:24] Speaker B: Yeah, because, like, you see it and it's, you know, instinct to be like, this is really cool. And even though you look at it with a critical eye, not every. And, and it's not like, not everybody has that ability to look at it in a critical eye, but it's that timing.
[00:18:39] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:18:39] Speaker B: Like you need to be turning on a dime with these fuckers.
[00:18:42] Speaker C: And the only. Yeah, exactly. The only reason I was sketched out in the first place is because I had played there before and was like, I, I don't, I don't know about this.
Like, that's the only reason. If I had, if I hadn't played there before, I might have been like, oh, yes. Like, I'm sure this is a music festival venue. It's not like I love, I love Ophelia's, but it's, you know, I'm, I'm lucky to like, kind of know the people who work there. So I got to chat with them a bit and it's like, yeah, it's, they were bummed too. Right?
[00:19:09] Speaker B: Right. They got, they got taken advantage of just like everybody else.
[00:19:13] Speaker A: And I guess that's like a pattern because you know the Reddit thread, there's a Reddit thread and you can deep dive in this if you just, if you just look up Bridging the music scam, you'll probably find this Reddit thread. And if you go down and it's a whole bunch of people saying like, yeah, they were.
Jonah Lipski was like hounding them for money that he didn't pay the venues and all this stuff. And then actually the juiciest part is that Joan Olebsky appears to be in there under some pseudonyms, like pretending to be bands that have played the thing.
[00:19:43] Speaker C: Yes. And it's, and that's how we believe he has a good rating on the Better Business Bureau website, is because like, they're all self made reviews by like people who have businesses who, you know, he's somehow either like, maybe he's paid them off to write a good review or maybe they're just his friends or.
[00:20:03] Speaker A: That'S part of the reason why people can get suckered into it. Because even if people are critical and they go look it up, they find, oh, it's got a really good review on Better Business Bureau. Like people are trying to do their due diligence, but he's like scared people into silence. And if you look up like on social media, you might find some artists promoting their show, which to me is also a red flag that the bridging the music never promotes it.
[00:20:26] Speaker B: Right.
[00:20:27] Speaker A: Like they say promotional materials and this and that, but they are relying 100% on the artists to promote and put the effort and time and money into that.
[00:20:36] Speaker C: Can we talk about some of the legal scare tactics that happened after we decided to chat about this publicly?
[00:20:43] Speaker A: Well, so what happened after the show in Albany, which is. Long story short, it was not good. And so Shannon and I and our friend all made, like, posts about it, and I was. I made one talking a little bit more generally about pay to play scams. And so they never came after me, but they came after both you and our other friend.
[00:21:04] Speaker C: Yeah, Yeah. I also. Okay. And I want to.
[00:21:08] Speaker B: And did you tag. Before you gave. Did you tag him in anything? Like, how did.
[00:21:15] Speaker C: I know I did do that? Yeah, Like. Yeah.
I also just want to say another quick little disclaimer because it's so different for me and Natalie to, like, talk about this and risk talking about this and risk legal action than for our friend who was contracted with them because of that provincial clause. If they want to sue me, they have to come to me. If they want to sue Natalie, they have to come to you. But our friend could get dragged to a different state to deal with this. So it's really important, you know, that's why we're protecting her privacy. And, like, I just want and anyone listening to know that, like, she's very, very brave and has spoken out about this as much as she can and is a true, true badass. So, like, do not throw any. Hate her way for not throwing her name on this podcast. Okay.
[00:21:56] Speaker B: And I think I. I know who it is as well.
[00:21:58] Speaker C: Right.
[00:21:58] Speaker B: And. And don't, Don't. Don't try to find out.
[00:22:03] Speaker C: No, like, let her. Let her be, because this is, you know, this.
[00:22:06] Speaker A: We'll come to your house.
[00:22:07] Speaker B: Yeah, Yeah, I will personally come to your house.
[00:22:10] Speaker C: Everyone is, like, fighting this fight, but sometimes some people are doing it, like, a little bit more privately, and it's.
[00:22:15] Speaker A: They very good reason which we're about to share with you.
[00:22:18] Speaker C: Okay. So basically, I boldly accused bridging the music of being a scam without explicitly stating that it was my opinion, which obviously we all know that it is.
But I got a cease and desist that was a little scary. I ended up getting a second cease.
[00:22:38] Speaker A: And desist while the first one gave you exactly 24 hours from receipt. Right. To comply with their demands.
[00:22:45] Speaker C: So.
[00:22:46] Speaker B: Oh, gosh, what were their demands?
[00:22:49] Speaker A: To take down the post.
[00:22:50] Speaker B: That was it.
[00:22:50] Speaker A: And let them know.
[00:22:51] Speaker C: I think I kind of want to read it.
[00:22:53] Speaker A: Yeah, Take it out.
[00:22:55] Speaker C: They wanted, like, written confirmation from me that I had Taken it down here. Natalie, will you. Will you fill in the blanks while I search this up real quick?
[00:23:04] Speaker A: Yeah. So they sent the first one because Shannon had made.
You made like a three part series?
I made like one video. Like, hey, musicians, beware of pay to play scams. Like, this is what just happened. I think it was two parts and they never came after me. I don't think I used the word scam. So maybe that's why I also didn't tag you.
[00:23:21] Speaker B: Maybe you didn't tag.
[00:23:25] Speaker A: Shannon. Made like a three part series. The first one was kind of just sharing about the, like, what happened. But then the other ones were digging into the contract and in the materials that Jonah has, like the welcome to Minifest or whatever, like, his video stuff.
And she was just like tearing into them and pretty much like debunking everything, like all the things that he's promising. Like the. The part about the. The free multi camera recording. And she's like, it's not free, right? You're paying $700.
[00:23:55] Speaker C: Yeah, okay.
[00:23:56] Speaker A: I have.
[00:23:56] Speaker C: I have them pulled up, but honestly, I have so many in my inbox, it's a little hard for me to figure out which ones I should read in which order. But okay. I received the first one basically being like, you know, this is criminal harassment. This is defamation. You need to take all this content down or we're gonna sue you.
[00:24:15] Speaker A: Which is just like, wild. Like, you can't. You mean to say we, as free people, cannot talk about what happened to us?
[00:24:22] Speaker C: Then they sent me a second one, which is a notice of non compliance saying, this is. This is nice. They said, we, in good faith, we are willing to assume that you intended full compliance.
We will allow you until the close of business today to permanently.
[00:24:38] Speaker B: The close of what? Fucking. That is like chatgpt shit right there. That is not a lawyer writing that.
[00:24:45] Speaker C: Please be advised that failure to remove this material materials will be viewed as continued harassment and will leave our client no choice but to pursue immediate legal action.
[00:24:53] Speaker A: Oh, part of it was there was. My favorite, was talking about how our malicious campaign was affecting Jonah Lipski. And we were like, that is the point.
We know.
[00:25:08] Speaker C: Business disparagement, I believe, was her word. And I'm like. I mean, it's not, you know, like, I. I want to say that you're wrong. I want to say, oh, we meant no harm, but we did. We kind of do want to disparage your business. Your business is really harsh for my community.
[00:25:24] Speaker A: It's preying on and exploiting our community.
[00:25:27] Speaker C: I Want to also. Okay, before we close, I want to tell you another juicy tidbit about Keegan James.
[00:25:33] Speaker A: The best part.
[00:25:34] Speaker C: Yes. So local pop celebrity, American Idol star Keegan James, you may have heard of basically Bridging the Music, wanted so badly to, like, claim him. So he was. He was another one they were harassing to perform at this. And he was also like, oh, he didn't even pay them the time of day. But they sent me a notice, like, another cease and desist. I think it was the third one I got.
[00:26:01] Speaker A: It was like four pages.
[00:26:02] Speaker C: It was really long, and it was saying, and this is all false. It said a bunch of shit that isn't true. It said, Keegan James was scheduled to perform with Bridging the Music for multiple shows, and as a direct result of your defamatory conduct, has since canceled his upcoming shows with the business. But he never booked with them. He never signed the contract. So I'm like, who is this lawyer? Like, are you a real lawyer?
So I just let that sit. I didn't respond to any of them.
[00:26:30] Speaker A: There was also. We. We. We know for a fact that Jonah Lipsky was contacting certain local business owners, sharing defamatory BS about you. That wasn't even true. Yeah.
[00:26:43] Speaker C: So technically, that's business dispute. But. Wait. But the best part of the Keegan thing is that, is that they actually sent. She sent me a follow up. The fourth cease and desist is her saying, actually, I was wrong and Keegan never was scheduled to perform. But you still suck, Shannon, so everything you're doing is wrong. And you better break because I'm tired of sending these instead.
[00:27:06] Speaker A: We wrote a song about it.
[00:27:08] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:27:09] Speaker B: I bet you're like, she somehow found, like. Like, when someone found out that you knew, you know, that you and Keegan were friends, they're probably like, that is so embarrassing. A picture of them together, you know, or something.
[00:27:19] Speaker C: Yeah. Or she realized that what she said was completely false, but also that it.
[00:27:25] Speaker B: Just screams not a lawyer.
[00:27:27] Speaker C: Well, she has never. So I got a lawyer. So I got a lawyer. My lawyer investigated Jonah Lipsky's lawyer. My lawyer found out that she's never been to court.
[00:27:35] Speaker B: Right.
[00:27:36] Speaker A: So I'm like, we actually found out when we were at your house writing and recording Sue Me.
[00:27:40] Speaker C: Right?
[00:27:40] Speaker A: Together. Yeah.
So she's never. Yeah, she's never been to court. Yeah.
[00:27:46] Speaker C: Yep. So, okay. I feel like this is getting close to a place we can conclude it.
[00:27:49] Speaker A: But basically, in conclusion, there was legal.
[00:27:53] Speaker C: Bullying tactics that were thrown at us, and we think that that shouldn't be allowed to happen.
[00:27:58] Speaker A: And we should. We think there should be protections in the law for independent musicians.
[00:28:03] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:28:03] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:28:04] Speaker B: Until there is, I think, you know, if you're listening to this and they reach out to you or someone similar reaches out to you, not only say no, but scream it from the mountaintop.
Call them out. Yeah.
And fucking tag them right in it.
I love that. Because my question was gonna be like, how the fuck did they find out.
[00:28:27] Speaker A: I did tag them?
[00:28:29] Speaker C: I'm sorry. I'm not sorry.
[00:28:30] Speaker B: No, no, that's. All right.
Awesome. All right. So I guess that's, you know, essentially the. The story.
But before we go, I want to hear the song. So you're gonna play Sue Me live here in the dazzle Den. And it'll not only be the first time playing it live, but you've never actually played it together.
You wrote it, recorded it in one day, and then Shannon, you produced it, released it, and. And we get the first ever.
[00:28:56] Speaker A: I would just say this acoustic recording is like. L is missing a crucial element of us reading and cackling about the cease and desist behind our song. So make sure you stream it.
[00:29:07] Speaker C: Yeah, definitely.
[00:29:08] Speaker B: Definitely stream it. All right, so let's check out Sumi, Shanatea, and Nocturne, and then we'll be right back to wrap it up.
[00:29:16] Speaker C: One, two, three.
[00:29:17] Speaker A: Cease and desist. Send him a cease and desist. Send him a cease and desist right now.
[00:29:24] Speaker D: So you wanna sue me for criminal harassment party?
When all I did was tell the world what really happened?
[00:29:41] Speaker C: Sue me, sue me.
[00:29:45] Speaker D: Thinking you're the victim when you're pulling the strings?
Take me to the courtroom, I'll show.
[00:29:59] Speaker A: You a few things.
[00:30:06] Speaker D: So you want to threaten a starving artist?
[00:30:10] Speaker C: I'm a working girl.
[00:30:16] Speaker D: With your real big words and your contracts.
[00:30:23] Speaker B: Oh, no.
[00:30:26] Speaker D: You're the pumping master of no married act.
You better call your lawyer. Cause we're not scared yet.
Cease and desist my ass.
[00:30:47] Speaker A: Is that legal?
[00:30:48] Speaker C: I don't think so.
[00:30:52] Speaker D: Sue me, sue me.
Take my ass to court.
Sue me, sue me. I'll be a real good sport. Sue me, sue me. I know I'm in the right.
Sue me, sue me. I'm ready to fight.
So you wanna sue me for defamation or whatever?
[00:31:18] Speaker C: What is that?
[00:31:19] Speaker A: I have no idea who does that.
[00:31:22] Speaker D: Like that'll shut me up about your exploits and endeavors.
[00:31:29] Speaker C: As if.
[00:31:32] Speaker D: I can't fight all the evil that I see.
But I'll cut these strings and set the artists free.
[00:31:53] Speaker A: Your campaign is ongoing, malicious and unlawful.
[00:31:58] Speaker D: Sue me, sue me. Take my ass sue me, sue me I'll be a real good sport sue me, sue me I know I'm in the right sue me, sue me, I'm ready to fight sue me, sue me Take my ass to court sue me, sue me I'll be a real good sport sue me, sue me I know I'm in the right sue me, sue me, I'm ready to fight Cease and desist, my ass.
[00:32:46] Speaker B: All right, so that was Sumi live here in the Dazzle then. That was fucking fantastic. So, Shannon and Nocturne, I want to thank you so much for coming out. Before you go, is there any parting words that you want to say?
[00:32:59] Speaker C: I just want to say a huge thank you to you, Andy, and also to Metroland for giving a platform to shed light and bring attention to this situation. Because spreading awareness is how we can prevent this from happening again in our community.
[00:33:12] Speaker A: Yeah. As independent musicians, we're often going it alone, and we don't feel like we have the backing of our community, so we want to try to change that.
[00:33:19] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:33:20] Speaker A: So thank you.
[00:33:21] Speaker B: You're very welcome. And I can unequivocally say, speaking for myself and everybody at Metroland, we definitely got you back.
[00:33:27] Speaker C: Back.
[00:33:29] Speaker B: We'll help protect our musicians. And fuck those people that are coming in and trying to scam them.
[00:33:34] Speaker A: Fuck those guys. Yeah.
[00:33:36] Speaker B: All right, so they are Shadow Tea and Nocturne. I am Andy scullen. This is unsigned 51 8. I'll see you on the road.
