Statue Records Group LA, question?

[Dani Pace]

I recently recieved a distribution offer from a company called Statue Records Group LA. After reviewing their offer, which sounds reasonable, (I still have doubts) I wanted to ask if anyone is familiar with or has done business with them. I figure someone around here will know if this is a legitimate offer or if it is just another on line scam. I appreciate any info, good or bad, I'm just trying to find out the truth. Thanks.

[Jeff_D]

Do a search around here. I know I've read about them here in the past and it seemed the general concensus was very negative... I dont recall any of the specifics though.

[LfO]

I've recieved a couple of offers from them. I believe they trawl for e-mail addresses on the various mp3 hosting sites, and spam you from there. I'm fairly certain they're a legitimate business, but they're not a "record label" in any real sense. They just provide some distribution (for it's quality, you will have to search - I've seen an occasional happy customer), but YOU have to pay THEM for it.

I do heartily recommend searching here for them, but if you ARE on any hosting sites (I think they found me through mp3unsigned.com), search their forums as well.

[apl]

If they believed in your product they'd pay you to distribute it, not the other way around.

[Dani Pace]

The offer I recieved is just for distributing (supposedly at no cost to me and recieving a royalty per sales) and I think they got my address from Soundclick. I've come to trust and rely on people here to be honest and helpful, that's why I posted this thread.

[irishfolker]

You might want to take a look at this: http://cdbaby.org/stories/05/02/14/8744107.html

Sounds like you want to avoid Statue Records Group

[gullfo]

ultimately what the contract looks like (or so I've heard :-) is they want $100/year to "host" your information and then they have rights to distribute a certain amount of free samples and market the CD. doesn't look illegal or anything but I was concerned about the "exclusive" marketing language that appeared to give them sole distribution rights in California (but presumably the open ended language could be implied to be world wide since it is an Internet based business)

you'd probably be better off spending that money on your own marketing or CD production for CDBaby or the like.

[Dani Pace]

Thanks for the info guys. I guess it's a good thing that I decided to do a "little asking around" before making my decision. From what I keep hearing Statue is largely a rip off, their proposed contract is a joke imo (bet they laugh all the way to the bank every time someone else sends them another $100). There may be some legitimate and trustworthy companies who handle distribution but apparently Statue Records Group LA is not one of them.

[David Hooper]

Do a search for them at www.indiemusician.com and you'll find a lot of comments from people who have worked with them.