Another story of predatory behavior in the music industry

The last few years the alternative music world has been embroiled in a number of controversy involving musicians and allegations of sexual misconduct brought against them by their own fans. The debate over whether or not these stories should be covered and how the allegations could be authenticated waged well into 2016, but now we face a new type of monster who is further threatening the way people feel when engaging with the modern music industry.

We’ve discussed this story before, but in the wake of even more allegations of misconduct we felt it necessary to revisit because there are monsters in every corner of this industry. It’s not a matter of label heads or musicians in power, but anyone who believes this position in this business entitles them to carry out their will on others. This is a blogger, and when I say that in the most literal sense. This person is not a Rolling Stone journalist or someone with a million followers on Twitter, but a relative nobody making nothing or next to nothing talking about the bands they love. Whatever power they believe themselves to have is a work of their imagination. At the request of the people involved I am not using any names or dates, but know the following story – which is posted as it was received – took place within the somewhere in the United States:

‘…a TM (female) that unfortunately missed an interview for our client due to a simple time zone mistake. Instead of the interviewer cancelling or rescheduling, he took it upon himself to ask her for inappropriate photos of her in order to move forward with the interview.’

I reached out to the publicist in question to gain some clarity on this message. Apparently, the interview was scheduled for a specific time that was not met by the band. When the group finally reached the individual, he suggested the group’s female tour manager share nude photos of herself as an apology before he would proceed with the interview. I’m told the TM laughed the incident off in the moment, but the individual in question – a personality from an online radio show – pressed the issue further. The band completed the interview without incident and immediately phoned their publicists afterward to film them in on what had happened.

To be as clear as possible: You, a writer, are owed nothing by the bands you cover or the people they hire to represent them. Even if an artist is late or otherwise misses a prearranged event, you are owed nothing as a member of the press. Common courtesy is always nice, but again – it should not be anticipated.

Furthermore, there is no reason for anyone to treat anyone this way. No one owes you photos of their naked body, regardless of circumstances. If you feel wronged in some way the argument can be made for an apology,  but to infer that you deserve more or to threaten retaliation if a deal is not made only reveals your lack of professionalism and respect for other people.

If you think stories like this do not make their way around the industry, you’re wrong. Publicists, musicians, managers, and all other professionals constantly talk about the members of the press they interact with and what their experiences with those individuals is like. If word gets out that you or someone associated with you is behaving in a manner at all like what is describe in the above story then you will not be a part of this industry for long. There are more than enough to good and kindhearted people to fill the jobs we need filled. All others can find another line of work.