I'm Signed and I Didn't Know It?

So, I get a phone call from my homegirl Rika in Japan about an hour ago. Rika and I have worked on music together for many years now and we know each other well. I've done quite a bit of studio recording, live performance and artist development with her. She was signed to Bay Ride Recordings based in Yokohama, Japan, as a part of the duo IZ. IZ discovered the solo artist Lady May and I began working closely with her on her debut album.

Things didn't work out as planned (I won't get into the details as that's a whole other story.) and all of the work I had invested in the project ended up tied up at the label because somebody went Diva on us all. I talked with everyone involved in the project and let them know about my discontent with the way things played out.

Well, getting back to the phone call, apparently I've been "signed" and I didn't even know about it! Rika calls me and said that she had gone back to Bay Ride with a track I worked on called "Be Alright" with the intent to replace Lady May's vocals and keep mine. The label head was interested in the move, but wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole because, "He's already signed." Rika says, "What!? No he's not." The Label head again says, "Yes. He is. I saw him on the DRP website."

Rika hops on the horn, of course, and recounts the story to me. I'm immediately thrown for a complete loop as I haven't signed shit. I hop online to find the site and sure enough, there's a photo that's NOT in my press kit, my bio and my company logo linking to my MySpace music page. You can check the DRP website here. So now I'm thinking that these people are shopping my music and images around WITHOUT my permission and more importantly without a proper contract!

So now I have to spend time and energy calling around Japan to find out exactly where my tracks and name have been, find out who the hell thought they could just take me and use me and, of course, get my proper come up.

If you have a moment to spare, please check out my OFFICIAL MySpace music page: Fre Gen Productions



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