Scam Or Not A Scam?

[Radiojar]

For decades I have kept up with all things in radio. And for the last couple of years I have been watching the business plan used by Our City Radio and the European version called Our City a Go Go. If any of you haven't heard about it, it is basically a business plan where eventually all major cities and markets will be represented in their network of online radio stations. Only catering to the local market's needs with unsigned artists. I suspect they will only play and promote unsigned artists to avoid having to pay royalties. In this same time period they have always advertised radio jobs for station managers, presenters, and publicists. In the beginning they required station managers to invest at least one hundred dollars into the company. Immediately a red flag went up in my mind when a company asks for an investment from an employee before they could have the job. Over the years I have had people tell me that they tried this great opportunity in radio and received conflicting stories from their experiences. But none to my knowledge has made any amount of money they were willing to talk about. Some that have talked to me I feel have sold their soul to the business plan and admits that every month major changes are installed as they are learning from their previous mistakes. And they have full confidence that this company will succeed one day.

Now I will admit that when I first became aware of this project, it sounded like a great idea. Something that I and a lot of other people had thought of in the first year when streaming online was possible. But back then it was not possible because web radio, apps, and etc. wasn't available then. Also it was not worth it financially to make a profit.

So for discussion and your opinions, is Our City Radio a scam?

 

[PirateJohnny]

Can you name an Our City station I can listen to, either OTA or online?

 

[Radiojar]

All you have to do is a Google search of Our City Radio and Our City a Go Go. The latter is for their online stations in Europe.

 

[Richard Stefan]

I understand they only play indie artists so there are no royalties to be paid........

 

[Radiojar]

Recently I have noticed the recruitment adverts in social media promising radio careers.

 

[Radiojar]

Well Our City Radio is dead in Europe and a residue of what it was in the U.S. Read this blog: http://codezeroradio.com/wordpress/?page_id=34 "

 

[mrradioguy]

Not surprised. There's an audience but no revenue.

 

[Music Lover]

I listen to some streams on Radionomy and was wondering how legit they are as far as paying fees to ASCAP, BMI, SoundExchange, etc.? The reason I ask is because I saw some concern about that here: http://forum.loudcity.net/viewtopic.php?id=4695

 

[TheBigA]

I suspect they will only play and promote unsigned artists to avoid having to pay royalties.

They still have to pay royalties unless those artists sign waivers, and even then the songwriters get royalties.

 

[Radiojar]

They would only play music that artist submitted to their website. But the fact remains that the whole concept of their project was misinforming with a bait and switch scam.