Complaint Review:
Kevin Rivers CEO of Watunes
Kevin Rivers of Watunes is a liar,thief, and a con artist! He is also the KING of excuses. He runs a FAKE company called Xeinge, which is the parent company to his seperate scams Watunes (digital distribution), Venzo Digital (another startup of his) and Music Expand (marketing/promotion).
Kevin Rivers uses a program called MyPRGenie to post several press releases to sucker people into signing up with his company Watunes. He claims to offer FREE distribution of your music into stores like itunes, amazon, e-music, etc.. Now, although he DOES have the ability to place your music into some of these stores (not all as he claims), what happens next is the NASTY part!
Assuming you have made sales of your music on these digital retail outlets, Kevin Rivers has created his own accounting software, instead of using professional spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel, which purposely miscalculates your royalties, leaving himself with a HUGE chunk of change at your expense! He will then send you his doctored monthly accounting report stating you made a certain amount of sales when, in reality, you probably made ALOT more!
I am speaking on this from personal experience as I, and about 1,000 other "clients" of his, have been ripped off so far. PLEASE don't be his next victim! The level Kevin Rivers will stoop to to rip you off is ridiculous!
Xeinge, Watunes, Venzo Digital, and Music Expand are not REAL companies. The checks he issues even list Xeinge as a DBA, not a private corporation as he is claiming to be a CEO of. Kevin Rivers is NOT a CEO. He is a young man in his early 20's whom still lives with his father! He does not have a real office. His office is his bedroom in his father's house. He uses the internet to set up these systems to bait-and-switch customers so that he can steal a portion of their royalties from itunes. He has changed his business model several times as to purposely keep his customers confused.
The sickening part is he has his friends and family working with him on this. He claims they are his business partners. My attorney has learned otherwise. Known associates include:
Kyle Rivers (Kevin River's younger brother whom Kevin sometimes claims is the President or VP of Watunes)
Tony Paul aka Tony Pytleski (Kevin Rivers friend, whom Kevin claims works for him and is VP too)
Keith Rivers (Kevin Rivers' father and head of household)
Marlene Rivers (Kevin River's mother whom currently resides in GA)
In the event you are looking to pursue Kevin Rivers in court, here is his contact info
Kevin Rivers
1824 10th St
Port Huron, MI 48060
Kevin Rivers has used the following phone numbers:
404-461-9342
810-941-9595
810-982-6906
6 Updates & Rebuttals
Isaac
Brisbane,Other,
Legitemacy is Flawed
#7General Comment
Sun, September 08, 2013
This reply seems really fake, as does the one by "Ceaser" below. I am going to reply to some comments made by you, and they seem really fake.
This is basically saying you know that all these accounts are seperate, it's not like only one person rants about companies.
Really? This is pushing it. If you want to argue, dont bring in other topics like a politician.
This is offensive, and is entirely speculative. If you want to rebut Makell, use real evidence.
Speculative. Speculative, Speculative, Speculative.
Basically what you are doing here his backing up Makell. Your post is either really dumb, or you are a fake account made by Venzo.
So, with that all said, goodnight folks.
Rodger Nixon
United States of AmericaMakell Bird of ADE Distribution Lies! This Report Is False!
#7Consumer Comment
Tue, November 13, 2012
Hello,
My name is Rodger and I can say by experience that Kevin Rivers is NOT a scam artist! I've been using his site called Venzo Digital. At first I was skeptical because I have read this thread first. However, when I was able to speak with Kevin personally, he never came across a guy that would steal royalties from artists! He was very diligent in helping me with my music and I get paid monthly with ACCURATE ROYALTIES!!!
Now I also see that this Makell Bird, the same person that calls Mr. Rivers a scam artist is ACTUALLY SCAMMING artists with his own company called ADEDistribution. Its actually typical if you do your research that this guy not only bashes Kevin but he also bashes other competitors including RouteNote, Ditto Music, CD Baby, TuneCore, Record Union, and SongCast to thwarf educated artists and labels to use his service. Below are sites where he bashes other companies by going to other peoples reviews about their distributor. Keep in mind that hes also using more than 100 YouTube Accounts to support his company:
Ditto Music Review - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3pQC4Agnak
TuneCore Review - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3xOkkLPvHY
Another Ditto Music Review - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqBOKNTykQA
Another TuneCore Review - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeoZmnCnwjk
(Copy and Paste to your Browsers if you can't view here)
-------
Makell Bird Bashing TuneCore -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btZE8-yMiJ8
Makell Bird Bashing CD Baby - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TJl1oSbPBo
(Copy and Paste to your Browsers if you can't view here)
After viewing these videos, its clear that Makell Bird is known for bashing other people just to make himself look good. It's also clear that he is not really a businessman but just a guy who has a messy bedroom (not even a corporate office, let alone a clean room), have no time on his hands (meaning he has no time to even support artists), and has a site that just spells scam!
When you get on his site at ADEDistribution (aded.us), you can immediately sense a feeling of scams and insecurity on his site. He uses Blogger for a means to distribute music and Google Drive for a means to issue reports. Both of which are NOT what artists are looking for neither do they want to downgrade from a huge accounting system like TuneCore and CD Baby to one that doesn't work, let alone doesn't exist.
Another point to add is that Makell Bird is also a RACIST! I repeat: Makell Bird IS A RACIST! He rants against Asians and the Asian Community and I am convinced to believe that he has posted this report against Kevin due to his racial background. Below is the link to his Racist Video:
Makell Bird Makes Racist Rant Against Asians - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQbXNwoTdIo&feature=youtu.be
(Copy and Paste to your Browser if you can't view it here.)
With that said, I believe it is safe to say that if you are reading this response then you can rest assure that the postings that Makell Bird has written about Kevin Rivers and his company is false and that Makell Bird is known to rip off artists, scam them of their royalties, and even WORSE: Make racist comments to other races and ethnic groups (particularly Asians).
oneduality
United States of AmericaI'm an artist that has used WaTunes, with great dis-satisfaction.
#7Consumer Comment
Thu, August 19, 2010
My experience has been pretty much the same as the original poster. I used TuneCore prior to switching over after having talked to Kevin.
I was not getting rich off my music but I was getting paid monthly from tunecore quite steadily for two years.
When I made the switch to WaTunes .. the royalties dried up to the point of $0.00 .. not one red cent was earned!
I finally wrote up Kevin and he told me that indeed there's been sales and that royalties were owed, that there was some kind of error ... so I get my royalties, a whopping $7.00 .. I was livid ..
I was making quite a bit more than $7.00 when I was with tunecore.. it just didn't add up.. so I took my music and left.
Makell
Las Vegas,Nevada,
United States of America
Watunes scam fake CEO Kevin Rivers stealing royalties
#7Author of original report
Wed, March 24, 2010
Kevin Rivers (CEO of Watunes) is a liar, thief, and con artist! He is also the KING of excuses. He runs a FAKE company called Xeinge, which is the parent company to his seperate scams Watunes (digital distribution) Music Expand (marketing/promotion) and Venzo Digital (another fake startup).
Kevin Rivers uses a program called MyPRGenie to post several press releases to sucker people into signing up with his company Watunes. He claims to offer FREE distribution of your music into stores like itunes, amazon, e-music, etc.. Now, although he DOES have the ability to place your music into some of these stores (not all as he claims), what happens next is the NASTY part!
Assuming you have made sales of your music on these digital retail outlets, Kevin Rivers has created his own accounting software, instead of using professional spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel, which purposely miscalculates your royalties, leaving himself with a HUGE chunk of change at your expense! He will then send you his doctored monthly accounting report stating you made a certain amount of sales when, in reality, you probably made ALOT more!
I am speaking on this from personal experience as I, and about 1,000 other "clients" of his, have been ripped off so far. PLEASE don't be his next victim! The level Kevin Rivers will stoop to to rip you off is ridiculous!
Xeinge, Watunes, Venzo Digital, and Music Expand are not REAL companies. The checks he issues even list Xeinge as a DBA, not a private corporation as he is claiming to be a CEO of. Kevin Rivers is NOT a CEO. He is a young man in his early 20's whom still lives with his father! He does not have a real office. His office is his bedroom in his father's house. He uses the internet to set up these systems to bait-and-switch customers so that he can steal a portion of their royalties from itunes. He has changed his business model several times as to purposely keep his customers confused.
The sickening part is he has his friends and family working with him on this. He claims they are his business partners. My attorney has learned otherwise. Known associates include:
Kyle Rivers (Kevin River's younger brother whom Kevin sometimes claims is the President or VP of Watunes)
Keith Rivers (Kevin Rivers' father and head of household)
Marlene Rivers (Kevin River's mother whom currently resides in GA)
In the event you are looking to pursue Kevin Rivers in court, here is his contact info
Kevin Rivers
1824 10th St
Port Huron, MI 48060
Kevin Rivers has used the following phone numbers:
404-461-9342
810-941-9595
810-982-6906
Frank Jaeger
United States of AmericaThis Report is False!
#7Consumer Comment
Fri, March 05, 2010
Hi my name is Frank Jaeger. I am an Independent Artist who have been with Watunes for 6 months! This Rip-Off Report is a complete farce and very disreputable about the true entity of Watunes. Watunes has provided a new innovation platform that allows us Independent Artist a chance at success without all the hassles into obtaining our financial freedom by chasing broken dreams following the Major Records Labels. I've received all my royalties on time via "Pay Pal" without a cent missing. I do not believe that Kevin Rivers in any fashion or any way has deprived any of his clients of their royalties by "doctoring" his monthly accounting report. If that were so how did I receive all my payments also reflected not only by my sales reports which is 99.9% accurate?, but also via Pay Pal as well. They co-exist with one another, complenting each other in everyway. Kevin Rivers is also very passionate about his work, and he creates a beautiful relationship with his clients that is respectable, trustworthy, loyal, and integral. Reading this Rip-Off Report is not only a complete disrespect to the man Kevin Rivers himself, but it is also a complete disrespect to all of us who are actively involved in this AMAZING opportunity insured. I truly do not believe what I am reading as this Report is a DIRECT insult to the ENTIRE WATUNES COMMUNITY! Also reading this report reveals that there is an "Invasion of Privacy". That is a crime, and I can't believe even Rip-Off Report allowed such information to be displayed on the internet. It is at whoever posted this reports discretion to publicly display such confidential information. It only reveals how pathetic and how weak this complainer truly is by exploiting so much information about Kevin Rivers all over the internet to see, but do not worry because I am speaking out against this ANIMOSITY. I am an ACTIVE MEMBER of Watunes.com and I file this Rebuttal against every allegation, false accusation, mis-representation, and exploitation of not only Kevin Rivers himself, but the entire Watunes community as well as imploring Kevin Rivers family as an affiliation by revealing such confidential information that could possibly disrupt that entire family's privacy which once I say is a CRIME. If I were Rip-Off Report I would remove this report immediately as you too could also be liable for allowing this CON-MAN into exploit such private information that is completely illegal in all it's entirety.
Caesar
United States of AmericaThis Is Definitely Not True!
#7Consumer Comment
Fri, March 05, 2010
My name is Caesar and I'm a current client of WaTunes. I first started using WaTunes in September last year. I was comfortable that Kevin has been a great help to me and my music. I've also been paid my royalties and will continue to use WaTunes. To read this from a person who is obviously upset with the service is understandable. But as far as I'm concerned, I highly doubt Kevin and the WaTunes team steals royalties. Its quite clear that they have a honest track record of providing quality service and support.
Caesar