Complaint Review: Radio Airplay - Internet

I have been subscribing to RadioAirplay.com (aka: OneSound) for 4 months now. I also listen to Jango quite a bit and one thing struck me as being very strange. If bands are able to purchase airplay through this company...where are all the terrible bands? I mean come on. I've heard tons of those "buy your way onto" CDs and there are always a couple bands that just aren't up to snuff. I listen to Jango.com and I hear my songs and then everything else is commercial. I'm not hearing anyone who hasn't made a pretty good go at it themselves. There really should be some bands that sound sub par. Not a one.

This to me sounds like the allegations are most likely true. I've dropped a few fan replies. Never heard back from anyone. I even told everyone who's heard my material to feel free to drop me a line...nothing.

This last week I suspended my account. I wasn't sure I was going to go on with it or not but I hadn't finished my latest album so far and I didn't want to bother promoting songs that were a few years old. I would rather push my newer material as would most bands. A day before I was to renew my account I deleted my credit card information. The very next day RadioAirplay.com turned all but one of my songs off. They weren't off for the two years prior to me subscribing to their $30/month for 1000 plays package. The past couple years prior to subscribing I merely applied the ten free plays I received each week to any one of my 20+ uploaded songs. I felt as though I was being punished for canceling my account.

Then to make matters even worse, after I complained about the freezing of 27 songs (only allowing me to apply my remaining 1000 plays to a single song at a time, they removed my remaining plays. That's equivalent to $30 US. 250 of those plays were plays that were awarded to me for having a good Popscore for 4 seperate weeks. I've been given a five day "Grace Period"  to "Reclaim My Unlimited Legacy Status". I almost considered it. I mean come on...a thousand plays equals a fair bit of money/or possible listeners (if they actually exist). It doesn't say whether they will return my 1000 plays. In an email I was merely told that I had five days to purchase another package. I have this gut feeling that even if I were to purchase a $5 dollar package for one hundred plays that is all I would receive. Kiss my 1K of plays goodbye.

I can't say for sure that this is the case but Section 5 of their "Radio Airplay Terms of Service" says nothing about taking plays or giving them back. They merely state that should you cancel your account prior to the end of your renewal date you would be reimbursed by prorating the paid amount minus any used plays. NOthing about unused plays.

This is another problem all together. There is nothing clearly stating whether you are buying a 30 day package or a certain amount of plays.

I'm feeling very ripped off at the moment and will do my best to follow up here let anyone know who may be reading this just how the whole fiasco turns out. I have a deep sickening feeling that I will be ripped off for my 1000 credits. If I am, then you can take that information and apply it to how you might feel about RadioAirplay.com (aka: OneSound) and their new form of payola.

(my apologies to any typo errors - I didn't have time to properly proof read this so I may look as though I'm grammatically challenged) - Thank you.

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While I haven't generated sales traction through Radio Airplay, I have obtained emails as well as feedback comments that clearly came from real people who had listened to my song.  Jango Radio won't translate into sales unless you have other leads as well, but it is clearly available on the internet, you can listen to your songs - and anyone else can as well.  I don't believe the 'bot' comment and I think whoever is spreading that would do well to have it researched before making such an assertion - it could easily come from a competitive service.  Jango is in connection with a lot of legitimate services. 

There is also a high correlation with the quality of my songs and production and my scores on Jango - so it can't just be a complete scam.  The outcomes correlate with other sights where I have tested my music.

You won't get rich just putting your tunes on Jango.  It has to be combined with other efforts to get your music out and you must have a very high quality product as there is tons of competition amongst Indie artists.

After signing up for Jango, I took a chance with $30.- but later searched and found a Ripoff Report against the company. I did exactly what the consumer in mind posted on this report. First off, I accessed the listeners and fans located on my account, drafted up a brief email ( about 15 ) directly to their Facebook page ( users world wide ) and did in fact receive one reply so far. The listener is located in Saskatchawan, CN and replied " I cannot recall hearing the song or title by your band, I may have, I really don't know, I hear lots of unsigned artists on Jango, best of luck with your music ".

As for my judgement, Jango Internet Radio seems to be doing what it's supposed to do. My biggest question is, if it's a rip off, why would National Acts be on this Jango Radio, if their not being paid ? The benefits to those bands would be sales and this site is nothing more than advertising your song and band. Also, why the heck would Geico even be advertising on Jango if it's a scam ? and why is there not pages and pages of complaints ? In fact, I do find more Facebook Likes and Talking About me as an unsigned artist, it's building really slow, day by day. On Facebook, I'm running a simple campain for $10.- for 3 days and it's kind of fun instead of handing my money over to the liquor store or bar tender. The main issue could be that you as a musician might want to try different songs, get a new sound, offer some free track downloads as teasers, run a meisly  or pack it in and call it quits. That's just my opinion straight from New Jersey.     

Based on this and a few other similar reports, I have canceled, for the time being, my recurring $10 a month committment to Radio Airplay.  I have spent about $110 on them so far, not a lot compared to some, but nevertheless money apparently down the drain?

I garnered about 80 fans so far, and sent replies through the RA site to each of them thanking them for their interest in my music.  I have so far had not a single reply, nor any sales from my web site, which I always include in the email.

I realize this may be just the fact of life with online music fans, that they don't care enough beyond that initial click of becoming a fan, but it really spooks me that this might be just a bunch of web bots and not real people at all.

Has there been any followup to this, or other reports?  If this is indeed a scam, and I am not saying that it is, then it is very pernicious and needs to be stopped.  Even if the fans are for real, there seems to be little value in the pay to play if there is no followup or communication back and forth, nor any way to contact them direcdtly.

I would like to hear more on this, especially from the RA people themselves. Prove that this is not a scam or cease doing it!