I couldn't afford to go into a major recording studio.

I think Captain Russ is right on the money. Most likely this producer has used a marketing agency selling production talent to anyone who can afford it.

I will indicate that I have no capital and ask for referrals to a record company. I will also have a friend who has some very inane heavy metal mp3's if he will send one of his songs and see he receives back a similar email.

Beakybird

I just talked to my heavy metal friend. He's going to send a song called "Greasy Finger Sausage" to the same email. Let's see if he gets a similar email response!

Beakybird

Before any contact you must have you music registration number.
This is you unique way to assure your musical rights (copyright etc).
Chico

In my limited experience, a producer can mean many things. If he is talking to you about expense, you have to assume that he is going to charge you to record, and oversee and produce the recording using his equipment, resources, and staff, etc. At the end of the day you might have a fine product, but it would be up to you to distribute and sell it, get airplay and so on. I would be surprised if he was willing to invest his money in a project with a middle aged performer. As far as I know, producers are making their living primarily off artist's dreams, which is not to say that they couldn't produce a great sounding project for you. I think you might be thinking more of a record company fronting a cd and developing you as an artist, and I don't know how much of this is even done any more.
Best of luck Don Adams

Larry ...

Two words ... BE CAREFUL ...

no make that three words ... BE VERY CAREFUL

no, make that four words ... BE VERY VERY CAREFUL !!!

t.

As I stated, I agreed with Captain Russ that this man has a world class, fully staffed, production company. I think that he probably has a marketing team trying to keep all the recording rooms full at top dollar. He is making his facilities, staff, and himself available - at a price. There are people who are willing to mortgage their homes for their dream.

I don't believe that the email came from the man himself. I don't believe that a Grammy award winning producer who's produced everyone from the Beach Boys to George Harrison to Neil Young and dozens of other super big names, I don't believe that such a person has time to open up emails from unknown artists and to listen to not only one song, but to my other songs on my myspace page.

I am sceptical that any of my songs were listened to, even the attached mp3 I sent. The comments on the song were too vague: "Watch the vibrato on your voice." That didn't seem to be spot on. And that I had more of a club sound, and I needed to move more towards a recording artist sound. I am amazed at the mix I created, but I don't think it sounds either world class studio or like it comes from a club. The drums, bass, piano, and background strings come from the PSR-S900 which does not have that live, club sound at all.

In the remote possibility that the email came from the producer himself or that someone there had seriously listened to my song, I thanked him for his time, and asked if he could refer me to a record label or a publisher.

I don't think this man is a scammer as his name does not appear in Google at all with the word scam, but I think that it is inappropriate for him to send emails in his name when they don't come from him.

Just as Warren Buffet has a price to deliver his wisdom if you pay to have lunch with him (by winning on Ebay), this man is likely to deliver his vast expertise for a hefty price as well.

Beakybird

BEaky save yourself some time and a lot of money......Tyr TAXI. TAXI is legitimate and WILL place your music if it's worthy. They are based in the major markets and are respected organization song seekers look to for material. Cost is $300 a year and $5 a submission which includes a pro critique of your songs. http://www.taxi.com/

NEVER NEVER pay anyone individually to place a song. There are sharks out there feeding on the hungry. If you have good music people want TAXI will help.

I'm not sure where you got the idea that a producer doesn't charge for his or her work because that simply isn't the case. While a Producer who is seeking new acts to produce that he or she might try and shop to a label or sign to their production company may not charge and artist up front costs, rest assured you will be paying in the end. Dependent upon the type of deal you work out with the Producer they may be simply producing your music where you release and promote the music yourself. In situations like that the producer will charge a production fee and may require "points" on the record as well. A well known Producer with Grammy's would certainly cost upward of $50,000 to as much as a million dollars and would take points on the record.

Contrary to what many people believe well known producers do look for new acts all the time that they can groom and try to market. The chance of the producer finding an act that will actually yield financial windfalls from record sales is less than your chance of winning Lotto. In the music industry your chance of making more money from flipping a hamburger than selling records is quite high. Sad but very true.