Lemma Soft Forums

trooper6 wrote:

LateWhiteRabbit wrote: Trooper6 - no one is arguing you can't produce a song in less than 40 hours. Hell, no is arguing producing something isn't possible in just a few hours. What the problem was with MusicAO is that she was supposedly doing that dozens of times a day, each "rushed" song a thing of quality, and she was then handing them off for $5 a piece.

Oh sure, that MusicAO was offering was clearly sketchy. But, the reason I commented is because people have been wanting to know what a "normal" time is so they can then judge composers who offer under that normal time as probably scammers, and I wouldn't want people to normalize 40+ hours for a pop song as normal and, for example, be scared off from other legitimate composers who spend 20 hours for a pop song.

MusicAO was clearly scam-y, but you can be a legitimate composer and compose a lot more quickly than 40+ hrs for a pop song. That is really all I wanted to make clear.

Ah, okay. Yeah, that's good.

For the people that keep asking how to spot a scam, you really can't get more specific than opening your eyes, evaluating everything critically, applying extra scrutiny when something appears too good to be true, and educating yourself about the common practices and pricing when you are in the market for something.

I'm overly analytical anyway (and cynical) so I'm more prone to apply these steps. It really is just about training yourself to think critically - anyone can do it and be better able to spot scammers. I've told some of the less than stellar aspects of my childhood on here before, but being dragged around on drug deals and to drug dens as a child really helps train you on watching for shady people. My father trained me to spot someone acting shifty (and as a drug dealer, I guess he was an authority on the subject), identify set-ups and undercover cops, etc. Want to train your child's observation skills, put them on watch duty for drug deals.

It is the preponderance of evidence that makes a case - all those tiny things that add up to a lot. Is someone refusing to give you their real name? Are they offering you the moon for peanuts? Look deeper. Treat the internet as the shadiest back-alley marketplace possible by default and modify your behavior accordingly.

Just my input into this, but I've worked with them before in the past for a couple of logos, as well as an associate of mine. They were of satisfactory quality and the turnaround was a couple of hours, initial e-mail to delivered work with edits. Without a statement from MusicAO, I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt in this case.

Sorry, but I can't give MusicAO the benefit of the doubt because of the following testimony:

Jackkel Dragon wrote:A few months ago, I made some commissions from people in the Recruitment forums on this site, and for the most part things seemed to go really well. However, I've recently played a game that was made over two years ago that has a BGM track that sounds exactly like one that I got from one of the commissions from a few months ago. When I PMed the composer, they refused to give a decisive comment on why the tracks are nearly identical.

Greeny wrote:I commissioned this composer and when I requested minute changes such as "remove just the percussion", etc, they were completely unable to. Never provided much of an excuse, either. I also asked them to provide a new track with the rythm and beat from another track and again, they did not deliver. Once I asked to a more sad extra version of one track, first they gave me the exact same track with single tone modifier effect.

Armee wrote:I have been talking to Jackkel Dragon and it seemed like this is not the first time the composer in the story did this.
I'm not a victim of some sorts but I have seen he did these kind of things before. Using music from TAM Music Factory, claimed as his own and selling them on Bandcamp.

I would also strongly recommend reading the entire conversation about how long it takes to produce music on the previous page. I'd provide more quotes, but I wouldn't want to excessively overquote.