Uncharted: Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry, episode 023: Beware of the help. People who ripped off rock stars.

September 8, 2024 Alan Cross 0 Comments

When you’re a rock star, life can be very busy. There are songs to write, rehearsals to attend, albums to record, promotional appearances to make, interviews to be conducted, and tours to organize and execute. There’s often not a lot of free time.

Maybe you live in a large house or an estate… you might have multiple pied-de-terres around the planet: a home base, a vacation spot or two, and some condos in New York or London, or the south of France.

As a rock star, you’re often away from your home (or homes) for long periods. Someone has to look after those properties, whether you’re there or not.

Maybe you’ve been a musician for such a long time you’ve never had to worry about the things that take up a civilian’s day: Do your laundry, walk your dogs, go grocery shopping, take care of the lawn, and all that regular daily stuff.

And, of course, you need someone to make sure all the bills get paid. Someone has to chase down all outstanding invoices. And because your career involves so much money coming from multiple streams, you need someone to manage your cash, bank accounts, and investments. That means lawyers, accountants, and financial advisors, all with access to your most personal data.

Just so you can be you, a rock star needs an army of employees and contractors so that everything that needs to be done, gets done. You’re far too busy. The business is far too complex for you to handle that part of life on your own.

Finding the right people is essential. You need to trust these people to deal with the most important aspects of your career, your family, your possessions, and your financial security.

But as with all things human, some can’t be trusted. They see all these nice things, maybe have access to cash and assets—and they just can’t help themselves. Fingers get sticky and you don’t know that until it’s way too late.

This is episode 23 of Uncharted: Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry. This time, it’s a warning to beware of the help, the people trusted by rock stars but who instead ended up ripping them off/ And boy, do I have some cautionary tales for you…

Get Uncharted: Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry wherever you get your podcasts. Both Uncharted and The Ongoing History of New Music will be heard back-to-back overnights five days a week on these Corus news stations:

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