CMJ Caught in Money Grab? The short version: CMJ sent an email to the 675 bands who submitted an application through Sonicbids to play at the CMJ Music Marathon, but included all 675 email addresses instead of BCC-ing them. Hilarity ensued.
But the real problem is that CMJ (allegedly) wasn’t even listening to the applicants’ songs:
“Check your SonicBids account and see how many plays you received. Ours, attached, shows that there were NO plays of any of our music by anyone (CMJ was the only ap we submitted). $45 should at the very least mean that they get an intern to click play on your song once.”
I’m surprised they reject so many bands. I’ve suspected that CMJ was a racket, but I assumed the scam was accepting every band that applied and booking them in crappy venues on Wednesday night. I’m actually a little flattered now…
Update: CMJ responds.