Reply To: An Update on LinkedMusicians

[Peter DeLegge]

This is stuff I’ve never shared in any public speaking or writing because it really ages me! My first job after graduating from college was project managing some of the world’s direct mail marketing campaigns. It’s definitely a sign of my age, but I managed Columbia House Music Club  — and when one of my fellow managers was on vacation, I had, for a while, managed BMG Music Club. It ended up being a lesson on ethics. I was pressured into being part of a mail fraud scheme. I was threatened that I would be terminated. I eventually left. But the a postmaster, several senior managers — going very high up — all ended up in prison over the scheme. I suppose that was a key development in my career that made me very passionate about ethics. My experience is that the farther one is from the top of an organization, the less aware they are of unethical practices. In the sample and plugin development world, I’ve ended up having developers ask me to look at contracts, I’ve had guys like Mike Greene — a former corporate VP marketing for a mid size firm — say things to in writing, he should never have put into writing. If you’re going to engage in problematic practices, you shouldn’t leave a paper trial. I’ve witnessed the FBI investigating that stuff and people landing in prison. Granted, these players are not on the radar screen of the FBI, but the practices are easily just as problematic, even the ones Mike has posted about like trying to get 8Dio to stop discounting sample libraries.

FTR, I only got to know 8Dio’s CEO from when I posted on VI Control that when Greene was attacking them, the story being told by Mario / Evil Dragon that he was threatened for doing a negative review was a flat out lie. I knew because I had given him advice back then when Troels (8Dio’s co founder) had contacting him for doing a fake review stating that a library that Mario worked on and received royalties on was far superior to Troels library. Troels was upset with him because Mario was shilling for a library he worked on and made royalties on. Mario admitted all of that when I posted in the thread. We had 4 posts where Mario acknowledged that the story he was telling was not true. Mike Greene deleted all of that and told me not to get involved further and later threatened to humiliate me on VI Control if I told the story. I did. He did. Develoeprs, including 8Dio’s CEO were copied on everything.

But why is Greene so furious with 8Dio, Cinesamples and several other developers he’s attacked on his forum? It’s largely because they’re competitors who have been heavily discounting their libraries. His rants, including F bombs, have largely been edited since they were originally posted, but they convey a small developer / competitor who is seeing price competition greatly change and trying to stop it. It’s fruitless, but Greene thinks having more than a half million visitors per month gives him enough power to stop what he refers to as “the race to the bottom.” Of anyone witnessed the 40+ page attack thread on 8Dio, it was a case study in bad ethics and libel. It’s amazing that 8Dio didn’t sue. In their shoes, I absolutely would have. I did an analysis and that thread spread all over social media and every other popular and semi popular forum dedicated to composing and producing music. I also was privy to Greene’s and his friend’s, Andrew Aversa (Impact Soundworks) electronic messages to 8Dio’s CEO following the attack thread. That attack thread, BTW, was led by two Impact Soundworks employees who didn’t disclose that (they worked for a competitor). In our private PMs, Sarah, who led the attack told me that though she attacked 8Dio’s CEO using all sorts of profanity — I think “ruthless b*tch” was one of the terms — Sarah actually never once met or corresponded in any medium with Tawnia. She had only known of her from what Mike Greene and Andrew had told her.

I would consider the messages from Greene and Aversa to Tawnia (8Dio’s CEO) disturbing, inflammatory, gaslighting, misogynistic and in the realm of bullying. 8Dio’s CEO, Tawnia, forwarded the messages to me, incredibly bothered by them. If that happened in a corporate setting, Greene and Aversa would be terminated on the spot and their careers would be destroyed. I’ve never seen tactics like that since those folks I worked with who went to prison; that and my direct experience with Greene. If anyone follows the drama at VI Control, Greene stokes angry crowds against competitors.   It’s a case study in manipulation and creating toxic social media.  My objective is that this community will have zero tolerance for that kind of behavior. I want everyone to be as open an honest about their experiences with developers, their products and services, but we need never cross the line into attacking people personally. It’s fine to say that you find a business terrible to deal with if it’s true. But personal attacks on people and angry mobs egged on by a forum owner, that’s completely unacceptable — at least it will always be unacceptable in this community.

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

Check out my music. 

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