W.O.A International Indie Label

May 1, 2008 3:45 AM

Guest :

W.O.A. International are not who they say they are. They are advertising themselves as a 'company' capable of connecting independent musician's with many opportunities (such as videos on VH1, MTV etc). The truth is, they don't have any of these connections. A word of warning to anyone considering signing up with this 'company'... we have been to India, and seen what they are about... and they do not deliver what they say they will. And as for the "India Tour 2008"... just ask the artist's themselves what that consisted of. The answers you'll find will go a little something like this: "The day after we arrived in Goa we were told that the schedule for the tour had changed, and ended up just having ONE gig. There was no tour bus, and no major promotion. Promotion was all local, and very small scale. Articles for the tour were found deep within the pages of the local newspaper. What there was though, was an expensive ticket to India for a failed promotional tour that never really existed." As far as offering artist management, the tour was managed extremely poorly, and when the artists questioned what was happening regarding the cancelled and 'postponed' gigs or the lack of a tour bus as advertised on their website and sonic bids - this was met with an acknowledgement that the wording in the contract and emails could have meant "the artists would be travelling on a public bus" as a group. It was pointed out at the time by various artists that they would not be happy to have thousands of dollars of equipment stored underneath with the general publics belongings where they would not be secured... and this was met with the attitude of... "So you don't want to do the gig then?". That is the kind of management they are offering. When quizzed about the lack of gigs, and the possibility of making engagements at local club's in Goa - they were told that would be out of the question, as "their star's don't play small clubs and venues." Quite the paradigm considering the type of transport availed to "their stars". In a time when people are capable of being anyone they chose to be via the mask of the internet - this 'company' is choosing to represent itself in a light and with a reputation that it doesn't actually have. Now sir, I understand that you have more than likely been contracted to put this ad together - but I implore you to consider posting this comment in it's natural state. Each artist that this 'company' sign pays an upfront fee of $850USD, believing that W.O.A. International/Records are capable of promoting to this advertised standard (and that of their website which has a link shown here) - but the experiences of those who paid a lot of money to go on the "India 2008 Tour" will beg to differ. This site advertises itself as the 'genuine article' - please be wary of being associated with this company any further.

May 1, 2008 8:09 AM

Danny Brown :

Hi,

Thanks for bringing this to my attention - rest assured my best interests lie with the artists at all times (this is why I was Feature Writer for the indie section for a year). I will send your concerns and points to W.O.A. to see what response they offer, and I shall publish any response received here for you and others to read.

Thanks again,

Danny.

May 1, 2008 8:17 AM

Danny Brown :

Hi again,

Just for yours and anyone else's info, here is my email to W.O.A.Records:

Hi,

I was contracted to write press releases for you - one of them has resulted in people raising some points that I would appreciate clarification on. Please find attached the points in question:

"W.O.A. International are not who they say they are. They are advertising themselves as a 'company' capable of connecting independent musician's with many opportunities (such as videos on VH1, MTV etc). The truth is, they don't have any of these connections. A word of warning to anyone considering signing up with this 'company'... we have been to India, and seen what they are about... and they do not deliver what they say they will. And as for the "India Tour 2008"... just ask the artist's themselves what that consisted of.

The answers you'll find will go a little something like this: "The day after we arrived in Goa we were told that the schedule for the tour had changed, and ended up just having ONE gig. There was no tour bus, and no major promotion. Promotion was all local, and very small scale. Articles for the tour were found deep within the pages of the local newspaper. What there was though, was an expensive ticket to India for a failed promotional tour that never really existed."

As far as offering artist management, the tour was managed extremely poorly, and when the artists questioned what was happening regarding the cancelled and 'postponed' gigs or the lack of a tour bus as advertised on their website and sonic bids - this was met with an acknowledgement that the wording in the contract and emails could have meant "the artists would be travelling on a public bus" as a group. It was pointed out at the time by various artists that they would not be happy to have thousands of dollars of equipment stored underneath with the general publics belongings where they would not be secured... and this was met with the attitude of... "So you don't want to do the gig then?". That is the kind of management they are offering.

When quizzed about the lack of gigs, and the possibility of making engagements at local club's in Goa - they were told that would be out of the question, as "their star's don't play small clubs and venues." Quite the paradigm considering the type of transport availed to "their stars". In a time when people are capable of being anyone they chose to be via the mask of the Internet - this 'company' is choosing to represent itself in a light and with a reputation that it doesn't actually have.

Now sir, I understand that you have more than likely been contracted to put this ad together - but I implore you to consider posting this comment in it's natural state. Each artist that this 'company' sign pays an upfront fee of $850USD, believing that W.O.A. International/Records are capable of promoting to this advertised standard (and that of their website which has a link shown here) - but the experiences of those who paid a lot of money to go on the "India 2008 Tour" will beg to differ. This site advertises itself as the 'genuine article' - please be wary of being associated with this company any further."

As you can see, these are pretty serious allegations, and certainly go against what you explained W.O.A. to be like when I was contracted to write the releases. I have an obligation to the artists and fans that I write for at Suite101 (7 million visitors every month), and I would certainly not want to be associated with a disreputable company.

I await your response.

Regards,

Danny.

May 1, 2008 10:34 AM

Danny Brown :

Here is the response from Oliver Sean, President of W.O.A.:

*********

Hi Everyone,

This is Oliver Sean from W.O.A International.

This is in regards to some emails being sent out by 3 artists from our
roster that have been removed from the tour due to serious breach in
contract by them and they are now sending out emails showing W.O.A
International in a bad light.

The W.O.A Records India Tour is currently on and successfully being
conducted with 2 great shows which just finished getting us Front Page
coverage on various publications in the country, several pre reviews and articles of our artists have appeared on several newspapers including the Times of India, Navhind Times, The Herald, the Maharashtra Herald, Gomantak Times, Asian Age, Indian Express, Interviews and coverage on CNN IBN, HCN, Radio Indigo, Big FM and others.

Our artists are currently on road to Mumbai for a concert at the Hard Rock Cafe in Mumbai which is to be followed by a concert at the hard rock cafe in Pune. Yes, there were 2 shows that were cancelled due to the sudden elections that came up in the state of Karnataka which was a last minute development and we must also state that 'Def Leppard' had their show cancelled there in that state as well due to these sudden elections. W.O.A went out of their way and arranged additional shows for our artists in other regions at the last minute.

All our artists on tour have been promoted on the Zee network with
advertising spots as well as all their music videos on Vh1, Channel V, MTV and Zee Music in India - this is something unheard of in India where completely unknown artists have been portrayed directly on these major channels - all possible only due to the fact that they have been marketed and promoted by a company like W.O.A International. Also we would like to mention that W.O.A International has spent over 60,000 USD in promoting this tour with Ads on Television, Hoardings (Billboards) across the country, Radio Spots on major FM Stations and Newspaper ads. All this is over the free promotions we have managed to garner for our artists and this tour on some of India's biggest publications, news channels and radio stations.

These artists have signed legal tour contracts with us and have blatantly disregarded all the points in this contract and we will also state that W.O.A has not breached a single clause from this contract. W.O.A International has also gone a step forward and brought in a 4 star hotel for accommodation and a 30% discount on all additional room service that the artists order.

We are very proud of the services we offer and the fee that we charge is not a fraction of what we invest in all our artists. Our main aim has been to start a culture of Independent music in India and have used all our strong contacts in the music industry to help us open these markets for our independent artists - this is something no other company has even come close to doing for the independent musician in these regions.

We know of several great companies across the world that market and promote Independent musicians and charge fees that go way over what we charge and the only reason we don't charge these high fees is because we strongly believe once the artist is promoted the right way in a vast country like India we will recover all our investments and the artist will achieve his or her goals with the support system we offer them in breaking into this market.

We will be uploading all the press and media footage that we have garnered on completion of this tour. The tour officially ends on the 4th of May and we will have all the footage uploaded on our website
http://www.woarecords.com and on youtube for the world to see the amazing talent we have promoted here and how the Indian music loving people have accepted them with open arms and the media here has gone all out in supporting us on this tour.

We must also state that these artists who have been kicked off the tour have their music videos playing along with the other artists who are currently on tour on Vh1, Channel V, MTV and Zee Music - something any other company would have pulled off the air for the blatant disregard these artists have shown to our company, the disrespect they have shown to the executives working for us and the complete disregard to the legal contract signed by them for this tour.

If any of our artists or associates have any questions please feel free to call me directly on +91-989-033-7666 I will be available on this number.

Warm Regards,
Oliver Sean
President
W.O.A International

***********

My thanks go to Oliver Sean for responding in such a detailed fashion. At this juncture, I have to say that there seems to be grounds for what Sean is saying. This is added to by the "anonymous post" stature of the initial comment on this thread.

I'd be happy to open up discussion and response to this - all I ask is that the poster of the first comment (about the bad organisation of the our, etc) signs in with an actual name, for authenticity's sake.

Thanks, and look forward to any responses/comments.

Danny.

Sep 2, 2008 2:56 PM

Guest :

Oliver Sean is a complete fraud and an egomaniac. I toured with someone who was on the 2008 India Tour that WOA put on, and was told unbelieveable horror stories about how bad it was to be involved. Apparently, Oliver Sean pretends to be all these different people, setting up multiple e-mail addresses that all come back to him in order to make WOA look like an established company with several arms (such as management, record label, marketing, studios, etc.) You can see it for yourself: go to WOA's website and the address leads you to an *apartment* in Goa, India. Is that how a really successful record label is run? From an apartment?

As for whether the artists involved were in "serious breach of contract" as per Oliver Sean's claim below, I highly doubt that, especially considering the situation they were being thrown into. The person I toured with is an extremely patient, loving, forgiving person, but to hear them speak of this experience with Oliver Sean and WOA sends them into the stratosphere! The conditions they experienced, and the situations they dealt with, are unimaginable to me. I would have had a hard time not maiming this guy after what he's pulled.

It's all fine and well to be diplomatic and have an "official response" from the "CEO" (and only employee) of this "international record label", but really, all he's done is taken the truth and spun it to make the artists who are speaking out against this scam look as though they are the ones pulling the wool over everybody's eyes.

Beware of wolves in sheep's clothing. Oliver Sean is one of them.

(P.S. - I am happy to give my information to Danny Brown should he request it, so that this complaint doesn't get blown off as some "anonymous" poster. I do not have an account on this website, so I didn't sign in because of that. I will watch this thread in the coming week to see if any response is warranted.)

Sep 12, 2008 12:19 PM

Danny Brown :

Hi guest,

Thanks for your comments regarding the original post and response.

I would never "blow someone off" for being an anonymous poster - I would just prefer authentication that comes with accounts. However, I understand this isn't for everyone and I respect that as well - hence your comment appearing here :)

Firstly, let me make clear that I am no longer contracted to WOA for any PR or content releases - once this original point was made, I felt that both from a conflict of interest and an uneasy feeling regarding the whole matter, I couldn't be associated with the label.

There is obviously some major concerns here, and ones that I would be more than happy to investigate more fully. As I have always said, my obligation (as an indie music writer and lover) has always been to the bands and the fans that follow them.

If you wish to contact me directly, you can use any of the links to my external websites or blogs, where you will find contact details. Or simply continue the thread here - either way I will be here listening and reacting.

Thanks,

Danny.

Sep 30, 2008 12:03 PM

Guest :

Danny,

Glad to hear you no longer write PR for this "label" (guy). You'd be doing yourself a disservice if you were still attached to them.

I wasn't able to find an e-mail address for you (without signing up for this site, which I have no intentions of doing), so could you post it here in this thread? I'd be happy to more personally discuss my findings with you.

I recently did a TV show with the aforementioned artist fromt he tour, and I have footage of the show on DVD. The artist actually talks about the experience and some of the hardships he was thrust into, and names Oliver Sean and WOA for all the world to hear (or at least all of the Midwest U.S. who sees the show). I'd be happy to send it on to you in some format or another.

Again, I'll watch with thread for a reply. Sorry to be so late on the last one - I was on vacation. ;)

Oct 4, 2008 7:20 PM

Danny Brown :

Hi,

You can contact me at:

danny@pressreleasepr.com

Look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers,

Danny.