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Glacer FM is still a big scam

I told you once, I'll tell you twice

By Charlie SmithPublished 4 months ago 5 min read
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It's been a while since I first published my article on Glacer Fm. It still ranks on Google very highly when you type in Glacer FM, so you think surely that by now people would have figured out it is in fact not a real radio station, but a big scam? Unfortunately, that is not the case. It's time to tell part two of this story. This includes abuse from them directed towards me and exposes just how rubbish the music industry can be. I want to tell you this fact again. Glacer FM is not a real radio station it is a scam.

Payola on Glacer FM website

It's no secret that there are lots of scammers out there in the music business. I've been contacted by many radio stations via Twitter or Facebook. That claim to be real and ask for money to play my music. Of course, these are pretty easy to spot because they don't really have a website and it just comes across as weird however when it comes to Glacer FM, it is just a little more convincing after all they have a website. However, digging a little more into it, you'll see that it isn't actually a real radio station broadcasting. They will try to charge you for radio play. Payola, as it is called, is extremely unfair and is actually illegal. New Artists' Spotlight regularly does a lot of posts to fight back against Payola. It's a really big problem in the music industry and as you will see in this article that a lot of 'semi-reputable' sites seem to encourage this behaviour.

Glacer FM featured on ReverbNation

As we can see, I received this email from ReverbNation. No, I don't know how reputable ReverbNation really are. I uploaded some of my music there, but I've certainly never used their paid services. The premise of that service if you pay for membership in order to submit to radios, playlists, press etc. Which may seem pretty handy for the average musician. However, as you can see they are charging you a membership fee to submit to a fake radio station. How has this happened when they could easily Google Glacer FM and find out the truth? It's not just musicians that are being duped but also these websites. Have they really not done their research, or do they really not care? Either way, it's not a good look. Should you be paying a ReverbNation membership to submit to a fake radio station? I think not.

Glacer FM Claims to be from Seattle

It's not just ReverbNation that has been caught out by these fake lies but also Yahoo! Finance. It seems like anything can be faked on the Internet, and here is another example. How on earth can we trust what we read if this is the case? I suppose no one cares? No one checks? But yet again, the average musician is going to get stung. Forking out money to get played on a radio station that isn't real. The station claims to be from Seattle, but it's not.

The abuse has continued on and off ever since I published my first article. In a way, a lot of it is quite comical. Who is going to believe all these fake accounts spamming the same message? You can check the comments on my original medium article. Overall, it's just a sad situation where a blatant scam can get away with so much. You can see 'Ice cold' Clearly isn't happy at all.

Apparently 'Ice cube' is sorry for his comments sent via Twitter

Totally 'legit' users of medium are not happy

They even took it a step further by making a website claiming that in fact, I am actually the scammer! Wow, that is a plot twist I was not expecting. I'll hand myself into the sheriff's office tomorrow!

Screenshot from a fake article to lie about me

From a fake account, they begged me to remove my first article. Of course, I wasn't going to, but it was interesting to see that I might get rewarded in the future. It was almost tempting to take the offer.

'Farhan Khan' wants the article taken down

So who is behind this? We have to keep sliding down the rabbit hole to find another article on 'Glacer FM'. Apparently, this denies the evidence and gives some background on how this station was formed. Is any of this true? I've been in touch with David Hottle (Owner of Underground FM) and the story gets more confusing and complicated. The whole article reads as if I'm the pantomime villain. It's all a complete lie other than the fact I did write an article and I am a musical artist.

Their own article published on medium

The truth of the issue is Glacer FM was started by a former employee of Underground FM. That much is true. However, his employment was terminated due to his bad practices. So, who is this Joseph? Well, his full name is Tayong Tsi Joseph, and also is a rapper by the name of 'Ice Cold'. Crazy revolution. We can see this from old posts on the internet about Glacer FM radio station.

Screenshot from submit hub 'Ice cold' profile

So Glacer FM is run by Tayong Tsi Joseph who isn't actually from Seattle but from Cameroon. He started off as a rapper in 2011 before starting Glacer FM in the 2020s. His many fake accounts aren't fooling anyone.

The most disappointing part of this story is how a completely fake radio such as this can get onto Groover as a verified creator and also onto ReverbNation it just goes to show how little these sites really do research on their curators. I know I've gone a bit Colombo on you all, but it is quite obvious there is not any actual radio station. The websites hosting these curators should really do better in the vetting process. I believe firmly against payola and all this fake radio rubbish. Please artists look out for yourselves and never ever give them money.

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About the Creator

Charlie Smith

I'm new to this but hey I'm giving it ago. I sing and play guitar. I'm here to share a few bits of info I learn along my journey

https://linktr.ee/CharlieSmithMusic

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Comments (19)

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  • Gunther Huyghe4 months ago

    Thank you for writing this. It's very true. I still get bombed every day by messages to pay for radio airplay or for "promotion" of our songs. Musical greetings from Belgium, from a fellow NAS member, Gunther (singer and lyrics writer of Gabriel Scar)

  • Go Birch4 months ago

    Thanks for highlighting this situation in such depth, great bit of research. Indie artists know there are a ton of scam artists. The most worrying aspect is the ease with which someone like ReverbNation can be taken in and help 'legitimise' these efforts.

  • Tim Davies4 months ago

    Thanks for writing this. Great insight. Such a shame this is reality!

  • James Hawken4 months ago

    Sorry to read that you've been through some crap Charlie but love it that you've used the anger and frustration to help others by exposing this sort of scam!

  • lofthouse leo4 months ago

    Charlie Smith’s article on payola and indie music scams is an eye-opener. It highlights the various ways in which the music industry is plagued by frauds, cheats, and thieves who are looking to take advantage of artists. Thank you Charlie for keeping us alert. #StopPayola

  • Kris Townsent4 months ago

    Great Article and investigation about the big Payola problem,thanks for sharing!

  • Antoni4 months ago

    Thanks for your work, Charlie, exposing the crap!

  • Campbell Findlay4 months ago

    Awesome article 👌 keep fighting the good fight #StopPayola

  • Really important article -- thank you for raising awareness so indie artists can know who to avoid and hopefully #stoppayola!

  • William Lovitt4 months ago

    Congrats to Charlie for taking the time and significant effort to report on his experiences! Payola is a significant issue to indie music artists.

  • Upwood Avenue4 months ago

    Wow Charlie, Nice job. It's sad that an artist has to go all Columbo to find this out. Well done and #StopPayola!

  • Payola really needs to be stopped!

  • #stoppayola Disturbing stuff really.

  • Billy Castillo4 months ago

    Great article….this is the type of information independent artists need to be aware of

  • Glad to read this! This is important. Payola has to be stopped. It's predatory!

  • Prym Official4 months ago

    Thanks for this. Getting to know more about payola

  • Tim Consley 4 months ago

    Enough of the scammers! Off with their heads!

  • Bone Locker4 months ago

    WOW! Totally unprofessional 'radio station'. Thanks for helping the indie cause Charlie!

  • MIK4 months ago

    Thanks for looking out for indie muso's Charlie. I am so sick of being targeted by scammers on a daily basis. People like this need to be outed.

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