A man by the name of Ray Rodriguez has been putting up a front that he works as an A&R for Epic Records. Based in Miami, Florida, Mr. Rodriguez goes by the Twitter handle "@EpicRecordsRay," and claims in the description section of his profile that he works as an "A&R Scout/Artist Development Associate for Epic Records." However, that claim has turned out to be false.
Ray Rodriguez recently contacted DJ Vlad via email on Saturday, March 15th, requesting that Vlad listen to the "All I Want" single, which was recorded by an artist who Ray claimed to represent named Kevin Anthony. Ray stated clearly that he worked for Epic Records in the very first line of the email sent to DJ Vlad:
"I am Ray Rodriguez, I am part of the A&R development department at Epic Records."
Vlad reviewed the email and the fact that it originated from a Gmail account and not an official Epic Records email account set off a red flag. As a result, Vlad responded the following morning on Sunday, March 16th, with a request that Ray send him an email from his Epic account so that he could confirm that Ray actually worked there. Ray replied by giving a rather suspicious explanation as to why he couldn't email Vlad from his Epic Records email account at that time.
"I have an epic email but only use it when in the office and to email staff or actual epic clients," Ray wrote. "Other than that I use gmail because I contact a lot of dj's and potential clients and contacts and I can't have my epic email filling up with spam or music requests. Sorry about the confusion."
Ray then stated that he would follow up with Vlad on Tuesday when he was in the office. With his suspicions on high alert, Vlad reached out to his own contacts at Epic Records to get a confirmation about Ray's employment status with the company. Vlad also gave Ray a strict and clear warning about what the consequences would be if it turned out that he had been untruthful all along.
"If you're scamming people, we're going to do a VladTV homepage feature about it," Vlad stated firmly.
A few hours later at 9:38 a.m., Vlad informed Ray that Epic Records confirmed to him that they had no knowledge of anyone by that name being associated with their label:
"Epic confirmed that they've never heard of you," Vlad wrote.
Vlad went on to ask him again as to why he wouldn't have an Epic Records email account if he honestly worked for them as an A&R, to which Ray threw out yet another curve ball and claimed that he actually works for Battery Records, a sub-label established in 2008 by Sony BMG Music Entertainment.
"I'm from Battery Records. Battery Records is under Epic records as an entity," he explained to Vlad in an email sent at 10:04 a.m. "Being that Epic is the powerhouse I just email out of the Epic brand. I do apologize if I have came off in a malign fashion. I am not spamming or scamming I am simply working with an artist and I am testing the market for feedback before we make any commitments."
However, not even a full thirty minutes later did Mr. Rodriguez send one final email confessing that he had been lying about his association with Epic Records the entire time, and also revealed the real reason he contacted VladTV about the artist Kevin Anthony in the first place.
"My real name is Ray Rodriguez but I do not work with Epic," he wrote. "I want to say that I am sorry. I am a former manager for the artist I have mentioned I have been emailing people on behalf of this account in order to cause damage to his career because he left my firm to go to another management team. We left on not so good terms and so that's why I have been doing this. I will close this account and leave things be the way they are."
Vlad replied with one final email to let him know in advance that his false claims of working for Epic Records would be appearing on VladTV. Since then, Mr. Rodriguez has continued to use his "@EpicRecordsRay" Twitter account to contact aspiring artists in order to promote their business. Given the fact that he confessed to not having any official ties with Epic Records, what he is doing could be very damaging to any talented individuals who reach out to him seeking guidance and assistance with their careers. On top of lying about his Epic Records affiliation, Ray Rodriguez may very well be cashing in on a lot of money from inexperienced artists willing to pay large figures in order to gain the proper representation.
All of the emails between DJ Vlad and Ray Rogriguez are available for viewing in the slide above. Read through them to see how Ray's dishonesty finally came to light. Let this be a lesson to all up-and-coming artists to be aware of the many scams that can befall you during your journey to stardom.
