There are times when it’s fun to be a dick. Maybe you’ve hard a really hard day; the man is just beating you down. You gotta vent on someone, and that barista seems perfect to inflict rage upon. It happens. But unlike the lowly barista, I run my own business. I don’t tolerate such behavior. As a general rule, I go above and beyond for the artists I work with. And I’ve got a list of folks that agree…
Last week I got a call from an angry, no, an IRATE client. It had been over 2 months since he engaged D.I.-Why for services, and NOTHING had been done. He had already lost THOUSANDS of dollars in music sales, gig opportunities, and he didn’t even want to consider long term effects his website’s downtime was going to have on his career.
My initial thought was “oh shit – how’d this slip through the cracks?!?” But the more enraged he got, he gained verbosity. In fact, the guy just woudln’t shut up. So as he ranted, I pulled up my accounting system. He signed up with D.I.-Why less than 10 days prior. He also received an email reply that thanked him and directed him to send over any content/instructions/requests he had for his new website. He hadn’t done that.
Further, we had access to his old site (which was still up, btw … ). The site had NO music on it, no news updates in over 3 years, and looked like something that should have a Geocities subdomain attached. As I was also doing a direct to fan integration from his current sales platform, I could see his sales stats which were non-existant over a rather lengthy period.
In short, this guy was full of shit, and I was his chosen target for the spewing, ranting, and raving. Now did I mention I run my own business?
Rather than take the professional tact of “I understand your frustration …,” I chose a more direct (and equally vocal) approach and informed the artist that I had access to his sales info, site stats, and payment history with D.I.-Why. I then point-by-point showed him where he was full of shit, and that there was no need for me to work with someone like this. If he wanted to proceed with D.I.-Why, I’d be glad to help him, but he would do so in a professional manner and without making ridiculous, unfounded assumptions about the “damage” to his “career.” Alternately, I told him a refund was 2 clicks away, and it was his choice.
He paused for a second, apologized, and we continued working.
To tolerate that type of obnoxious behavior only serves to perpetuate it. As the music industry swerves and veers into new areas, it helps to be civil, polite, and (egads!) nice to people. You never know who you’re gonna meet, and being a dick guarantees swift karma.
“Shanti … shanti … shanti … “
