Sunday, April 27, 2008

conclusional site; some testimony from people who knows mark berry ,some are victims

Mon 25 Nov 2002 [12:40:23] name: homepage:
location: OVERVIEW comment from europe about mark s berry ,attack records;
He`s a savvy record producer that strokes your ego. He pushes all the right buttons, he talks the talk, and has all the right moves. His pitch is smoother than a fat babies ass. He gets his foot in your door -- then empties your wallet. How does he do it? Simple. He’s the guy who makes that o-so important call every striving artist waits a lifetime to receive, "Hi -- I'm a big record producer, I heard your material and I love it! Lets get the ball rolling!"Ever so slowly everything changes. He deflates your ego -- insults you – threatens you -- then he tells you, "Give me your fucking money, sign this, or you'll go nowhere!"This is the Mark Berry I encountered. And why is everyone in the Toronto music scene still stroking this guy? That is the topic of this report.His resume (according to www.markberry.com),"Mark`s multi-platinum award winning mixing credits include some of the biggest names in the music industry such as David Bowie, Duran Duran, Billy Idol, Boy George, The Killjoys, I Mother Earth, Kool & the Gang, Yes, The Headstones, Voivod, Burton Cummings, Talk Talk and many, many more. Mark, in collaboration with his New York based manager Steve Scharf of Steven Scharf Entertainment has been responsible for over $4,000,000 US worth of international production and publishing advances to the Canadian artists that they have been directly involved with… In Canada, Mark as a producer/mixer has sold in excess of 500,000 units generating $5,000,000 in revenue for the Canadian record companies he has been involved with."Impressive (?)It appears that Mark Berry, originally from New York City, gone Toronto, has left the recording industry behind. His newest pursuit is the bait-and-switch con game where he has everyone’s attention – including the FBI. Berry has taken on the full time pursuit of ripping off cold cash from would-be rock n’ rollers with stars in their eyes. But it appears that at least on this occasion he pulls the Devil card.Strategy,Berry uses all the tactics of a classic fraudster: convoluted talk, misspelled communications and "garunteed" results. He bullies his victims, threatens them with violence, uses buy pressure, contractual strangle-holds, slanders you and other companies (NOW Magazine), and falsifies his own business references. He also rides his "partnership" with the reputable Cherry Lane Publishing like a cheap whore.Rubbing elbows with the big guy,About a month ago I put out a CD for my band THE RULING CLASS. I did the usual send 100 or so CD's to Major and a few Indy labels; plus lots of college radio. On that list was Attack Records and Mark Berry. I was approached by a "Pat Desmond" from New Jersey who identified himself as Attack`s "A&R" guy. "Wow" I thought, "today`s my luck day." He told me he loves my material so, "lets do something."And something we did.During my Due Diligence on Attack Records and Mark Berry, I discovered Scott Andersons article in NOW Toronto (http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/19/10/News/feature.html). After reading it, I decided that rather than back off, I would go head on with this guy and discover for myself the full extent of Berry's fraud operation.I got him to spill his guts,The following report includes 32 emails, a recorded phone message, and 4 word.doc ("Contract") that describe Berry's current bait-and-switch, churn-and-burn operation -- from start to finish.It appears that back in the 1990's Berry would use mostly a "joint-venture" scam to rip people off (see NOW Toronto article). Now he just goes for an out-and-out swindle of between $15,000 and $20,000 (US) -- without providing a thing in return. He starts with a $5,000 initial "fee," then bumps it up by telling the victim to send more money and more product (CD’s) to "make things happen."

13 comments:

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Paul Grenier said...

He screwed me as well. I bit the hook and was swung all over the place like a cat by it's tail. Promises of big contracts with cell phone companies and distribution just to name a few, all of which I signed as contracts, but never got them back countersigned, and all I got was a runarround and lies. I did my own digging and contacted some of the people he was apparently getting these contracts from, and they knew nothing about me or my music, and didn't even deal with Mark Berry. This Mark S Berry dude is a royal poo stain scammer that takes advantage of artists by showering them with false promises and elusive dreams in order to get money out of them. When you ask for stuff in return, it never appears, no proof of anything and even worse, no receipt for your cash! STAY AWAY from this asshole, unless you want to get crapped on too. It people like me who get scammed that pay for his flashy website and ritzy Toronto address. I hope to see you go down in flames Mark.

He conveniently includes a non disclosure clause in all his contracts with artists, but in my case, I terminated the contract for breach of contract, so that pesky clause can't stop me from spreading the word!!!

Mark Parsons said...

My band and I were probably some of the lucky ones.

We too were blown away by the amazing record contract opportunity that fell out of the sky into our laps as young Australian artists who had some reasonable airplay on Canadian college radio. We even had fan mail before the time of social media.

Mark Berry / Attack Records sent a contract to us in about 1998/9 and we had to raise $50,000 USD to go 50/50 deal (50% each for 50% return of earnings). This was money not including airfares, accommodation and meals or shipping our equipment to spend 8 weeks in lockout recording an EP in Canada.

We managed to raise all the money within 4 weeks ($70K+ to cover it).

Being realistic, nobody in the industry gives 50% away, so rationality (i.e. taking off the rock star glasses for a brief moment) took precedence over the attraction to musical fame. We said no.

Sorry to hear that some of you got conned by this knobhead. But I am sure he is only one of many in the industry giving it a bad name and using false promises to scam money.

To see bands like Arctic Monkeys, Radiohead and others to go around these record company con artists is great inspiration for up and coming highly talented musicians. The ability to take advantage of the modern computer recording, and the internet and social media to promote their talent is something we didn't have, but may have been the difference for us.

Glad we chose wisely.



Artist said...

Yea That Mark Berry guy is still there taking money from passionate artist who are trying their best to make their dreams come true.. He came up with some contract deal to help promote my music and to creat EPK, which required money however that all came to nothing... He works with fake producer who brags about being a good producer but can't produce a thing. I have my own producer but he insisted I also have his co-partner produce one track for me which also required money. I didn't give him a whole lot compared to what I see he charged you guys but sure did feel stupid and thought I was the only one... I feel sorry that you all went through that as well. I should have checked scam reviews before doing anything with the Attack Media Group is what his new company is called.. I really hope he gets cut or something happens to give him a wake up call. I don't even think the artists he posts on his site are real, I think they are all people he knows personally or took their pictures from else where or he paid them to use their pictures because he's never done anything legit or actually worked with an artist.

Flan said...

I interned for him for two months at Attack Media Group, and I could tell immediately that it was a scam. He'd sit there and gloat to the other three employees about different ways he can screw people out of money. The other intern and I actually looked over his business model and both came to the conclusion he could make more money if he actually did the work as opposed to scamming these artists.
He was even considering falsifying one of the employees qualifications to get them to teach music lessons online.
All they did was stress each other out and then go smoke weed in their car in the parking lot, pretending it made them more productive.
Glad I left, but upset that I was too naive to report him.
This happened in 2012

Flan said...

I interned for him for two months at Attack Media Group, and I could tell immediately that it was a scam. He'd sit there and gloat to the other three employees about different ways he can screw people out of money. The other intern and I actually looked over his business model and both came to the conclusion he could make more money if he actually did the work as opposed to scamming these artists.
He was even considering falsifying one of the employees qualifications to get them to teach music lessons online.
All they did was stress each other out and then go smoke weed in their car in the parking lot, pretending it made them more productive.
Glad I left, but upset that I was too naive to report him.
This happened in 2012

paul limo said...

The group played around small Toronto-area clubs for a few years before eventually signing with BMG Canada and Arista Records for the rest of the world, and releasing their debut album See The Light in 1988, which featured the top charting hits "Angel Eyes" and "See The Light".
https://marksberryattackmediagroup.wordpress.com/2018/06/25/mark-s-berry-attack-media-group/

sharma said...

Mark S. Berry Attack Media Group. Mark is an industry recognized record producer/engineer/mixer with over 36 gold and platinum records.
https://marksberrymusicproducer.wordpress.com/2018/06/27/mark-s-berry-music-producer/

BARWIZARD said...

The Velvet Underground, The New York Dolls, Iggy Pop, Patti Smith and Alice Cooper honed their talents performing “Upstairs at Max’s,” the first restaurant/bar/club in NYC to feature unsigned bands. Mark berry AMG producer Aerosmith got signed to a record deal upstairs at Max’s, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Marley and the Wailers performed for a memorable two week double billing
http://markberryattackmediagroup.blogspot.com/2018/07/mark-berry-attack-media-group.html

Unknown said...

Mark S Berry is presently at the helm of the Attack Group of companies, an independent media company. His Canadian productions have included I Mother Earth, two platinum albums for The Headstones, The Killjoys, Nothing In Particular, Fence, Burton Cummings (The Guess Who) platinum solo effort, and Up Close & Alone.
https://marksberryattackmediagroup.wordpress.com/2018/06/25/mark-s-berry-attack-media-group/

Unknown said...

Mark S Berry is presently at the helm of the Attack Group of companies, an independent media company. His Canadian productions have included I Mother Earth, two platinum albums for The Headstones, The Killjoys, Nothing In Particular, Fence, Burton Cummings (The Guess Who) platinum solo effort, and Up Close & Alone.
http://attackmediagroups.blogspot.com/2018/06/mark-s-berry-attack-media-group.html

Unknown said...

Mark S Berry is presently at the helm of the Attack Group of companies, an independent media company. His Canadian productions have included I Mother Earth, two platinum albums for The Headstones, The Killjoys, Nothing In Particular, Fence, Burton Cummings (The Guess Who) platinum solo effort, and Up Close & Alone.

unknown said...

Mark S. Berry is now under the helm; the AMG Corp. AMG is listed as a Music, Film & Television Company. He made some questionable claims to a colleague. It seems that my instincts are right about him.