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What can you folks tell me about the Recording Artists Guild?
They are interested in one of my songs.
They've only been around since 2009; I'm looking for people who have done business with them.
If you want to reply with "It sounds like . . ." that's not very helpful; I can write out several pages of speculation all by myself.

So, if you have information . . . does anyone here has any hard facts on them, or experience with them?
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Sorry if I am less than qualified to give an answer, but here are some Hard facts from their facebook page:

RAG MEMBERSHIP - Starting at $19.99 monthly includes the following:
Basic Medical Benefits Package
$2,000 Accidental Death and Dismemberment Benefit
Access to Legal Contracts
RAG Newsletter featuring special Updates and Licensing & Performance Opportunities
Access to Industry Contacts and Valuable Resources in our Back Office
Exclusive RAG and Industry Events
Digital Distribution with Itunes, Spotify, Amazon and other popular sites
Valuable Discounts on Professional Services
Discounted Legal Services and Representation
Personalized Merchandise with a Video Smart Store from Cinsay
Eligibility to enter and vote for the RAG Awards

So for $20 a month they are offering about the same sort of stuff BMI gives you for free, except digital distribution, for which $20 a month is way too much to be paying.

RAG Radio Special $399.00

Which includes:

-240 station radio campaign which includes satellite and internet radio along with major review and blog sites

-An A&R representative to answer questions and work on development, single choices and markets

-Unlimited pitching for Film and TV licensing opportunities (music supervisors, production houses, major music publishers)

-Digital Distribution Worldwide

-Medical Benefit Discounts (Eye Care, Chiropractic, Hearing, Prescriptions etc.)

-RAG Membership Card (Grants entrance into special events and showcases as well as other perks)

-Access to our "Back Office" industry list which provides contact information on radio stations, record labels, publishers, music supervisors and more.

If they really like your song they will waive all these fees because if they believe your song is good they want to make money off of it ... otherwise, they will try to make money off of your trusting nature. Commonsense says it is a deal for suckers.

Even if they did give all that for free, not much benefit for your music would likely come from it.
You can license your music out through Getty/Pump Audio with out paying a fee. And plenty of places offer "Digital Distribution" for $40 a year or so. The rest sounds laughable

There is a post from Slacker G http://forum.bandmix.com/viewtopic.php?t=25897 that well describes the music industry circa mid 90's ... many of the non-musical characters in that story have since lost their jobs and are looking for new ways to exploit indy musicians. You should be paid for your music, not paying someone else for a bunch "services" you probably either do not need or can get better elsewhere.


For reference ... membership in the Screen Actors Guild http://www.sagaftra.org/content/member-benefits SAG now known as SAG-AFTRA a REAL Union with some clout, cost $198 + 1.575% of earnings a year .. as opposed to the "starting at" $240 a year for RAG membership, which despite the similarity in name does not appear to really be a Guild in the sense of a labor Union such as is the SAG.

Your music sounds like it would do well licensing for TV etc. If you have not already, it may well be worth your while to check out, and send demos to, some of the licensing companies ... but again avoid the ones that ask you for money ... you don't pay them, they pay you a percentage if your song gets picked

I doubt that $19.99 includes the medical/life insurance benefits, just access to pay more to have them.

If the RAG will buy outright your song, for an amount you think is worth it, go for it. Chances are they are just trying to suck you in to paying more money.

Rule #1

Never give money to an unsolicited agent or company that says they are interested in your music and they want to promote it for a fee. If they are truly interested in your music they will pay you. The others are just thinly veiled vacuums for your hard-earned benjamins.