By  Jess Santacroce
Music Writer, Phoenix Radio

Scams may be older than the computer itself, but the same old scams always seem to be able to grow and change with the times. In 2026, three scams have been found to be especially active, and scammers are increasingly targeting those in the music business and their fans and supporters.

Extortion scams

The latest version of the extortion scam begins with the scammer hacking into the musician’s computer and/or their online accounts. The scammer then lets the musician know they did it, and demands money. If the victim ignores the threat or challenges the scammer and refuses to pay, the hacker/scammer claims to have their unreleased music or lyrics and threatens to destroy it or release and copyright it under their own name, if the musician does not hand over the requested cash. Musicians may also be told the scammer has their financial information, medical records, or other private materials that would cause serious problems for the musician’s career and personal life if they were used by someone else or released publicly.

Should you receive an email, text message, or social media message from someone claiming to have your unreleased music or any other information you have not chosen to share with the public and demanding money, stay calm. The scammer is counting on you panicking and sending them the money without thinking. Instead, reach out to the site that hosts the communication and report the incident. Then, act as fast as you can to secure any online space the scammer has threatened. Contact your bank if they told you they have your banking passwords, move your unreleased music onto a portable drive, etc.

No matter how tempting, never confront, challenge, or mock the scammer. Any further communication with them only opens up opportunities for them to install malware on your computer and do further damage.

Career advancement and other business opportunity scams

People pretending to be agents, publishers, recording studio owners, music company executives, promoters, and hosts of music festivals in order to take advantage of independent musicians and other artists have always been around. Their “job” has just gotten a lot easier with the internet, and has grown especially easy with the use of AI.

When the internet first came into everyday use, it was easy to tell the difference between the professional website of a music producer or literary agent and the personal page of a random person. Professional pages were much simpler, but very similar in appearance to the websites you visit today. Personal pages were typically hosted by a site called “geocities.” The name “geocities” could not be removed from the URL for a fee, and the available materials produced fun but clearly amateurish sites, with cartoonish graphics and fonts. Over the past few years, hosting sites have evolved to allow anyone to create a professional looking page about anything, including their nonexistent career as a top music promoter or manager.

In 2026, AI makes faking qualifications even easier. Before AI, a budding scammer would have at least needed to do enough research into the profession he or she was faking to write...or steal...some convincing copy. Today’s career and business scammer only needs to prompt a bot to generate the material for them in seconds. Then all they have to do is reach out to the musician they’re targeting via text, email, or social media, and direct the person back to their “professional” page.

Research is your best defense against this type of scam. Check and verify everything on the person’s page before agreeing to speak to them further. If everything checks out, meet with them in person, in a public place, and refuse to attend the first meeting alone. No matter how big and tough you may be, how many years you’ve been a professional musician, or how street smart you may be, always take someone you already know and trust along with you.

Celebrity impersonation romance scams

Fans seem to be the primary target of this type of scam, and musicians are often huge fans of other well-known musicians. The scam begins when the target happens upon a social media page or group devoted to the fellow musician they admire. Things go well at first. You meet other admirers of the artist or group, and begin discussing their music, perhaps swapping tips on covering their songs with other musicians who also look up to them.

Suddenly, you receive a message from the subject of the page themselves. Honored to be greeted by someone you admire, you of course engage in conversation with them. The conversation begins to take an odd turn. The person you look up to professionally is claiming to be interested in you romantically. This is the point where it would stop for most people. Even if you’re single, the musician you look up to professionally is also your celebrity crush, and that person is also single, you know that the odds of the famous person logging into a fan site are almost zero, and the odds that your message or comment would be the one that the algorithm brought across their screen at the exact right time for them to see it are even smaller. Celebrities simply aren’t on fan pages and groups flirting with people. The potential risk to their career and personal life should they trust the wrong person is too great. And even if your celebrity crush did take that risk, the odds that your comment or message would be the one their eye would land on in the sea of communications they would get are slim to none. 

Unfortunately, the scammers are ready for this scenario. While it is primarily a romance scam, with the scammer hoping to snare gullible fans with crushes on the celebrity, they have no problem pivoting to a business scam, claiming to offer business advice, grants, or investment opportunities if they think that might work to get you to hand over your money. But just as they are not online flirting with fans, celebrities are not online offering up platonic personal information about their investments or business dealings either. There is just too great a risk that someone might sell the chat logs or message history to a gossip site or channel. And even if your favorite celebrity did take that risk, the odds that they’d see you in the middle of all the comments and messages they’d receive are astronomically low.

Delete and block anyone who approaches you online claiming to be a celebrity.

The scams may be tired but the scammers are not. They’re hard at work revising and reworking their scams just a little each year, doing all they can to get money without putting in any honest effort or using any admirable skills to earn it. 

By Jess Santacroce
Music Writer, Phoenix Radio

Traditionally, when musicians talk about “gigs,” they’re talking about opportunities to play or sing. Today, they might be talking about their music, or they might be talking about some work they’re doing to support themselves while they wait for paying music gigs, or temporary work taken on to finance a project. While “gig work” can be used to refer to any type of short-term work, people most often use the term to refer to signing up to work for companies such as Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart, GrubHub, or a website offering  single online tutoring sessions or other short-term projects. 

Just a few short years ago, this type of gig work seemed like the perfect resource for musicians. The work was plentiful, and appeared to be much less energy and time consuming than most day jobs. It seemed you really could sign up, pass your background check, complete any other orientation materials the company required, log on, and start making the money you needed to make your next album or buy some new instruments or equipment. Some people even launched whole new careers as online language teachers or built their delivery driving into a thriving business that allowed them to pay all of their bills. YouTube exploded with channels hosted by people reporting gig work income in the thousands per month and offering lessons and guidance on how their audience members could follow in their footsteps.

Today, nearly all of the ride and delivery companies and a few of the online tutoring and other short-term project websites still exist, but both the income potential and the demands are very different today. 

Down times/wait times are growing longer and longer

The flood of workers signing on to gig platforms would have been great if the number of customers would have increased in equal or greater proportion, allowing plenty of work for everyone who wanted to deliver, drive, tutor or complete a quick project for a fee. It didn’t. Even some of the busiest gig-based apps don’t always have enough work to go around.

For the musician delivering or driving to fund a project or pay the bills between paying music gigs, this amounts to a lot of time spent “at work” for no money. One online tutoring website that closed early this year boasted that their tutors made $16.00 per hour, with an unlimited amount of hours available to them. While this was technically true, it only really meant that tutors could sit logged in to the website for as many hours as they wished. They were only paid for time spent in active tutoring sessions or per essay evaluated. It was not only possible, but typical, to log in, sit waiting for two or three hours until offered a session, lose the session to another tutor, finally get one a few minutes later, work for an hour, and then wait several more hours for the next session. Uber drivers have reported similar experiences, extended time spent sitting in their cars for no pay, waiting to be offered a customer who needed a ride.

Rideshare and delivery companies are offering bonuses, cashback programs, and surcharges to help workers pay for gas….but it may not be enough

Gig workers are independent contractors, and as independent contractors, are responsible for paying their own costs of doing business. If you offer rides or deliveries, part of that cost of doing business is going to include paying for gas for the car you use. The major rideshare and delivery companies are reportedly offering their contractors some financial assistance to help defray these costs as gas prices continue to rise, but they’re certainly not going to cover it all. The more gas prices increase, the more that particular business expense is going to cut into your profit.

Drivers and delivery people must also pay for their own signs, cleaning supplies for inside the car, bags to carry orders, and any extras they wish to offer, such as water or candy to offer to customers. The cost of these items also continues to rise, and to cut into drivers’ profits. This is just one more way that you may wind up working for a lot less money than you originally estimated. 

In 2026, driving jobs are increasingly the only ones available

Driving jobs have always been the best-known forms of gig work, but they used to be just one option among many. Companies based in China seemed to multiply daily, offering people who wanted to do gig work without driving the opportunity to teach ESL to children online instead. Mixed media platforms such as Fiverr offered gig workers the chance to offer very short-term writing, drawing, or planning projects from home. Multiple companies offered tutors a place to do gig work. Anyone who didn’t want to deal with gas prices, increased insurance, and paying for cleaning supplies and bottles of water could simply choose a different form of gig work. 

Today, many of those non-driving companies still exist, but fewer and fewer of them are available. Those Chinese ESL companies are long gone, most shut down by a single order of the leader of China several years ago. U.S-based sites offering short-term work still exist, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to be accepted onto their platforms Those who do manage to sign on find that customers are no longer hiring freelancers to do small projects, and are instead simply running prompts through AI bots and taking the free slop. Few tutoring session sites remain in business. Gig work that involves driving is often the only real option left. This of course takes us right back to the decreased profits due to increased costs associated with driving gig work.

Those who are already working for one of these gig work platforms may want to keep them active as ways to generate some spare cash from time to time, but they may not be a viable option to fund larger projects or to replace the income from a traditional day job, even if they were able to serve this purpose just a few years ago. 

By Jess Santacroce
Music Writer, Phoenix Radio

Despite what every article about artificial intelligence (AI) continues to claim, experience and experiments have continuously shown that AI cannot replace musicians. It cannot write a song that is anywhere near as complex, unique, or meaningful as anything a human songwriter could ever create, because it can never observe, reflect, learn, or feel the way a human being can. AI cannot teach about music, as it cannot truly respond to students and has a tendency to offer incorrect information. It is a poor music researcher for this same reason. 

Although AI can never replace musicians, music writers, or music teachers, many continue to claim that it can help with your music career. It can certainly take over basic tasks like generating a rough draft of a rehearsal and practice schedule, creating a draft of a budget for an independent artist, and making an outline for a lesson plan, but can it help you create art? The latest claim coming from proponents of using AI in music is that it can help musicians and other creative people explore genres, generate ideas and overcome creative blocks.

To test this, we performed three experiments offering an AI chat bot hypothetical situations a musician might face, and examining the results for quality and usefulness. The experiments were conducted by the author of this article. 

Prompt #1: Generating ideas:  I'm an amateur/hobbyist musician. I normally sing pop, country, and folk styles. I would like to write my first song, but I have no idea where to begin. Can you help me come up with a list of songwriting ideas?

Result: AI models are sometimes jokingly referred to as “plagiarism machines,” and when prompted to offer a list of songwriting ideas, chat gpt really lives up to that title. The prompt was run twice. One set of “ideas” was nothing more than a general description of the types of songs someone might write. Chat gpt 5 suggested I use one of the “common song themes” of love in transition, freedom and escape, growth and change, and simple joys among a few others. That one of course, was completely useless. I cannot imagine anyone who has ever even listened to music somehow being unaware that writing a song about love in transition, freedom and escape, and growth and change are options for themes.

The other set, however, included “ideas” that sounded suspiciously like descriptions of several songs that already exist. The bot encouraged me to “Write from the perspective of an object” and listed a guitar as the first suggestion. That idea was unfortunately already taken sometime in the early 1970’s, as “This Old Guitar” by John Denver was released in June of 1974.

While direct copying is still plagiarism, getting inspiration and ideas from the work of other musicians and other artists is neither new nor wrong. It would just be much more inspirational, and with streaming services, faster, to simply listen to a song for inspiration. If I wanted to be inspired to write about a guitar, I could have found “This Old Guitar” just as fast as I got this list of prompts, and it would have taken me the same amount of time to listen to it as it did to sit and read over these two lists.

Prompt #2: Exploring genres: If a musician typically writes punk/alternative music, but would like to explore genres and write something more like a love song, what should they do?

Result: Punk/alternative fans will of course see that this prompt contained a test. If the bot were truly able to correctly identify all existing genres, search out new ones, and help people explore, it would respond that what I just described is called “pop punk,” with the simple suggestion to listen to some “pop punk” bands.

Chat gpt could not even manage that. In the middle of completely generic observations and advice like “Love songs aren’t just soft happy acoustic ballads. Some  of the best ones are messy, conflicted, angry or even a little obsessive,” it did suggest a few bands and artists. Unfortunately, it missed the existence of pop punk as a genre, and the name of one of the most well-known pop punk bands out there. “Study adjacent artists,” the bot advises, “Billie Joe Armstrong: punk with sincere love themes.”

Any punk/alternative fan could have just told the person running this prompt that they were talking about “pop punk” and suggested they listen to Billie Joe Armstrong’s band Green Day in about half the time.

Prompt #3: Overcoming creative blocks: What do you suggest for a songwriter experiencing creative blocks?

Result: The Chatgpt bot suggested I stop trying too hard to write something perfect, listen to some music I normally wouldn’t listen to or hadn’t listened to in a while, write without my instrument, collaborate, give myself little challenges like only writing with three chords, stepping away for a while, and looking at what’s going on with myself beneath the surface. It also suggested studying other music, and imagining my audience.

These are all actually decent ideas. They’re just generic, likely to be ones everyone who ever needed a writing prompt has already heard multiple times before. 

To give the bot a second chance, I followed up on its offer of “If you want, we can get more specific—like what kind of music you write, or what your process usually looks like—and I can help you break the block in a more targeted way. “

My “musicianship” consists of being able to sing, and singing twice per month on a volunteer/hobby basis on my church’s worship team. I’m not a professional musician, and I have never written a song unless you count silly made up chants and joking around in childhood that all little kids seem to do, so I entered “Most of the writing is based on personal experiences, but random things can also serve as inspiration. The music genre is typically alternative.”

In response, chatgpt suggested writing from a different perspective than my own, starting with a song fragment instead of a whole song, breaking my own habits, and blending the random things and personal experiences.” Again, these are not bad ideas, though the bot certainly didn’t do anything a conversation with another human musician or other artist could do much better.

The bot ended by suggesting that my block might not be a lack of ideas, but something going on in my life right now. It wanted to help me “start a song from scratch, based on what (I’m) currently feeling.”

This bot was not programmed to help me. It was programmed to get me to keep using it, and to offer it increasingly personal information. Were I actually the songwriter in the prompt, this would, at the very least, cause me to waste time talking to a bot that I could have spent writing a song.

By Jess Santacroce
Music Writer, Phoenix Radio

For musicians and others in the arts, working in your field does not always mean producing your art and having people buy it. That is certainly a part of most local musicians’ careers, but most do other work as well. Musicians may also present and teach about other peoples’ music as DJs or radio program hosts, work in music stores, give music lessons, or write or produce music for other local musicians. One option for making money in music, writing, or another art form without getting a “day job” or “side gig” is to teach your art form at local or online colleges and universities as an “adjunct” instructor. Just make sure to keep the following guidelines in mind. 

Remember that your teaching assignment may last an entire term, but it is still a gig, not a job.

Teaching on an adjunct basis means being a slightly confusing and blurry cross between an employee and an independent worker, in business for yourself. On paper, you work for the school. You get the same tax forms, employee handbooks, keys, and ID cards as an employee. But for all practical purposes, you are an independent artist with a term-long gig teaching classes to students. You will not be required to publish extensively or do much of the other work of a regular faculty member, giving you the freedom to hire yourself out to one school one term, another the next, and two or more schools the one after that. With that freedom comes a lack of stability, as the schools you teach for may or may not offer you classes for any given term.

Budget for the added expenses that may come with adjunct teaching

Anything you absolutely need to teach your classes should be provided to you, within reason. Your supervisor at the school can make sure you have a room with a projector if you need it, chairs for group discussion, or a lecturn for giving talks. Many schools also offer a supply of notepads, pens, highlighters, and dry erase markers for classroom boards, but that is not guaranteed. You may have to purchase those items yourself. 

Drinks, meals, and snacks are rarely provided. You may be offered free coffee or tea in an employee lounge, but that is about it. If you can’t eat lunch or dinner at home due to the spacing of your classes or required office hours, you will be responsible for paying for any restaurant or school cafeteria meals you eat.

Avoid schools that require you to download their messaging app onto your personal phone

Musicians who want to teach classes on an adjunct basis as part of their music career might want to turn down any offers from schools that require downloading their app onto your phone. Representatives from the university may insist that it is only needed to complete certain tasks easily, but if the app allows students to contact you any time, the school will expect you to be in contact with students any time those students wish to speak to you. It won’t matter if the official policy only requires you to answer messages every twenty-four or forty-eight hours. The students will know they can reach you at all hours, and they will expect a reply within an hour, sometimes even within minutes any time they reach out. If you do not respond as they wish, they will complain, and if they complain, you will be asked to be in contact with your students on a steady basis. Should you accept classes from a school that requires you to download their app, you will wind up teaching 24/7, stopping rehearsals, interrupting writing time, even using your break time during gigs to communicate with students.

Be prepared for students who do not take your subject or your class seriously

As a musician, you will probably teach classes such as music history, music appreciation, or special topics in music, but you may find yourself needing to widen your focus into basic related skills in order to find work. You might be a professional musician who is also a songwriter, and find yourself teaching classes in basic writing skills, or an expert in music history, but teaching a more general history class and weaving songwriting or music history into your syllabus. Either way, you will have at least some students in your class who are completely uninterested in what you are teaching. In their minds, they may be in school only to participate in sports, or to socialize, or to put in their time until a relative gives them a job. Some people even become students strictly on paper in order to access financial aid and have no intention of actually doing any work or learning anything. These students take the basic courses because they have to in order to remain enrolled, and enroll in arts classes because they mistakenly think they’re going to be “easy.” They see any attempt to get them to participate in any class as a nuisance or an obstacle and will likely treat you and your course accordingly. While you certainly shouldn’t tolerate this, it happens in schools across the country, offline and online, so it is likely to continue regardless of your response to it.

Block out at least one extra hour per week per course you teach, and add one or two more on to that when making your teaching schedule

The time you spend in the classroom is only a portion of the time you need to schedule to teach college courses. Make sure you set aside at least one hour of grading time each week that you assign work that must be handed in, and schedule time to hold office hours as required. You also want to schedule some time to respond to student emails and complete any other tasks or paperwork your individual schools may require. This both ensures that you get everything done, and that your teaching work does not take over your entire day or week. 


Adjunct teaching, whether in music or in a related skill, can be a great way to find steady work for months at a time. Just make sure you’re aware of what you’re agreeing to do before signing any contracts. 

By Jess Santacroce
Music Writer, Phoenix Radio

New year’s resolutions have been as much a part of marking the new year as the ball drop and party hats, but many people find them difficult or impossible to keep up past January. Replacing them with goals is one option, but that can be discouraging every time something doesn’t seem to be progressing. In recent years, the practice of replacing both resolutions and goals with experiments has begun floating around social media and the press.

The key differences between resolutions or goals and experiments is the approach at both the beginning and the end. An experiment begins with a hypothesis. You ask what would happen if this or that were true or different. Then, the activity is carried out with the change in place. As the experiment unfolds, notes are taken on the results. Finally, the results are studied and evaluated. In a true scientific experiment, the results are simply reported, with no further action. In a goal experiment, the results are evaluated and changes are made until the desired result or goal is met.

Proponents of this approach claim that this removes a lot of the unnecessary self-criticism that setting goals or making resolutions can bring, and instead focuses on finding something that works for the person seeking the change.

Experiment #1: What would happen if I wrote or practiced my music in a different setting than normal?

Artists who practice in all forms tend to have our set places to practice or create. Much of the reason for this is of course practical. You have to rehearse singing or guitar playing at home or in a practice studio, because everyone in your favorite hangout is not going to want to hear the same chords, or the chorus of your church’s worship team songs, or four different versions of that verse you’re working on three times in a row. Writing is a bit more flexible, but there needs to be space to do it without crowding anyone else. What would happen if you simply moved to a different part of your practice studio or your house for three or five or ten practice sessions? What would happen if you wrote music in a different room, or if you normally do write it in a cafe, what if you chose someplace else, or a different table at your usual spot? Commit to a certain number of your usual practice or writing sessions in a new place, and see what happens.

Experiment #2: How would my plans play out if I worked on them to a different type of music for one hour each week?

While the focus is shifting from resolutions and goals to experiments, this does not mean you should have nothing you want to do this year. It just means giving yourself a chance to test out ways to get where you want to go.

Suppose you set out to finish writing songs for an album this year. Your usual pattern when writing songs is to listen to the type of music that you write in the morning, and then work on your own writing in the afternoon. To conduct this experiment, you would listen to a type of music that is very different than what you write in the mornings before you sit down to write.

Non musical goals can of course be done with the music playing. Try working on a short story or novel to Jazz if you typically listen to country music, or play classic R&B if you typically listen to metal. You may want to try music you already listen to but don’t typically put on while you’re working, or you could even try working to a genre of music or an artist you never listen to much at all.

Experiment #3: What if I said “yes” to a gig or other project I wouldn’t normally do?

Most people have seen this one presented as the “say yes to everything” for a set period of time experiment, where the person must say “yes” to every offer or suggestion that is not dangerous, illegal, or in serious conflict with their deeply held beliefs. That experiment would certainly fall under this category, but if you’re not willing to say “yes” to absolutely any and every gig or project anyone might offer you, modify it by agreeing to do just one thing outside of your regular art practice. You might agree to play at a children’s party if you typically only play weddings, or at a wedding if your business revolves around children’s parties. Collaborate with someone you wouldn’t typically ask to work with you. Put yourself on the list at an open mic someplace you have never been before.

Experiment #4: What if I doubled...or halved...the amount of money I spend on music?

Several traditional new year’s resolutions revolve around money. We resolve to make and stick to a better budget, find a higher paying day job, start a side hustle, or stop spending money on takeout or coffee drinks or delivery. Add a musical twist to this and make it an experiment by drastically changing the amount of money you spend on music for a set period of time. What would happen if you didn’t buy any new music for a month? How might your year be different if you ordered those concert tickets you always said were too expensive? Make the change and see what unfolds.

Experiment #5: How would adding music to an activity that is normally quiet or done to background noise change the outcome?

Like the practice in a different place experiment, this one has to be done within the constraints of respect for other people and personal consequences. You wouldn’t start working your day job to music if your workplace has a policy against it, or if doing so would put you or someone else in danger. But within reason, what would happen if part of your life that has always been quiet is now set to your favorite music, or if you replaced some form of background noise with music? If you typically cook with the tv on, what would happen if you listened to your favorite band this week instead? How would you sleep this week if you turned on some soft classical music instead of a white noise machine? Would that workout you’re struggling to stick to go better if you exercised to music instead of watching the tv playing at the gym?

What experiments will you do with music this year? 

By Jess Santacroce
Music Writer, Phoenix Radio

Independent musicians, and other independent artists, often need to raise funds for their career. Without the backing of a major label, everything from recording session fees to maintaining your instruments to paying the cover charge for your guests at open mic events falls to the artist or band. While most reinvest income from their music into these things, it may not be enough to cover all expenses, and in today’s economy, day jobs, never mind side jobs and profitable side hustles, are increasingly hard to find and secure. Fundraising projects can fill in the gaps. 

One workable, and even enjoyable fundraising project is known as a “penny challenge.” The penny challenge was invented and developed by a YouTuber named Ryan Trahan between 2017 and 2024. Trahan’s penny challenges evolved and changed over the years, but always followed one of three basic patterns. Each of these versions of the penny challenge he created can easily be adapted to serve as a fundraiser for an album, tour, merchandise launch, or other expenses related to your music career. 

Turn a penny directly into the amount you need for your project

Ryan Trahan’s original penny challenge began eight years ago on his YouTube channel. He started with a penny, and proceeded to buy and sell items until he reached his goal of $1,000. In addition to buying and selling items during his penny challenges, Trahan also invested portions of the money he earned or swapped things to enable himself to provide services that generated even more money. One of his most common methods was to start by finding someone who would give him some small item for a penny, flip that item until he had enough cash to purchase a case of water or soda, and then sell drinks for two dollars each. Purchasing some cardboard, a pen, and a basket and offering to draw caricatures or tell jokes for a donation was another lighthearted way Trahan raised funds. In later versions of the challenge, he signed up as a driver for a food delivery app and used some of the money generated from the penny to purchase a bike to make deliveries. The only rule that must be followed to make this type of fundraiser a true penny challenge is that all funds must either come directly from the penny, or be something that you can do without spending any money at all. 

For many musicians, this version of the penny challenge might amount to a modern twist on the well-known practice of playing for tips. Instead of simply setting out your case and playing in public, you could start with a penny, flip it until you could walk into a pawn shop and purchase a cheap guitar or pay your friend to rent their guitar for an hour, then see how much money you can raise playing that instrument and singing. 

Start with the penny, end with your desired items or services

In 2021, Ryan Trahan adapted his penny challenge into his own version of the “paperclip for a house” experiment conducted by Canadian blogger Kyle MacDonald in 2005. In Trahan’s version, he traded a penny for a house to give to a subscriber who needed a new home. This challenge started with a pen he traded for the penny, which he traded for a tiny blue plastic dinosaur, and then half a container of mints that was traded for some headphones. While Trahan took a little more time to complete this challenge than his originally stated goal of a single week, he did succeed in getting a house for his fan. 

This version of Ryan Trahan’s penny challenge has been successfully duplicated locally, just on a much smaller scale, both in terms of the items obtained and the importance of the end goal. When I wanted to trim and color my hair and get new versions of the other few cosmetic items I use, I started with a penny and used a combination of trading, using apps I had already signed up for, and couponing to get the items without spending any cash earned from any of my actual work. The one alteration I made to the original challenge was allowing myself to use any free points I already had accumulated on any rewards apps I had. 


Use the penny to reach another goal while those who wish to support your career make donations

In the most elaborate version of the penny series, Ryan Trahan set himself a goal that had nothing to do with raising funds, but turned the challenge into a fundraiser. In one, he survived on a penny for a week to raise funds for the Central Texas Food Bank. In another version, Trahan challenged himself to travel across the country for thirty days beginning only with a penny. Fans who watched the series were invited to donate to Feeding America. 

Local musicians could post a similar, local challenge on their own YouTube channel, with a connected fundraising page to allow supporters to invest in whatever project or career goal you set. This would also make a great fundraiser for local charities that support musicians and their neighbors in need. 





Sources: 

Trahan, R. Penny Series. Ryan Trahan YouTube Channel
This article is not sponsored or endorsed by this channel or anyone who appears on it. It is only used as source material.
 Link: Ryan Trahan - YouTube 

Santacroce, J & L.  Artist Cafe 315 website.
This website belongs to the author of this article
 Link: The penny challenge revived: Week 1 recap / The 315: Articles inspired by our art | Artist Cafe 315 

By Jess Santacroce
Music Writer, Phoenix Radio 

Musicians and other artists are growing increasingly independent. While it’s highly unlikely that you’re going to land a contract with a major record label without securing an agent and having your music professionally produced, today’s technology does allow an artist to design, maintain, and grow a more localized career on their own, or perhaps with occasional collaboration with others in various parts of the field of music. 

This flexibility and opportunity to take greater control of your own career has both benefits and drawbacks for the artist and for the music business overall, one of the most dangerous risks being greater exposure to scammers who target musicians. The most common scams targeting musicians in late 2025 seem to fall into one of three categories. 

Catfish: Agent, manager, and music PR person edition 

An entire television series, numerous blogs, and multiple channels on YouTube have been devoted to “catfish” or “romance scams” in which one or more people target those looking for some form of dating relationship online. Some romance scammers pretend to be entirely fictional people, stealing photos, portions of biographical information, and names from a collection of profiles to craft a character, trick the target into falling in love with them, and then manipulate that person into sending them money. Others use portions of their real identify, but falsify situations and fake the relationship for the same goals. People who do this are more than willing to revise their story if something else will work a bit better to get them to their true goal, getting their targets to send them money. The same people who are online waiting to pretend to be somebody’s boyfriend, girlfriend, or fiance have no problem pretending to be your adopted aunt or sister or your second mom or dad if that’s what they realize you’re looking for…..and that flexibility extends to faking a professional relationship. 

One of the most common scams targeting musicians today is the exact same scam as the now well-known romance or friendship scam, the person is just pretending to be an agent, manager, or public relations person looking to advance your career rather than someone seeking some type of personal relationship with you. The story unfolds in a similar manner. The person approaches you, or baits you to talk to them in some type of online environment. They “love bomb” you, telling you how talented you are, how effortless it is going to be for them to turn your talent into financial success. But just as there is always an excuse as to why the couple or the pair of friends can’t meet in the classic version of the scam, in the musician-targeting version, there is always a reason why the album can’t be made or the gig fell through. Of course, you just need to pay one more fee or pay them for one more month and everything will work out in the end. 


Processing fees to get your music placed 

Instead of claiming to be your future music industry professional, scammers using this tactic to separate you from your money play on that independence so many musicians and other artists are embracing today. No manager, PR person, agent, or producer is needed, these individuals claim. You can grow your own career by getting your music placed in movies and television shows created for and produced by Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu, placing your work in front of an audience of millions of people every time they sit down to binge watch the latest show or watch a movie at home, all the while drawing royalties. 

Like the fake agent or manager, these scammers first approach you with a lot of flattery. They’re brimming with compliments for you, your music, and your entire career. Not only are they impressed with you, these scammers claim, they know that your music, or even just one particular song, would be absolutely perfect for this show or that movie. All you have to do to get that placement is to pay them a processing fee for doing a little work on your behalf to get it there. 

This may sound reasonable to an independent musician who is used to hiring out various individual tasks while he retains overall control of his music. You’re just paying a person to do some promotion for your art. It isn’t. Anyone asking for any type of fee or payment to get your music placed anywhere is only setting you up for a scam. 

People who legitimately place music in movies and t.v. shows are not just random people with connections and a willingness to pepper a movie or t.v show with your music for a small fee. They are music industry professionals called “music supervisors.” These people are in charge of all facets of securing and placing music in movies and shows, including licensing and budgeting. Their jobs involve dedicated and careful research, networking  and collaboration. Anyone claiming they can just place your music as soon as you send them some cash is not a real music supervisor. 

Pay to play scams

Pay to play scams can be the most difficult ones to detect, because there are situations in which the offer to pay to play someplace is legitimate. For example, a local business might host an open mic event in which all attendees are asked to pay a cover charge to enter. Some venues may choose to waive that fee for those who sign up to perform. Others may not. 

The key difference between a legitimate “pay to play” situation and one that is a scam is that in a legitimate situation, the musician or other artist receives some type of compensation. You pay that cover charge to attend a business’ open mic. They get your money. In return, you get exposure to the audience that is made up of everyone who showed up there just because that particular place hosted the event. 

If the pay to play event is a scam, the audience won’t be there. Some pay to play scammers misrepresent their connection to real events. They claim to be collecting cover charges in advance for this showcase at that bar or coffeehouse, but in reality have no connection to the place or event, and no ability to add you to the list. Others collect fees for completely fake events, pretending to cancel or even simply vanishing with no further contact as the event draws near. Still others operate in a bit of a gray area. They may legitimately own, manage or work for the venue or event, and there may actually be something scheduled, but they may have deliberately and greatly misrepresented the size of the audience, guaranteeing “a crowd” when they know their place will likely be empty at the time, or making outlandish promises, such as claiming a famous music producer might be in attendance when they know this is very unlikely to be true. 

Time and careful research are going to be your best defenses against these scams. Demand verifiable results from anyone claiming they can lead you to success in your music career. Talk to people who have worked with them before, preferably offline, in person, and in a public place. Check out venues and other businesses both online and in person. 

Verified outside experts are another important resource. If you know someone who is a  lawyer, music producer, music PR person, or manager, run the name and online presence of anyone who approaches you by that person before signing or even verbally agreeing to allow them into your music career. 

 By Jess Santacroce
Music Writer, 95 5 The Heat 

The cancellation of the late-night tv show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” brought censorship to the news and to social media and all its memes. On September 17, 2025, Kimmel spoke out against the behavior of President Donald Trump following the murder of right-wing content creator and non-profit owner Charlie Kirk. Kimmel’s remarks suggested that Trump’s mourning for Kirk may be insincere, as he was able to shift his focus to the ballroom he’s designing remarkably quickly following Kirk’s passing.
Although not cited as a reason for the show’s cancellation, country singer Margo Price has since become famous as the last musician to play on the show prior to the cancellation, and was reported to have said she was glad she “got the last word” with an anti-fascist song.
Those who support the removal of Kimmel’s show from the air argue that the decision was made by a private corporation, and was not in fact censorship. Others note that the cancellation happened due to pressure from the Trump administration, amounting to government censorship. But what exactly is “censorship?” We all think we know the answer, but there is a lot of misunderstanding surrounding the term, the first amendment, and the concept of “free speech.”
Myth: The first amendment means you get to say anything you want anywhere you want without any unwanted results.

Reality: The first amendment protects you from punishment by the government for what you say, not from the consequences of your actions.
Shortly before the Kimmel cancellation, various content creators on YouTube covered stories of people who were shocked to find themselves fired because of things they posted on TikTok. Most of them did not understand that you could be fired from a job for what you say and do on the air, including the internet, and thought that their firing amounted to censorship. These were not cases of censorship, regardless of how professionally embarrassing they may have been for the person who was fired for their content. Censorship, or denial of your right to free speech ,occurs when the government jails you, fines you, or denies you permits, licenses, or other services because of what you said. None of the people fired for their TikToks were going to jail, paying any fines, or being denied any government services because of their content. As far as the law was concerned, they were still completely free to say whatever they wanted. Their employers had just decided they were not welcome to say it while working for them. This was not censorship, simply the consequences of the individuals’ actions.
In the Kimmel case, Price was definitely not censored in any way. Her song was not cited as a reason for the show’s cancellation. Had ABC independently decided that Kimmel was not welcome to criticize Trump’s reaction to Kirk’s murder on their platform, he would also have experienced no censorship, just the consequences of his actions. Kimmel would have been completely free to go find another network or another platform and say whatever he wanted to say. However, the show’s cancellation is likely due to pressure from Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr.. As the chairman of a portion of the government, Carr would be able to exert influence and pressure to prevent Kimmel from saying what he said no matter where Kimmel went by denying licensing to anyone who would host him. When the government decides that you must be prevented from saying whatever it is that you said, that is censorship.
Myth: People who respond to your social media comments by telling you that you are misinformed, asking you to stop harassing or trolling, or threatening to delete and block you are denying your first amendment right to free speech.
Reality: Musicians monitoring their fan pages and other page managers and owners are not agents of the government, they are private citizens deciding what they will and will now allow in private space.
Several musicians have made statements about both Charlie Kirk’s murder and Jimmy Kimmel’s cancellation, and as is the case when statements are made on social media, the posts get widely mixed reactions, some of which may be distasteful to the original poster. Many choose to deal with these unwanted comments by removing them from their page, or even blocking the person who posted them. A musician or other social media account owner deleting your comments and blocking you from their page is not censoring you. That person does not have the power to put you in jail, make you pay a fine, haul you off to a re-education camp, or deny you licensing or other benefits that you could not get someplace else. A fan who is deleted and blocked from a musician’s page still has the option of going on to another artist’s page and saying the same thing, posting the same thing on their own page, or walking around chanting whatever it was they said out loud if they choose to do so.
This still holds true if a lot of people join in on the calls for you to stop posting whatever it is you’re posting on the page in question. This is not censorship. The page owner is doing the same thing a homeowner or renter is doing when they inform someone that promoting social, political, or spiritual beliefs they do not agree with is unwelcome in their home. All those other people are simply stating that if you came over to their real or virtual “house,” you would not be welcome to talk like that there either. You can still say what you said on your own page, or on another page that welcomes sentiments like yours.
Myth: Criticizing someone who experienced violence is a call to violence, and therefore not protected speech under the first amendment.
Reality: The use of violence as a reaction to anything anyone says violates criminal law and is never justified. Criticizing things that person said before the act of violence was done against them does not in any way suggest there should be an exception to the law.
As arguments about Kimmel rage on over the internet and in other public space, additional people, including some musicians, are further taking sides in an argument over whether or not it is acceptable to criticize Kirk’s words in the wake of his murder. Those who argue that it is not link criticism of Kirk with support or even celebration of what happened to him to end his life. Others point out that their criticism is directed at content Kirk himself created and posted, and has nothing to do with the way that his life ended.
Murder is illegal in the United States. It is also in violation of the teachings of Christianity and nearly every other spiritual or religious belief system. What happened to Charlie Kirk should not have happened to him, and should never happen to anyone. This does not change the fact that his YouTube channel alone is full of content that a lot of Americans, and a lot of Christians, point out is not in line with the law or with the teachings of Jesus. Pointing this out does not mean a person is in any way mocking his murder or denying the impact he had on those who loved him. They are simply doing what Kirk is often celebrated for, arguing against a point someone else made.
On September 22, 2025, multiple news outlets announced that Jimmy Kimmel would return to the air on September 23, 2025. While this instance of censorship was quickly corrected, members of both sides of the political spectrum have noted that it sets a dangerous precedent for comedians, other spoken word artists, and everyone else in the arts and beyond.
Disagreement is not censorship. Criticizing someone is not censorship. Private citizens and private entities refusing to allow content on their privately owned space is not censorship. However, any form of pressure, punishment, or threats from anyone acting as an agent of the government in response to what someone says is censorship, a violation of the first amendment of the United States Constitution, and the denial of the right to free speech.

by Jess Santacroce
Music Writer, 955 The Heat, Phoenix Radio
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Musicians building their career have often needed day jobs and side hustles to pay the bills and finance their art projects. Ideally, that job would be something that put them in the same spaces as those in the music industry, such as working at a club that booked bands, or doing office work inside a studio. If that type of work was not available, the standard career advice for any artist was to wait tables as a day job. But like most work, that may be shifting today. Waiting or bussing tables is still an option for a musician in need of a day job in 2025, but it may not be the best option. There are a few others that may be work around writing and/or performing music much better for some people.

Waiting tables as a day job or side hustle

Day jobs are jobs that are completely outside of your career field. You do not do any work that is directly related to your art. You don’t practice it, teach it, coach others in it, present it, or produce it. The only reason to do these jobs, unless you have a second calling and this work is just as important as your music, is to make money to pay your bills. Waiting tables has always been such a go-to day job for musicians and other artists because it has a high potential to do just that. A few years ago, a manager at a local branch of Applebees noted that some of the servers were doing so well, they were able to afford down payments on houses he could not even afford to live in, despite advancing farther up the corporate ladder. The career advice and information website “Break room dot com,” currently reports that some waiters at chain restaurants report making more than $27.00 per hour.
Waiting tables may also allow a musician to keep in shape, meaning gym memberships and workout programs and classes can be eliminated from the budget, even when they book several gigs in a row and would need to build their stamina and endurance for the stage. Waitstaff also get discounted or even free food, which can reduce grocery costs.
In addition to the financial benefit, waiting tables is often suggested for musicians today because it allows work to stay “at work.” You can clock out, go home, and go to practice or rehearsal without worrying about customers calling, texting, or emailing you.
Despite the benefits, there are several drawbacks to waiting tables as a day job for musicians. While the exercise might be a benefit, it can also be a hindrance, as the work is often too physically tiring to allow for any other type of work once the shift is over. The reported high pay is a possibility, not a guarantee. And while you do get to leave work at work, customer demands and behavior can make it emotionally draining anyway.

Driving for order delivery and rideshare companies as an independent contractor

Hiring yourself out as an independent driver to companies such as DoorDash, Uber, Lyft, Grubhub, Shipt, or Postmates has rapidly grown into the modern equivalent of “just go wait tables,” work that many assume musicians, actors, and anyone else who needs to make money while focusing on other things can easily go and do. Pretty much anyone who can pass a background check, obtain a driver’s license, and access a vehicle that can be used to provide rides or deliveries can be accepted into the pool of drivers, but that doesn’t mean those same people will actually get to work.
Income varies greatly. There are rideshare and delivery drivers who no longer need traditional day jobs, because their income from what they thought would be a side hustle pays for everything they want and more. There are also rideshare and delivery drivers who sit in parking lots for hours at a time, earning nothing for the time they spend waiting, only to finish a four or even an eight hour shift with just a few dollars.
Unlike working in a restaurant, this is not a job you can leave at work. The app on the phone always seems to beckon, bringing feelings of guilt to anyone not constantly logged in and waiting to make money. Customer issues can also be intense, with people reporting drivers for trivial details about their rides or blaming them for errors made by the restaurant staff.
Schedule flexibility seems to be the one reason a musician might choose rideshare and delivery company work as a day job. These jobs are some of the few that can truly be worked around rehearsals, writing time, recording sessions, even tours.

Retail customer service

Finding employment in a retail environment is another traditional “go to” day job for musicians and other artists. It can be a solid option, as, like restaurant work, you can leave the work at home at the end of your shift. Bad managers may overstep standard behavioral expectations for adults by texting workers to demand they take extra shifts at a moment’s notice or ask questions about the workplace when the employee is not clocked in, but this is not meant to be a standard part of the job. You won’t get texts from customers asking questions you’re required to answer, or be forced to carry around your time clock, making you feel obligated to log back in and work some more.
A retail worker’s pay is fairly steady. It’s much easier to budget and plan for everyday expenses and the added expenses brought on by your latest project if you know how much money you’re earning each pay period.
The primary drawback is that the pay is low, coupled with work that is often physically and mentally draining. Given the option of working all day every day for guaranteed minimum wage or working part-time with the possibility of earning much more, musicians and others who need to go home and put in a whole other day’s work when their day job is done may decide the uncertainly of restaurant or rideshare work is worth it.

Salaried driving jobs

While most immediately think of rideshare driving when someone suggests a driving job, driving jobs still exist for places such as schools, nursing homes, senior centers, organizations that serve anyone with a disability, and companies that provide courier and delivery services to their clients and customers.
Some musicians and other artists prefer these jobs to driving as an independent contractor, because they provide a steady wage or salary. Pay is guaranteed, rather than just a possibility for those willing to sit in a parking lot earning nothing for several hours. There is no app, so the work is able to be left behind at the end of every shift. Those who work driving a school bus of course blend driving work with childcare, but drivers who work for smaller companies may only have to provide short rides to adults, or transport materials from one local business to another. This can result in relatively low-stress work, allowing plenty of time and energy for your music once your shift is done.

These are just the most commonly mentioned and promoted day jobs for musicians. There are of course many more, and which job is best for a specific person is going to depend on the individual’s music practice, skills, health, interests, and other obligations in life.

By Jess Santacroce
Music Writer, Phoenix Radio

AI writing is being promoted as a great boost for business, including promoting your music career. But is it really a help, or might it be a hindrance? Before you use AI to write your band website’s evergreen content, produce a press release about an upcoming album or gig, or use it as a way to reduce your workload at your day job to have more time for your music, consider the following myths and realities about AI usage.

Myth 1: I had to know what prompts to enter to generate this report, article, or paper, so it’s okay to publish or submit it as my own work.

Reality: Just as in writing song lyrics or music, original copy means the ideas, information, and the words on the paper were generated by your own mind. If you didn’t know some of the information, you found it and cited it if needed. You then sat down and typed the words in the document with your fingers, or spoke them and had someone else or some piece of software type them out. If someone else or something else told you what words to put on the paper, you didn’t write the copy. Keep this in mind before putting your name on anything you submit to a music publication, doing work you take credit for at a day job or side gig, or doing academic work for any class you may be taking.

Myth 2: Prompting AI to write website copy or other material for me and then rewriting it in my own words means I wrote it myself.

Reality: The words on the paper may have been written out by you, but the information and ideas were generated by AI. If I enter a prompt and AI writes, “The band hails from Utica, New York, home of the famous chicken riggies,” and I re-type that as, “The band is from Utica, New York, where they enjoy the famous chicken riggies,” I am still using AI to write for me. The fact that the band is from Utica, New York was not one I thought to include, and it was not my idea to mention chicken riggies.

Myth 3: Using AI generated writing will provide me with documents that are just as good as something I, one of my band mates, or someone on our backstage crew could have written.

Reality: AI generated writing could at best be described as “generic.” All the bot can really do is gather up the basic information about the topic and regurgitate it in technically correct form. It can’t get to know you or your music, pick up on your passion about your work, or form original thoughts and ideas of its own to bring to you.

If you don’t believe that, prompt AI to write you a song. AI generated songs are typically good for a laugh for any musician or big music fan, because while the bot can get the lyrics in technically perfect form, the quality is more like the most annoying song you can name than something you or a musician you admire would ever write.

Myth 4: Using AI to do your writing saves a lot of time.

Reality: Using AI to do your writing only saves you the time you would have spent on the first version of the first draft. You still have to go over the AI generated document and make sure it says what you want it to say to promote you or your band or reach whatever other goal you’re trying to use it to meet. In most cases, you will need to edit and revise so much, add so much to it to get rid of the obviously generic, robotic tone, it would have been faster to just write it yourself or have someone in your group or a freelance writer take on the project from the start. Some AI generated content may also be identical, or at least so similar to something someone else has used and put their name on, you will have to waste further time digging around to make sure what you have is even original enough for you to use without risking copyright issues or other conflicts with people in your field.

Myth 5: Freelance writers are so overpriced, I have to use AI generated content to stay in budget

Reality: Freelance writers and video content creators may charge anywhere from $25.00 to $500.00 per article or video. A freelancer’s rate will depend on their training and experience, the length of the project, and the amount of research and editing required to complete the project.

Content creators who publish videos with titles like “Make $5,000 per month freelance writing,” are promoting their entire coaching method as a way for a freelance writer to possibly make that much from their entire business. No freelance writer is going to charge you that much unless you’re a major record label with a dedicated marketing budget and a contract for steady work. You’re likely to be quoted about $50.00-$250.00 for a single project for your solo career or band.

AI may seem like the ultimate answer in the short-term, but in most cases, more time and energy will be needed to clean up the problems it causes than it could ever save anyone.