Complaint Review: Vicious Buzz - Los Angeles California

ATTN ALL ARTISTS - STAY AWAY FROM VICIOUS BUZZ!

We recently concluded an 8-Week PR campaign with the PR company Vicious Buzz and it was a massive waste of time, energy and money and we strongly recommend that all artists looking to hire a publicity company stay away from Vicious Buzz.

Everything started out fine and the process leading up to the campaign went smoothly as Xavier Abraham (the owner of Vicious Buzz) seemed fairly enthusiastic about moving forward. We had a couple short calls, received some documents (including a proposal and payment form), was introduced via email to a handful of the people that would be overseeing the project, etc. Everything seemed legit and professional and we were very optimistic as they present the company well and seem to have a long client list.

However, as soon as the transaction took place and the money was sent over it was like working with a completely different company. There was barely any communication, nobody seemed organized and there was no longer a sense that we were valued as clients.

Weeks went by without any updates, press releases weren’t getting done (we had to send them an email to let them know the project was out :/), the bio that we paid $500 to have written was a slightly altered version of the original one we provided and there was little to no results as far as playlists and blog placements go. Furthermore, there was zero accountability and the “worksheet” they supplied had a handful of items that were marked as “completed” which in fact weren’t completed (there was 4-5 separate items).

Upon the completion of the campaign I contacted Xavier Abraham to voice my concerns and request a refund for the poor service, unsatisfactory communication and for the work that wasn’t completed. Xavier forwarded the email to his legal and accounting department and it’s been crickets ever since (we’ve sent 3-4 follow-ups over the last 3 weeks and have received nothing back).

Long story short, stay away from Vicious Buzz and use your resources more wisely. They apparently have a long list of clients so maybe we were just one of the clients who had a poor experience and slipped through the cracks, but this goes beyond that and was an EXTREMELY NEGATIVE experience.

• 0 playlist adds
• 0 interviews 
• 0 reviews
• 1 low-mid tier blog placement
• Bio that was pretty much the same bio that was submitted except a few words were changed and some paragraphs were switched around
• Terrible communication - days and even WEEKS went by without any updates or contact
• 2 of 3 press releases weren’t completed (even though they were marked as “completed” on the spreadsheet
• No hardcopy proof they actually did any work
• No accountability, no final reports

We really didn’t prefer to go on a public forum to voice our displeasure but we were really left with no other options. We were extremely professional, reasonable and understanding throughout the whole process and the fact that it wasn’t reciprocated reflects very poorly on Vicious Buzz. That said, we urge artists, managers and labels to avoid the Vicious Buzz scam and don’t waste your time reaching out to them. These guys are just another internet company who put up a slightly better facade then the rest, but make no mistake about it - they’re just trying to take your money.

Lastly, you’re welcome to contact us if you have any questions or if you want to learn more about our experience with Vicious Buzz.