Music Gateway Arvostelua 

They just took €19 from my bank account without my consent. I understand why they want to charge for their services but you can't just take money without agreement! Very bad practice and i'm sure it's illegal.

I signed up for a free account with Music Gateway, but recently, they informed me via email that they would automatically upgrade my account to a paid subscription unless I deleted it. I never agreed to this upgrade, yet they still attempted to charge my bank account without my consent!

This is completely unethical and possibly illegal. No company should be allowed to force customers into a paid plan without explicit approval. After noticing a pending charge in my bank account, I will now to take immediate action to block the transaction.

Their customer service is unresponsive, and this entire experience has been frustrating. I will be reporting them to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Trading Standards for their shady practices, if they won't send me the refund.

Avoid this company at all costs! If you’re thinking about using their services, be very careful, as they might try to charge you without warning.

Reply:
Thank you for your response. However, your explanation does not address the core issue. I cannot "miss an update" for something that I never consented to in the first place. Automatic upgrades to a paid subscription without explicit agreement are not only unethical but may also be unlawful.

Furthermore, I have already deleted my account and therefore have no access to your chatbot. Instead, I have sent multiple emails to three different addresses, including your own (which I found on gov.uk), yet I have not received a single response until now.

Given this lack of communication and the unauthorized attempt to charge my account, I have no choice but to pursue this matter through other channels.

Additionally, during my research, I discovered your previous involvement in the gambling and betting industries. While this is not inherently an issue, it does raise serious questions about the true intentions behind your business practices—particularly in light of the unauthorized upgrade and attempted charge on my account. Such practices are also associated with industries that rely on opt-out models and aggressive billing tactics, which only reinforces my concerns.

Update:
Yesterday, the 26th of March, I received a response from Sophie regarding my refund request. She directed me to a refund request form, which requires me to delete this review in order to proceed—something I find completely unacceptable and legally questionable:

According to the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, businesses cannot pressure or mislead consumers into removing honest reviews. Additionally, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has made it clear that companies must not condition refunds or services on deleting or modifying a review.

Additionally, the form states that the refund process can take up to 31 days (a full month) to be completed. However, under UK law, this is not justified:

Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, businesses must process refunds within 14 days if a payment was unfairly taken or misleading.

Since this was an unauthorized charge, a delay of up to 31 days is completely unreasonable. That is why I chose not to use the refund request form and instead sent an email with all the required details, exactly as stated in the form.

I have given the company 48 hours to respond and process my refund. If I do not receive a resolution within this timeframe, I will explore further legal channels if necessary.

THEY LITERALLY JUST CHARGED ME FOR A PRO PLAN I NEVER PURCHASED!!! ABSOLUTELY SHAMEFUL AND INCREDIBLE!!! STAY AWAY!!!

They charged me for a subscription I never signed up for. I had registered with their free version just to see how it worked. Months later, on March 20th, they charged me 19 euros. And of course, when I go to their website, I can’t contact them directly—I’m stuck with a bot that obviously doesn’t understand what I’m asking.

On top of that, when I checked my account, there was no active subscription, since the first thing the interface asks me when I log in is whether I want to subscribe to a pro plan. Stay away—this site is a scam... I know I’ll never get my money back. I just deleted my account and hope I won’t have any more issues.

They randomly increased the price on my free account I never even used and is now charging £17 a month, I do not remember adding my bank details and I was not notified, I have tried accessing my account but keep getting bad gateway errors or the website will not load and when it eventually does it doesn’t let me log in , I tried using the virtual assistant but it said no one was there to help, so now I’m stuck I would like to cancel it because this is a scam and an outrage absolutely disgraceful practises I do not have that kind of money.

SCAM! I had a dormant account from years ago that was their free subscription, and then I got a £17 charge! Emails on their website bounce back to the sender, and I requested a refund, but no confirmation of request or fulfilment.

They charged me £25 for a subscription I didn't agree to. Went back through my emails to find one email in my spam folder notifying me that they're switching all free users to a paid account with 2 weeks notice, after years with the platform on various accounts. The email stated I'd be switched to their lowest tier account, but I actually got switched the highest tier, more expensive subscription. The only way to avoid it is to delete your account.
I can't comment on the quality of their paid service as I've not used it, but automatically switching all users to a paid plan after a decade of offering a free account is a huge red flag. I'm sure there are plenty of people who signed up and forgot they had accounts that are now going to have to be applying for refunds (but I'd imagine this move is banking on enough people not noticing to balance their books). Contacted their support and was directed to a refund form, which conveniently has terms to sign saying you won't leave a bad review until the process is complete. (a process that they say can take up to 31 days, conveniently enough time for your subscription to be charged again).
I understand the need to make money to offer the service they do, but this change was handled terribly at best, and at worst seems fairly predatory and a cynical money grab from unsuspecting users.

if you are musician or songwriter AVOID THIS COMPANY. Like many out there this company preys upon on the hopes and dreams of an aspiring musician or songwriter. It promises much and delivers nothing. Poor customer service, inexperienced A&R, terrible UX and backend that is full of bugs and problems. Avoid like the plague.

Absolutely unacceptable behavior from this platform! I had two releases that took more than six weeks, and every time, they found new excuses to delay things further. One of their worst excuses? "Track cannot be played", even though they later admitted it was fine. Then, my third release was stuck with them for five weeks, only for them to reject it with this ridiculous message:

"Urgent changes needed – We can't release your track right now due to one or more issues that need fixing."

And their so-called "issue"?

"Subscription type no longer valid."

Are you kidding me? What kind of nonsense is that?!

If that wasn’t bad enough, the platform itself is a nightmare to use. Trying to gather my own music data was an unnecessary struggle because they throw up an annoying popup that forces you to select a plan before you can do anything. I had to bypass their nonsense just to access MY OWN information.

This service is an absolute joke—cheap, unprofessional, and completely unreliable. Stay far away unless you enjoy wasting your time and dealing with pointless roadblocks.
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My reply to your comment:

Thank you for your response. However, it seems like you're missing the point of my review entirely. My concerns are not about the cost of your services—it's about the unprofessional and unreliable behavior that I experienced during my time with Music Gateway.

The repeated delays, the contradictory excuses, and the arbitrary rejection of my third release due to a "subscription type no longer valid" issue are the real problems. It's not about the price, but rather about the lack of clear communication and accountability on your end.

Additionally, you gave me only a two-week notice to decide whether to pay for a subscription, and on top of that, you introduced an unclosable popup on your website that wouldn't allow me to gather essential personal track information unless I paid. The frustrating part was that I had no choice but to literally use F12 and bypass the overlays and pop-ups just to proceed. That’s not the type of service any artist should expect when managing their own work.

I understand that costs are involved in running a platform, but that doesn't justify the poor service I received. I was simply trying to use the platform to manage my music, and the numerous obstacles made the experience extremely frustrating.

I won’t be continuing with your services, and I would encourage you to reassess how you handle customer feedback and make your platform more user-friendly in the future. It’s not just about paying for a service; it’s about delivering the quality and reliability you promise.

Incredible experience. Music Gateway has a team of knowledgeable experts who are collaborative, well-connected, and highly skilled in what they do.

Got an email telling me the free plan is automatically moving to a paid plan in 14 days, clicked on the delete my account link in the email and have now spent an hour going round in circles trying to delete this rubbish app. Complete scammers and crooks

The options on the website are endless! From sync and playlist placements to mastering and much more. I got a code for the PRO membership and I personally messed up by not adding the code and paying full price. You know what happened? They refunded the difference back the same day🥺 I think I found my long term music business partners🫶🏼

They do not have quality graphics tools or skills, despite this feature being a selling point for their overpriced campaign. In lieu of using the custom top quality audio clip I provided for social media ads, they dumbed it down to the hook which was overlayed onto a cliche stock animated GIF rather than sequencing the pro photos I sent. The 1st font they put on it was illegible, though they replaced as soon as I asked. My song credits were wrong, meaning royalties & splits were misdirected...big legal problems. The briefs on their site are not exclusive, and you're being cross-sold. If they mess up credits what would happen with sync?! They did not get the playlisting they boasted either. They also dodged all questions to correct their serious errors.

Very responsive and helpful team! Every question, every doubt was answered asap and thoughtfully, even before hiring them!! A team who understands what it takes to be an artist and who are dedicated to deliver the results you have in mind

The worst company I tried. I spent 79 dollars for a year subscription, I uploaded some albums I had to take off for a while and 4 months later, they were still in review with the same bullshit feedbacks from the assistance telling me I had to modify the cover of those albums which were already displayed on music platforms. I gently told them I was done with their service, the contract hasn’t been respected and that all I wanted is to have a refund. They ignored my mail and I feel stolen. Be careful people!

I have had nothing but the absolute best experience with Music Gateway. I joined Music Gateway around September of last year and I have no had one issue! Their customer support is top notch it's the best they can handle any issues you may have and fast to. Ive never had such great customer support they've helped me out with different things always nice, polite and on point very fast. Music Gateway has all the tools you need to take your career as an artist to the next level. I can't wait to make some good gains see some growth and take advantage of Music Gateways music promotions. That's how it is for me as an artist right now it's just a dream and goal to hit and make my mark. Music Gateway have a ton of tools for your music like pre save links, mix tape creator, calculator, audio mastering system which I have personally used and it is the best their audio mastering really makes your track stand out it's so much louder plus comes with a few different options, showcase, sync, publishing, music distribution, t. v. and film, playlisting, radio promotions, digital marketing promotions facebook ads Instagram ads, I can tell you you really don't know your potential until you do create an account with Music Gateway and have and has the experience. I mean heck it's Music Gateway get it Music Gateway it's the door 2 great music and I've already opened it! Stay awesome rock on and I will see you on the other side!

White Devil

I was very pleased with the outcomes of both campaigns. At this point, I wouldn't entrust my promotion with any other firm.You guys rock!

I uploaded my song in early december and it´s not even been looked at! Today is the 31st, this is unacceptable.

UPDATE: they contacted me 6 weeks after I submitted my song (which is still pending review as of now, 4 months after I submitted it), saying, and I directly quote from their email:
"We kindly ask that you consider removing your Trustpilot review so we can move forward with resolving this matter. Once the review is removed, we’ll prioritise your track for review."

It is crazy they they track down their users who provide constructive critisism and try to force them to give a good rating here. After this, I consider all the reviews here as fake. DO NOT DISTRIBUTE WITH THIS COMPANY!

I was very excited in my initial conversation with the seller at music gateway. I have been building a portfolio as an indie singer songwriter over 20 years now, without a profit return however. I know the music industry so I do not expect miracles and I have even been on the other side as a music reporter, teacher, and critique. I did however expect some result for my investment over 1000 USD in terms of help with marketing and pitching to industry people. My specific interest was sync and I said as much. I paid for a Spotify promotion and a sync promotion. I got nothing from either. Worse I did not get ANY campaign report. For all I know they just did a one sheet and pocketed the money. I asked for a report to analyze in order to see what areas could use improvement or which industry contacts, if any, were responsive. I had expected someone to look through the catalogue with me, find the strongest songs and how to pitch them. As an artist seeing your product objectively is the hardest task. That is why you seek help with marketing. I ended up doing all the legwork myself and uploading a pitch myself etc. All they did was create a one sheet online and I suspect send out some ads on LinkedIn. (You can get a one sheet and some ads on fiver for under 300 Dollars) Had I known I would still do all the presentation work, I would not have purchased this service. They made it sound like they would contact people in their network and pitch you. You will get a lot of platitudes like "Oh, well do you gig out?" (Had tours in USA/Europe/Africa which they would know if they actually bothered to research) and there are many songwriters with sync deals who do not gig out so I feel they are not really helpful. I notice that they did not bother to research my catalogue, tours, press, radio or backstory (which is quite unique) The sync promotion suddenly became an "Industry Pitch" where they sent ads to fellow musicians on linked in. I already know many of the biggest musicians worldwide since I went to Berklee with them- some are even playing on my releases (which, again they would know if they bothered to research) I could have contacted them directly and not paid 1000, Besides, they are trying to get sync deals too! We're all trying to make a dime. Music gateway seems like another scam where you will get some tokenist help that you can probably do yourself with better results. Luckily I stoped the Spotify pitch after one month because I saw right away that I could get better results with another provider. I am still looking for help for someone to pitch my catalogue objectively. I did think maybe they thought the music was bad but with international airplay and international awards next to Hall of Fame -ers that would seem odd . I am not sure if they are a scam but I would not recommend them

Lee. and his entire team at Music Gateway are great. I used them on several projects in the year 2024 and I was very pleased with their success. They were willing to tailor their marketing strategies to fit with my company's macro overall strategy, something some agencies are resistant to agree to. In particular Their META ad strategy showed great results and I was very impressed with the diligence of their playlist vetting process and ensuring that any lists my songs were added to were safe from artificial manipulation. I highly recommend them.