An episode of The Simpsons, first broadcast in 1998, features a memorable scene where newscaster Kent Brockman says the words “Authorities say that the phony Pope can be recognised by his high-top speakers and incredibly foul mouth”.

In which case, Nervous might want to get in touch with the infamous, if fictional, newsreader as they may have a story which would pique his interest – because it seems Nervous are having trouble at the moment from someone calling themselves “David Massey”.

The scam artist has been emailing a number of people, pretending to represent the label, to tell them “Our A&R reviewed over all your music content and we definitely think you have potential reach the next level of your career… would like to offer you a marketing/distribution publishing deals”. And before anyone asks, that’s exactly what appears in the email.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CVQrpOSL8XN/?utm_medium=copy_link

The email later discloses that “There is a small fee of $300 for this to take place which will state the offer was unsolicited”, and the email finishes with the words “Yours sincerely, David Massey. A&R of Nervous Records Label”. Which might well be news to Andrew Salsano, who is… err, the person in charge of licensing, publishing and A&R at Nervous.

Yes, this blog might well take great pleasure in calling out Nervous for their advertising practices. But I also don’t want to see people falling for this blatant, shameless scam – there are more than enough of these cons in the world of dance music without adding any more to the mix.

It remains unclear exactly why the scammer chose the “David Massey” name. More likely is the fact it’s the name of the current president of Arista Records. Less likely is this one, who made the news for rather less scrupulous reasons…