Red Label Records is a Scam!

***2025 UPDATE AT THE BOTTOM! ... And it's worth the read...

How I got Scammed out of over $4,000 by Red Label Records and why you should AVOID Dan Byelich at all costs!

No Real Connects. Totally Fake.

Dan has never recorded with ANY of the artists he claims to have.

Fake Songs.

Scam.

Fake Contracts.

Scam.

Fake Advertising.

Scam.

“Your 2 grand ain’t gonna make or break me”.

– Dan Byelich, “CEO” of Red Label Records before stealing over $4,000 AUD (Audio below).

How I got scammed out of over $4k AUD.

Nobody likes getting scammed. Nobody likes when they thought they were going to get scammed, didn’t trust their gut, but made the deal anyway – And got scammed. I’m swallowing my pride and sharing this because I think it’s important as musicians, producers and aspiring artists to have each other’s backs. So here’s how I got screwed.

In March 2017, I took a year off work and moved from Sydney, Australia to Lima, Peru. I took my studio with me and started working on production, mixing and enhancing my knowledge of the music industry from a busniess perspective. A friend introduced me to the Facebook profile of Dan Byelich, “CEO” of Red Label Records based in San Diego, California. He frequently posted about his own rap career as D. Lynch, connections with other artists, and bragged about how much he’d made in the industry. Additionally, he claimed to have “open spots” for musicians and producers, a business model I’d never heard of, so I reached out to have a chat. I come from a sales and marketing background, and thought we could trade value. He asked for $150 for consultation (which typically runs around $50), and I obliged.

We chatted over the paid consult and things seemed alright, though he was very money focused (not to be confused with business focussed). He spoke about how he’d worked with artists including Snoop Dogg, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, and other major label names. I checked this out through his Spotify and it looked legitimate.

I asked Dan if he ran mentor programs within his label, which would see him take me on and eventually see us work together on opportunities. He said he’d done this numerous times and was extremely selective of whom he’d take on. He proposed a cost of $300 USD per month, for 2 hours a week. As I was based in Peru, this felt like a cost effective way to build a relationship with someone who seemed responsive and had a grasp on the industry at a fair hourly rate.

Happy days, right?

Wrong…

During the first “mentoring” session, I explained my background in digital marketing, branding, social media marketing and various other forms of promotion (I’ve worked with various global brands such as Universal, Sony, Ferrari, Audi and Uber to name a few). Dan said he ran social media ads and he’d be keen to talk. I took him through some marketing tactics, focusing on his business goals rather than working together, as agreed.

Fast forward, Dan is pitching me an opportunity with Joyner Lucas, one of my favorite rappers – $3,000 for a featured verse from Joyner, and Dan and I would produce the beat. I declined initially.

Now, I’m an opportunist and I love a good deal, so the thought of getting Joyner on a track that I’d played keys on was difficult to dismiss. I need to stress that no transactions happened without a lengthy back and forth process and solid justifications around pricing, finished off with a contract.

When it came to contracts things were weird; Dan requested money before the contract was actually sent. Once again, the opportunity I saw outweighed the risks. For what looks like an obvious scam, he did make a nice little profit selling a percentage of his song catalogue to a company called Royalty Exchange. I’d parted with enough money and invested in this deal with him which returned a $1200 dividend from a $2000 investment, still paid monthly royalties and was about to break even.

**He’s since emailed me saying he’s cancelled my contracts and no further communication would be answered.

This kept me going on the Joyner Lucas deal. I parted with $1500 to secure the spot. Dan used a variety of sales tactics like ‘fear of loss’ (which is claiming there are others about to buy and creating an urgency to purchase). Shortly after, I parted with 50% as a down payment.

When it came time to pay the balance, Dan told me that he’d lost control of his PayPal account, and that I had to send it through his secretary, Lauren Torres

It was around this time that my gut started to turn and my mind went to thoughts of getting royally screwed – but I was already halfway in, and I sent the other half.

The contract was now signed and paid for, and it was an “eye of the storm” period where I didn’t have my money and I didn’t have a product. This was December 30, 2017. I was on vacation, with poor wifi, but managed to do what was required to get this “urgent” deal sorted.

CONFIRMED RELEASE DATES

During this time, Dan mentioned that he’d had a major fallout with a well known celebrity publicist. This was one of many bad situations he’d found himself in during the short time we’d been working together. Former Red Label associate (and slick producer) LX Xander being one of them. He’d frequently trashed the name of LX to me, something that I found extremely unprofessional and disconcerting. I was becomming more and more concerned about aligning my name with his, as he’d seemed to make freqent enemies in the industry – I must point out that by this time, Dan was holding all my money.

Celebrity Publicist Comments

LX Xander Comments

I guess that when someone has a chunk of your money and is talking shit about people you’ve never met, it doesn’t make sense to tell them that they don’t sound like someone you want to work with or recieve career advice from, so I threw a few nothing statements back to feed his ego.

By this stage, I wanted out of our deal… It was clear that working with Dan was a BAD move.

…BUT, we were still inside his contract, and the opportunity was still live as far as I knew.

March 30th came and went, with not even a drum sampled or programmed. I waited a few days, then questioned what this meant in relation to the contract. Dan tried to backpedal and tell me that this was just how the industry was, that he’d done everything right, and claimed he had kept me in the loop of his movements, but still – He hadn’t stuck to HIS contract!

To add a litte humour, the day he broke the contract, he posted this.

I let a week pass, then brought up the fact our contract had been broken. He tried to tell me that the contract didn’t apply to him, and if the dates lapsed, it didn’t matter on his behalf. This felt wrong. This is wrong.

Now, Dan adds in his contracts, that all legal pursuits are to be handled in San Diego. He does this as he deals with international “clients” (I really mean targets), so that when he breaks his contacts, they must be fought out in court in HIS city at HIS convenience. Most people (and most lawyers) would simply take the loss, leaving Dan with a big sack of money. Most people aren’t marketing experts with webpage development skills…

I posted about Dan in his own “Inner Circle” group. He charges unsuspecting artists $12 a month to be a part of this, and they get about $12 of value. I was added free of charge as I was providing marketing advice. I posted in this group, warning his current and future targets which was taken down and blocked within 5 mins. BUT, within 4 mins it was seen by another member who’d been scammed also. Turns out that what he did with me was something he was more than happy doing on a regular basis.

**This was straight after the post in Dan’s “Inner Circle” group.

The artist in question, Cage, provides an insight.

This is another clear example of fraud, straight from the artist’s mouth.

After speaking with Stephen, he’s now in a similar mindset to me – No interest in the music industry whatsoever.

That’s 2 from 2 for Dan Byelich… Moving on though

Where the situation sits now, is that Dan has blocked me from all communication, claiming that all correspondance would be sent through to his lawyers – who also look fake. I also never requested to cancel any contracts. Once again – SCAM

Fraud & Lies on Social Media

Final Thoughts… (Before the 2025 update!)

So, let me finish as I started – As aspiring musicians, artists and producers, it’s so important to look out for each other.

The backlash of this whole situaton is that it has destoyed my passion to work on music. Over the past few weeks, I’ve sold my instruments and interfaces. I wanted to share the sitation with as many people as possible so that the same events aren’t replicated for anyone else.

I’m happy to hear any and all responses, good or bad. Happy to look the fool and share my bad decisions in the hopes that YOU don’t make the same mistakes, so like & share, and leave some comments when you do so that your network knows the ugly side of music, and above all…

THE 2025 UPDATE!

I don’t even know where to begin so I guess I should just say strap yourself in.

When I put this site together, I wanted to be able to expose this scam artist so that unsuspecting, aspiring artists could avoid going through the same soul destroying experience that I did.

But I am grateful. Grateful that I learned very early on that if it seems to good to be true, then it definitely is. But he’s still doing it…

In the following update, you’ll see the following:

Claims of others that he is either STILL scamming, or has already scammed
Proof that he tried to snake his way out of this exposé
Proof that he lied about what he was doing, while he was still doing it
Threats, threats, threats! – Straight from the standard scam artist starter pack
Claims that this site harms his business in no way whatsoever – Which is awesome that he put that in writing.
Deluded claims that I am going into random GTA groups and talking shit about him (Lol, I don’t even know where to start with this one)
AN ADMISSION OF GUILT (the first part I’ll touch on)…
More lies, lies lies…

I should also start with an apology, because I should have kept this site updated. It takes a lot of time and mental energy to invite this scumbag back into my mind, but it is cathartic to be able to share more of the experience so you all know what you’re dealing with (and what I’m dealing with)….

Let’s begin with the final nail in the coffin. He contacted me mid 2024 with what seemed like it could be genuine… This was unprompted, he contacted me, and I replied. I don’t reply anymore…

So quick snapshot (which will have all details further below). He reached out to “make things right”. I said in order to make it right with me, he had to make it right with everyone I knew of who he’d scammed. He didn’t like that, so he lied, then disappeared for over a year before popping up with more deranged accusations – sigh…

The below content is copied verbatim from the email he sent me, which is about as good as an admission of guilt as you’ll get. I’ll post actual screenshots of the exchange at the end of the page, along with other complaints I’ve received recently.

The entire message grift goes for about 3 pages, so I’ll post the first page, then the actual content to save reading space, then all the screenshots at the bottom for anyone who’s interested in the entire exchange where he said he’d pay everyone back – but didn’t… No surprises there.

THE EMAIL - VERBATIM

“Hey man,

I actually sent you an email on here about a year or so ago, and there was a couple different accounts for you on facebook that I have messaged you on as well. I believe 2021 or 2022 was my first correspondence.

Before I answer your questions, I want to be clear that I am not here to bullshit you or waste your time.

I am coming from a place of sincerity. I did a lot of work on myself over the years, and have gone through extensive therapy to deal with certain things.

I dont have any motivations here other than to apologize, and correct something that has bothered me for a very long time now.

I know a lot of people say they changed, and they didnt actually do so…but in the years since we last spoke, the most important person in my life passed away, and it changed me completely.

I have no interest in selling you a bill of goods.

Anyways, in over my head means i was arrogant and thought I knew everything about the music business, when I in fact did not know shit.

If I am being brutally honest with both you and myself, I was a self centered individual that only cared about money. I didnt care how I treated other people, how my actions affected others, or how my own actions could follow me around for years.

I’ll be brutally honest further, by saying I really do not like that version of myself, and the person that I was then. It really makes me embarrassed to the point of having to even seperate myself from the music i made then.

That was just a version of myself, that had a ton of undealt with trauma and was living with a really warped sense of reality.

I was in over my head, by taking you on as a student to mentor, because I really was in no position to do it. I of course couldnt see this at the time because I was a 20 something arrogant kid.

I was in over my head by having you and other people invest in something i didnt quite understand to the fullest extent I should have, when I was taking other peoples money. (if it means anything to you i fully regret doing that royalty exchange deal in the first place)

I was in over my head by working with people that were not trust worthy, and again took other peoples money out of over confidence and arrogance. This actually segways into your next question.

I have not worked with M80, Anno Domini, or anyone associated with them in years. Its really important to me to not talk badly about anyone, or rehash any old grudges, so I want to be careful with my wording here….but long story short M80 and Anno Domini were sued for $2 Million for selling fraudulent verses.

I personally gave them thousands of dollars over the course of many years, well before you and I ever even met. Goes without saying that I took a huge L there.

I do not employ any of the same practices you knew me for. This whole thing between you and I actually really made me take learning how to be a competent business owner seriously.

I dont do any mentoring, i dont do any of the weird Tai Lopez esque shit anymore, i havent even thought about doing a course in at least 5 years, etc.

I was selling beats that had features on them for awhile, but I was getting them directly from the artists, and not a 3rd party.

I can also say that any time someone requested their money back for any reason, I gave it to them without question.

I just recently refunded someone for a beat pack they bought years ago, just because I dont have the files on hand anymore and couldnt resend anything to them.

As of 2024, I am no longer doing any of that.

The only thing I do now, is I work with a publishing company to A&R publishing deals for people. We dont work with small artists at all, they dont even take anyone with less than 50k monthly listeners.

Other than that, I am focused strictly on making records. I really have very little contact with independent artists these days.

I have even been pulling away from leasing beats, and just been focusing on music and my “day job” with the pub company.

I dont really know how I can honestly make things right fully, because I know there are elements here that go beyond money.

I would at least like the opportunity to repay you, what you lost financially.

I’ll be fully transparent and say I dont got it like I used to by a mile.

Not only did COVID really do a number on my credit and finances, but not doing all of the things I mentioned above caused a pretty sizeable income cut.

I am okay with this, because I’d rather do things the right way, but theres more months than not where im just making ends meet.

I am also the only one in my household with an income right now. I live with one of my cousins, and she was just apart of a 4000 person company layoff, so we are really just getting by.

Regardless, im happy to give you what expendable income I do have, until we are square.

Lastly, I want to emphasize how regretful of this entire thing I really am.

I honestly and sincerely never had any intentions of scamming you. I was just an arrogant dick, and im not even going to try to explain or justify why i handled that whole thing so poorly.

I thought I was justified in my actions, and I realize obviously now that I was not.

I am sorry for the way I spoke to you, when you became frustrated with the situation.

I am sorry for not taking the issue head on like a man, and blocking you because I was in my feelings, and you bruised my ego.

I am sorry for not having the self awareness to be like hey man im still learning this music thing like you are, im not the guy to tutor you.

I am sorry that I made you lose money, and most of all im sorry that i cause you so much grief that you quit something you were passionate about.

There’s so much more I would like to say, but for the sake of this not being the longest email ever written, I’ll just leave it at that.

I really do hope you and I can bury the hatchet. This is something that I have carried on my shoulders for close to a decade now, so I really appreciate you taking the time to respond.

I hope everything I said make sense, please let me know if you need me to clarify anything.

Looking forward to your response.

Thanks”

—–

This was June 8th & 9th, 2024. Then, there were a couple more exchanges including him denying even knowing the others he’d scammed, then coming clean and trying to say it was different for the other party. Absolute delusional BS, as usual.

He attempted a sob story to get some pity and sympathy, but as usual it was all part of a grift.

THEN, over a year passes before I hear from him again… You can see as soon as I refuse to entertain his new angle of growth and fixing himself, we go back into crazy accusations after a couple of weeks. GIVE THIS MAN A GOLD MEDAL IN THE MENTAL GYMNASTICS!

Just in case anyone is wondering, I don’t game, nor do I bother hanging out in GTA communities with kids.. But it seems he does.

See below…

NEXT - A few other poor souls who've had the displeasure of running into this clown

The following is a couple of excerpts of longer conversations I’ve had as a result of people reaching out to ME after seeing this page in 2023 & 2025.

I hope to god that you’re one of the lucky ones, and that you just ignored his requests for business, money or whatever magic beans he was trying to sell you – More about the magic beans later…

And there have been plenty of others over the years...

Unfortunately it just takes too much time to go back through Facebook messages and emails from the past 8 years, screenshot, crop, redact details, upload, tag up etc. so the above will have to suffice as a very clear warning of what you’ll get into if you engage in any business dealings with him. If you’ve made it this far and still want to buy his magic beans, that’s on you…

NOW, onto the accusations and threats!

Again, straight out of the scammers playbook – When you can’t lie, cheat and steal your way to a win, use threats…

Below, we’ve got an update from today (Sept 28th, 2025), with some very mean words (don’t worry, I’m ok), which was the final straw and prompted me set aside my Sunday and get stuck into this site, once again.

It’s a pretty clear meltdown, as you can see by the incredibly short timeframe it took him to snap, regain composure, then snap again. The comment he made was in reference to a marketing program I designed for online coaches, which uses AI to handle 30 days of content creation in minutes. It’s actually pretty cool, and extremely useful.

Below these screenshots, its Dan’s OWN AI platform, that HE developed himself! Buuuut, it’s no longer active, whoopsy!

The craziest part is there has never been an offer made for this website domain 😂

A link to the magic AI can be found here. (Spoiler, it doesn’t exist…)

Ok so that's it for now - I've spent an entire day updating this to put a final nail in the coffin.

I'll be sure to update this page with the next set of threats, they should be coming in hot ASAP!

If you'd like to share your Scam Byelich story - You can reach me at terry@20xx.com.au.

Keep your wits about you... "Lot of sharks out there, tryin to take a bite of something..."

The whole gamut of recent conversations -

I will continue to update this as he sends more shots. It's somewhat entertaining, but above all shows the true character of this scumbag. If you choose to do business with him after seeing this, don't be upset when it all falls apart...

Red Label Records is a Scam!

***2025 UPDATE AT THE BOTTOM! ... And it's worth the read...

No Real Connects. Totally Fake.

Dan has never recorded with ANY of the artists he claims to have.

Fake Songs.

Fake Contracts.

Fake Advertising.

“Your 2 grand ain’t gonna make or break me”.

– Dan Byelich, “CEO” of Red Label Records before stealing over $4,000 AUD (Audio below).

Celebrity Publicist Comments

LX Xander Comments

The artist in question, Cage, provides an insight.

THE 2025 UPDATE!

THE EMAIL - VERBATIM

NEXT - A few other poor souls who've had the displeasure of running into this clown

And there have been plenty of others over the years...

The whole gamut of recent conversations - I will continue to update this as he sends more shots. It's somewhat entertaining, but above all shows the true character of this scumbag. If you choose to do business with him after seeing this, don't be upset when it all falls apart...

The whole gamut of recent conversations -

I will continue to update this as he sends more shots. It's somewhat entertaining, but above all shows the true character of this scumbag. If you choose to do business with him after seeing this, don't be upset when it all falls apart...