'Downtown Artists' Is this a scam?

Yes, this sounds like a possible scam, or perhaps a bad idea for an aspiring artist. When you audition, the point is for a record company hire you, not for you to hire them. But this isn't a record company. You record for them, and you sign away the rights to your own songs, but you pay THEM for it to happen. Do you get any creative control over to what happens to your music once it's been recorded? How come their website lists zero upcoming events, even though they're supposedly promoting all of these young artists? I'm not saying it's totally a scam--it could just be a new company that doesn't really know what they're doing. Either way, you need to read any kind of paperwork, you need to ask what they're going to be doing to promote you, and you need to find out how this company is making money if they aren't a record company. How do you know the whole thing costs $4,000? What if the recording costs $500, and they make their profit by convincing you this is the deal of a lifetime?