Found this on tumblr! "This is an abysmally unprofessional and unethical organization. It is essentially a scam that Sound of Austria operates by hiring young singers to be tour guides for Viking River Cruises while trying to avoid any of the fees for health insurance, tour guide licenses (which are obligatory in Austria), and work contract fees by incorrectly labeling their workers free lance artists even though they are employees of an entirely different kind. Sound of Austria does business with young singers via their Dutch viola player [name] primarily on Facebook and via telephone in order to avoid accountability for the illegal practices in which they engage. Sound of Austria promises singers housing via email (which is legally binding in Austria) and then when the singers arrive in Vienna they say this is merely a casual agreement with the person with whom they are staying that has nothing to do with the company, even when representatives of the company state in writing that it was part of the compensation package. The real scandal here is the fact that Sound of Austria is essentially laundering money through its employees such as [name] to avoid paying the requisite taxes that one has to be pay on work related housing by funneling the money through employees and putting the housing in their names. [name] admitted that Sound of Austria hugely misrepresented the amount of money he makes to the realtor in order for him to rent this apartment at [addresss] for which Sound of Austria is actually paying. Sound of Austria has [name] make illegal demands of employees (such as working without a VISA, working without social security, working without contracts etc.) and when confronted with the information from the appropriate government offices they frequently attempt to terminate their employees (even when they had never been legally employed) and even fabricate contracts stating employees are free lancers, which most are not brave enough to refuse to sign. Some of the illegal contracts have been taken to attorneys and the Social Security Office, government officials have confirmed that the work contracts they give out are often entirely inappropriate given the nature of the work employees perform for the company. Sound of Austria has been forced to register workers to social security under the threat of having a complaint lodged against them with the government, and they are facing lawsuits from the local work office (Arbeiterkammer) to get the money they refused to pay out to certain workers in addition to forcing them to pay out the money from the housing arrangement, vacation time and to pay out the rest of the performances as they are obligated to by law. A subset of the company that is run by the same people is Langer Music and Event Service that is run by the same people, ([name], [name], and [name].) An investigator at the Social Security Office said that the firm is registered in Salzburg which might have complicated the numerous formal complaints pending against the company, and they may not even have standing to do business in Vienna. Fortunately he was so shocked by Sound of Austria's illegal actions that he said he would continue the case against them on behalf of former workers. This is not just for the customers who will be contributing to horrible labor conditions with the outrageous fees they charge for each performance, but to the young singers who will mistakingly regard this unscrupulous organization as a legitimate opportunity. AVOID THESE PEOPLE AT ALL COSTS. YOU WILL HAVE TO SUE TO GET PAID AND THE PERFORMANCES THEY PUT ON ARE AMATEURISH AND OVERPRICED. **[name] HAS NOW FOUNDED A NEW COMPANY CALLED DONAU ENTERTAINMENT THAT SEEMS TO HAVE THE SAME SCAM PREMISE AS SOUND OF AUSTRIA, WHICH HAS JUST MYSTERIOUSLY VANISHED OFF OF THE INTERNET." read more