So once again I came across one of my tracks being aired on a prime time show on national TV, checked the statement and confirmed that the license purchased was a Music Standard License. This was about 3 weeks ago and it’s been on air at least twice a week since then. I contacted Envato support (no reply yet), the TV channel, and the production house kindly explaining that they need to upgrade the license but, surprise surprise, I had no response from any of them.
The track is registred in my local PRO and I already contacted them so they can monitor the usage, but the customer still needs to upgrade the Standard license. I was hoping I could solve this amicably but I’m obviously being ignored by all parties involved so I’m trying to figure out the next step, if any.
I’m thinking of asking a lawyer to contact them, as I had no luck so far myself. It does feels like too much of a hassle, though. I don’t know. What would you guys do in my situation?
I’ve been through this before but all of the times I was able to work it out in a friendly way directly with the customer.
If it is in US, you can claim a DMCA which should (?) block broadcasts in the future.
And as @Pandocrator said, prepare lawyerish letter.
But. In my experiance the most important thing is to find person responsible for a music in the video. So sometimes it is better to find a director or project manager or even sound engineer instead of a big production house with a secretary who had been asked to ignore such a polite mails
And rise your broadcast licenses three times. It is standard procedure with misuses.
Sometimes I think about the fact that sales are decreasing every month (for me here). Is there such a job (a hobby job that brings neither joy nor money) if nobody wants to buy anything at regular prices? As if the authors have to write tracks at a loss so that the client is satisfied with the price, quality and interestingness of the track.
This is nonsense in which buyers firmly believe, and think that the authors will work full-time and collect a penny. No incentive (monetary), no good tracks!
Where to “roll” the music business?
Why do buyers refuse to pay as they used to for a track they like and are ready to buy anything just to save money? This should not be the case, fellow buyers! Any work must be adequately paid!
Hi @WormwoodMusic! In fact, this is pure fraud, and a refusal to pay adequate (on the part of our “clients”)!
Obviously, Envato is not following this very closely, and this is a loss of brand (reputation) for Envato! It’s a pity that we all witnessed this (all license terms are spelled out here legibly and clearly)!
There is another question: why does Envato not bring such people to administrative responsibility and court cases? In fact it is theft (even in a digital environment, it is still theft)!
@CleanMagicAudio. Yeah, a hint of concern from Envato in these situations wouldn’t hurt, but well, it is what it is. The truth is that it would be literally impossible for them to be running behind each one of these cases, which happen A LOT. I’ll probably get in touch with a lawyer I know to give them a friendly call. Thanks a lot @Pandocrator and @RedOctopus for your inputs!!!
Will keep everyone posted if any news. Best of luck everyone in August!
This sucks but what is even worst, is that is happening for years and there is little we can do about it.
In my case, the only times I’ve managed to solve this kind of situations, was when reaching out directly to the creator of the vid, editor or even the music sup. But I can count this “victories” with two hands. I can’t count with 6 hands the times I couldn’t achieve it.
Sending messages to TV Networks, PROs or Envato is just a waste of time, sadly
Closure: Will, from support, got back to me pretty quickly as all my attempts to reach the agencies and TV network directly were completely vain. His help as a mediator was HUGE so thanks Envato, the support team, and specially Will for all they did.
So, to sum up, as you know I was ignored for about three weeks. After Will contacted them, they came back to him within a day saying that they disagreed with the license upgrade as the show was having only 2 points of rating, not reaching even the 100,000 viewers (I’m not quite sure if that’s accurate as it’s a trending one and it’s on prime time nightly, repeating at lunch time). Anyway, I stated that is the potential audience what counts and that is way above 2M viewers.
Will contacted them again and this morning I had a Broadcast 10M license in my statement.
These kind of misuses are really hard to catch and track but my advice to those who do find them, is to grind on, keep a friendly and conciliatory tone and, with some luck, you may reach an agreement.
That is something man! glad at least you got some and is nice to see Envato involvement.
Wish this didn’t happen at all, that would be fair for everyone
Thanks for sharing
My first post here as a new member, but I read this and wanted to make a comment. Firstly, I’m glad you got this sorted out eventually. I’m a stock photographer (just starting with music) and see this exact same thing all the time with images, and it’s a real pain. One of the rules with the agency I use is that I’m not allowed to contact the customer myself without their permission. This case is similar, where the customer is the production company, and the supplier is Envato, not the person who uploaded the track. I don’t know what Envato say about this but legally you might get into hot water if you were to try to resolve it yourself, as the contract for the incorrect license purchase is between Envato and the production company. So if lawyers get involved, I would have thought that’s for Envato and not us.
Just my 2p for what it’s worth. Nice to see a decent friendly forum by the way.
Friendly tone with scammers? This is something new …
Of course, Envato must have lawyers here to challenge such violations and force clients (including through the courts) to buy the correct license and recover lost profits.
I think so.
P.S.
Fine! This was as it should have been the first time, not after three weeks! I’m glad you got justice! Respect!
Hey @CovesideMusic! Welcome to the forum! As @RedOctopus states, I understand that at least in this market things work differently. Actually Will, from support, was clear from the beginning that whilst he would gladly help with the comms and mediation, any license agreement in Envato is a direct one between the authors and the end-user.
@CleanMagicAudio, yeah, I understand your point. Personally I find it quite stressing to maintain communications in a harsh tone, but most important I believe it’s much easier to work things out keeping things amicable.
Thanks again everybody for sharing your insights here!
@WormwoodMusic Many thanks for the welcome, it’s great to be here.
I’m surprised by who the contract is between, but I stand corrected. Thanks both of you for putting me straight.
This was as it should have been the first time, not after three weeks! I’m glad you got justice! Respect!
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