Ok fine people, this is brainstorming time. What do you think could be the best way to stop this issue?
Using something at track-level like DistroLock could in theory be the best thing, however I spoke to Identifyy support and they told me they don’t recommend using it or similar services because it leads to videos being muted in different platforms, becoming a nightmare for our customers.
IMO we should work at Distributors level.
Distrokid, Amuse, CdBaby, Tunecore, Onerpm etc should put some effort at the moment of verifying the copyright and the identity of the artists submitting stuff.
Obviously they feast on quantity so they want the least friction possible in getting new artists on board.
They all have a DMCA office ready to solve copyright issues, but this only works once the damage has been done.
What if we (stock music artists) sign an online petition asking all Distributors to improve their pre-release checks?
Or what if we skip the petition step and write a letter and have a legal studio sending it to all Distributors?
I think there is one way Distributors could solve this at least partially. This way is having access in “read mode” to CID database.
The majority of us register our music on CID before putting it online. That’s the first act of fingerprinting we do.
If Distributors get some pressure they could implement this automatic check that could flag the release if a match is detected.
After the flag appears, the relative CID company would receive the notice and could either confirm it’s all fine (if the artist is the same who fingerprinted) or block the release.
Did they specify which platforms? Unless it’s YouTube (which I know it is not), I would say the issue of stolen Spotify uploads is a bigger problem.
When I asked AdRev about it they said it was fine.
Anyway, I have done some testing with Facebook where I see that many of my tracks are blocked, and have come to the conclusion that distributing to Facebook/Instagram is likely what causes this.
At first I thought DistroLock had something to do with it since I started testing Facebook around the same time I first tried DistroLock. It seemed to have been a coincidence.
Many tracks that have never been in DistroLock get blocked on Facebook. It’s hard to determine 100%, but it seems the common denominator is distribution to Facebook/Instagram via a distributor.
Of all the distributors I’ve worked with (RouteNote, Union Records, Kami Records, Ditto Music Distribution, CDBaby, Tunecore.) This was partially implemented only by the RouteNote. I’m not sure what mechanisms they use, but starting around 2020, I had cases when they discovered my tracks (while an album was in moderation status) in other people’s releases from other distributors this was one of the first cases when my tracks were leaked through CDBaby - and I learned this precisely from RouteNote. They demanded clarification and confirmation of authorship. Each of these cases was decided in my favor at that time.
But starting last year they abandoned this inspection system, as their manager told me, there were too many cases of theft, especially with the distributing through Instagram\Facebook, so they decided to wash their hands of it.
“There were previous issues of assets being muted on Facebook and some other platforms using audible magic for blocking and we will not be able to control and resolve from our end.”
Do you get paid for Facebook use through Identifyy?
Oddly enough, the one track I can’t upload to Audible Magic/DistroLock because someone else has already done it works fine on Facebook and does not get blocked…
There is also a video with a track that has never been bought from an elite author @OlexandrIgnatov
Please note that the track was not bought and in the video it is without a watermark, it is unlikely that the author gave the track to this channel, I think the author of YouTube somehow removes watermarks, there are plenty of such services.
It seems that distributors and aggregators don’t care at all and have stopped checking the content distributed through them.
For example, a track with the title “Violin” (with more than 200.000 listens) has the Audiojungle watermark.
I also found at least one of my orchestral tracks (Single «The Fear» \ true title «Battalions of Fear») in this profile and have already filed a copyright infringement form as usual.
This “artist” also has profiles on AppleMusic, AmazonMusic, Deezer, Tidal.
I also sent a form to Amazon Music and Deezer.
Deezer usually shares distributor info, UPC and ISRC codes. When I get a reply with info, I’ll post it here If necessary.
