Had enough with SoundCloud’s copyright policies? Lots of rights owners have complained that SoundCloud isn’t paying performance royalties properly. But Stephan Hedfors, a French DJ and producer with more than 6,000 followers, has a different concern. Hedfors wants the company to amend its copyright policy and stop penalizing DJs and musicians for mashing up their favorite songs. And he wants you to sign this change.org petition in favor of the change…
The petition is here… the discussion is below…
I for one.. am glad they have a ‘no bootleg’, no ‘ripoff’ policy. Otherwise, what would differentiate it (and indemnify it in the eyes of the law..) from a TPB-music type site?
If you didn’t write it, you don’t own it, and thus can’t distribute it.
Who gives a shit about ‘DJs’ anyhow..
@good
I agree. It’s nice to see a service that understands copyright.
But there are thousands of people paying soundcloud to pay the PROs, so they CAN bootleg/remix/mashup! Music is an art and there is creativity in alterations of another’s sound recording. Yeah there are crappy mashups out there, but where there is a free community there is always room to grow. Go make your buck somewhere else and quit hindering others of digital freedom and expression.
sounds like soundcloud is tryin’ to go legit
Am I the only one that is waiting with bated breath for Heliene to weigh in?
While it’s great they are taking a stand against piracy and copyright abuse, they need to be doing this better.
I got a take down notice to remove a song that I myself produced for another record label besides my own. An understandable misunderstanding I suppose. But when I contacted the owner of that label he was surprised since he didn’t initiate it and he got the SAME take down for his page of the same song….AND HE’S THE ONE WHO RELEASED IT.
Not sure what’s going on there. There are lot of other reasons why SC is falling off that are unrelated to copyright, but they need to get back on top of their business to survive.
Same thing happened to me. I had about 9 songs off of an album I released be flagged for copyright infringement. I am the only party involved with the project and own it completely. I had no idea what was going. I even called up my distributor and flipped on them thinking it was somehow linked to the content ID thing that finds your stuff on Youtube. It wasn’t, I had to apologize – my fault for jumping to conclusions.
In my case I refused to reply to each 9 take downs and wait for the situation to be cleared up. I issued a stern message to Soundcloud through email stating that I own all of the songs, with copyright info for all of them. I also informed them of the damage take downs cause because of the use of their widgets. It can result in the loss of sales, fan acquisitions, etc. They fixed it and restored all of my songs but I will no longer use them to distribute music to press outlets,etc. It’s too volatile. The last thing you’d want is to get that media feature you’ve been dying for and have your song be disabled.
Gif – http://youtube.com/dagifmusic
Same thing here, but with a twist.
In my case they flagged a file that had been algorithmically composed (generative software, unique composition).
I had some fun writing that response. Of course they reversed the takedown and reinstated the file.
Then…
A year later they flagged the same file. Again.
With some humor, I sent them their own prior email thread. With slightly less humor, they reinstated. Again.
WTF, indeed.
Despite their policy too much unauthorized material is on there.
DJ’s need to learn the basics about copyright and royalties. Just because they sign away their rights a lot to labels for a pittance and get to make it up with gigs, doesn’t mean everyone else ought to forgo mechanical and performance royalties when their stuff is “mashed up” or in real world terms, DJ’s are the bottom of the barrel when it coems to actual talent when it comes to making music.
Hey “DJ”, learn to make your own songs, case closed.
Aside from the DJ debate…what are peoples thoughts as to why SoundCloud do not pay Artists royalties?
I was at SXSW in Austin last month and attended a panel where someone had asked a SoundCloud representative (who was on the panel) whether they paid Artists royalties…and he said that they didn’t.
His reasoning was that SoundCloud provided a platform for the artists with which to promote themselves to a greater audience.
Although this may be true…why is there an exception to the rule for SoundCloud to that of any other online platform that provides a platform to ‘broadcast’ music whom ‘do’ pay royalties to artists. And why do the PRO’s (Performance Rights Organizations) such as BMI, Sound Exchange, ASCAP, PRS…allow SoundCloud to operate with what seems to be a Royalty-FREE license?
If someone can clear this up for me it would be appreciated!
They are providing you a service. I think they shouldn’t owe you shit, you have complete controll over what you upload to soundcloud. It shouldn’t be taking away from any other revinue streams.