DistroKid doesn’t kid around with music promoting racism and discrimination. Sort of.
In the wake of deadly neo-nazi protests in Charlottesville, Spotify took down several white supremacist groups from their platform. Google, Deezer, and popular music distribution services quickly followed suit. Now, another top music distributor has promised to do the same. Only this time, they injected a little humor into a very tense situation.
Taking to the company’s Twitter page, DistroKid founder Philip Kaplan explained the company’s position on discriminatory content with a touch of humor.
“OFFICIAL STATEMENT: DistroKid actively blocks/removes Nazi & similar content. We do not condone hate — and also it’s generally shitty music.”
The statement mirrors those made by other top music and tech companies (though without the zinger).
Spotify vowed last week to “take immediate action” against bands that promoted hate and discrimination on their platform. They also promised to “urgently review the remainder” of bands signaled as discriminatory.
Following suit, French music streamer Deezer said that it doesn’t condone “any type of discrimination or form of hate on their service.” The company remains “in the process of swiftly and actively reviewing the content” on their platform.
Others are also making moves. Upstream, music distributor CD Baby has also distanced itself from white supremacist bands and groups that may have used the service. The company carries over eight million songs on its platform. So they’ve also asked the community to find and quickly report any tracks that may promote discrimination.
Not everyone has agreed with the moves taken by the distribution services and streaming platforms. Last week, Digital Music News identified bands labeled as white supremacist and neo-nazis by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in 2014. Critics quickly blasted the article for singling out certain artists, while accusing DMN of censorship (in fairness, we just listed the groups).
We’re expected a lot more takedowns — and free speech pushback — ahead.
Critics also blasted Paul Resnikoff’s lack of journalistic integrity for publishing supplemental list that you CLAIMED to be Nazi/white supremacist bands without offering any actual EVIDENCE for this claim; and for refusing to offer any evidence once called out on his lack of research or to retract said claim (since he had no proof to back it up). To these critics the issue is not free speech but libel.
Imagine if someone published unverified claims about Paul Resnikoff, and offered no proof of said allegations, but distributed them to Mr. Resnikoff’s family, friends, coworkers and business partners? Would he find this behavior acceptable? If not, why is it acceptable for DMN to perpetuate the same behavior towards artists without showing any accountability?
PROPS to Paul for calling out all of these known Aryan supremacy dog whistler bands, even though 95% of that list was not even from his. Looks like the neo nazis are more angry that an old list is finally getting dealt with.
Anyone who thinks a journalist should cite sources instead of just throwing out a disgusting smear is a Nazi, got it. Good luck with that
Freedom of speech denied.
Today is is NEo Nazi, tomorrow it will be Black Lives MAtter and then possibly Girls that wear Pink. This is a moral issue and having a few people determine what is right & what is wrong over music is not safe for the industry or for any of us.