SHARE THIS VIDEO OUT AND SPREAD AWARENESS! Watch The Complete TuneCore Exposed Saga Playlist (Featuring Curtiss King & Benn Jordan): ua-cam.com/play/PLel4vdb39aDaUO9RzLMzKYp_-5m4ypCEY.html&si=q1b4U1NJM4brJIbs 🟡Ready to become your own record label? Get started now!: www.topmusicattorney.com/becomeyourownrecordlabel 💻 #1 Resource For Artists And Producers: topmusicattorney.com ⚖ Hire An Attorney: www.delgadoentertainmentlaw.com 📰 Get My Newsletter: topmusicattorney.com/newsletter/ 📄 8 Essential Music Contracts Bundle: topmusicattorney.com/contractsbundle 🎧 Listen To The TMA Podcast On All Streaming: topmusicattorney.com/podcast
The major problem with anything law is that there's nothing stopping these corpos from not only doubling down on their wrongdoings but also get away with murder. It's rather frustrating and nonsensical that these corpos really are above the law.
I find it hilarious that they are more than willing to keep the "real" money that "real" advertisers paid them, from a "fake" artist. How is that position possibly ethical/logical in any universe?
No matter how you slice it, it's not a good look and they are illegally keeping money. Please make sure you're sharing this out not only to your Facebook feeds and artist groups, but your artist community awareness needs to be made about these distributors.
I agree completely. A pattern or practice demonstrated by other artists who have been denied royalties without due process. Making subjective claims withholding royalties and can show no damage to Tunecore. There have been other cases like this before. And every time the "Tunecore" of those cases lost.
@@TopMusicAttorney Seeing more and more people posting videos about TuneCore's practices I am smelling a class action lawsuit coming up. I'm not American so I don't know the legalities here but it does seem like if that would go to court TuneCore would lose. I am just glad that when I a few years back changed DSP I did not choose TuneCore or since I am Norwegian any US based DSP as your laws are quite different I think when it comes to this, music rights etc. Personally I landed on Routenote from UK. So far no issue with them, but also no upsale on "wheel of fortune" style of advertising etc.
Exactly! 😂 I’m following the drama like I’m sitting in a theater watching Furiosa. Tune Core is losing the PR on this one BIGLY. I know this though, I’m ready to hear that the talking time is over and the lawsuit is being filed. Enough is enough.
I hear what you're saying. New to this, how would you recommend someone digitally release music without a distributor? I thought this was the only way?
What baffles me about these cases is how the distributors always jump to the conclusion "your client / the artist did blabla". Just because there are fake streams (maybe) doesn't show in any way that the artist has anything to do with that, and how is the artist supposed to prove something he didn't do? Anybody can buy streams, that doesn't mean the artist did that. That would even be a way to destroy an artist by just paying for fake streams for him to get a competetor removed.
DSP: ***Takes down music*** DSP: ***Reports little to no streaming activity after the music was taken down*** TuneCore: See? This proves there was stream manipulation! Otherwise, he'd continue getting streams. A+ research there, guys!!
The other day TuneCore put a copyright strike on one of our videos, but we aren't distributed through TuneCore. Our distribution is through United Masters. So we contracted both TuneCore and United Masters to try and get them to remove the copyright claim and allow us to upload our music in a video, United Masters got back to us in two days saying they really couldn't do much since they didn't place the claim and TuneCore still hasn't responded. It's been almost 10 days now.
OH wow! I've been waiting for this video! I've been following the whole situation and I'm mind blown! I can't believe they haven't even provided proof! I'm not a lawyer but after seeing this, they seem to be doing illegal stuff! They need to be STOPPED!
Its a bluff! If they had solid evidence why not simply present that to you and avoid litigation? Instead they've tried to besmirch your client in hopes that you'll cease representing them. Now they're trying to puff up their chest and show strength to dissuade you. You dont seem like the flinching type, let em have it! 👊🏻💯
Wow, their egos are going to become a huge PR nightmare for them! Had they simply discussed this with you in good faith, backed by facts, from the very beginning, they wouldn't be in damage control mode now. Just imagine how a "Big Corporation vs. Struggling Independent Artist" headline would be a monster PR fail for them! They are risking the loss of MAJOR money from their marketplace simply because their egos got in the way of following good business practices and making proper (and intelligent) decisions.
I've watched this entire series and based on the Tunecore legal response letter I have decided not to use Tunecore services. Perhaps Tunecore should now reevaluate who is representing them.
They're definitely has been a lot of energy around that idea and calls into my law office. That's why sharing this out is so crucial, so other artists that have been wronged can be made aware that they have options. Which distributor are you with? are you an artist or producer?
Have you tried contacting other music channels like Rick Beato, Mary Spender et. al. on covering or interviewing you on this issue? I’m certain they would be interested.
It is absolutely ridiculous. And sets of unreal precedent. Enough is enough. Share this video out let's apply that pressure. Because you better believe that other distributors are watching this video as well
I'd rather give my music away than deal with any of these platforms. I have a day job and absolutely couldn't fathom being at the monetary mercy of these thugs for a living. I came from an era where you made flyers, went to other people's shows for support and networked in person to get known. The internet no doubt has been a fantastic tool for artists to be heard and make money, but lacks the same sense of community as I felt with my local scene back in the day. Maybe we need to have a taste of that again.
Really glad you’re shining light on this subject. The lack of transparency by the distributors allows for fraudulent reporting and payments. I plan to show this to artists I record in the future to warn them about TuneCore.
Awareness is everything. Artisan producers are waking up. I will be testing out different release strategies over the next few months for my different music projects. And sharing my findings we are going to get this figured out
PLEASE take them to court, PLEAAAAASE set precedence. Discovery would be amazing to see you go through. Proving your client has fraud/abnormal streams is one thing. Proving HE/SHE was the one that sent the streams vs getting sabotaged or distro's doing false positives on purpose to scoop money is going to be fun watching them try to prove, and how a judge would see all this industry wide.
One of the main problems with the behavior of tunecore is that it hurts legitimate combating of fraud. From the very first when I was looking into distributors I came across just how arrogant tunecore was /is, and I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. This case just confirms that
Threatening attorneys over legal action on behalf of clients is itself what I would consider grounds for disbarring of the attorneys who make these threats. I once had a printing company in Los Angeles try to sue me... for suing them.
Sounds about right 😅 Sorry you had to deal with that. Trying to spread awareness on this. Feel free to share this out on your social media. Awareness = pressure, and with enough pressure, we can enact change 💪
Two days ago Tunecore have said Withdrawals Are Temporarily on Hold no reason or way for me get my money! Thank you for helping fight Tunecores corruption!
There is a question of ethics here and the ethics in question... are Tunecore's. This is why I am NOT on a label, NOT signed up to a distribution service and I just upload to Bandcamp where people can listen for free and, should someone choose to buy my shit, I make 80% of what it sells for. I also absolutely refuse to use streaming services because clearly that whole shebang is meant to screw artists out of hard-earned money. Granted, I'm a small fish in a gigantic pond with a full-time job, but I value my musical independence over money.
I think I will have to follow a similar model. I do not want to sign with an existing label, so establishing my own, and I am hoping to sell physical media to help with compensation. If I can get close to 80% after material costs, yeaaah baby!
I mean , if it goes to court , you could subpoena them for details of every single instance where they withheld royalties with the aim of determining their process of determining fraud, which could in turn potentially reveal widespread fraud if theyre engaging in it, or prove them innocent accordingly depending on what that data reveals.. correct?
I am new to this channel and I am SO HAPPY I found it. I am a new artist about to release new music into a dying industry. I love your channel, too many artist's don't learn the law in music.
Hello there! And welcome welcome welcome!! I really hope that you find value with the content. I try really hard to inform artists at every level of their career. All I want you to do is succeed and stay protected. ❤️
Stay tuned we are going to be releasing all kinds of videos on alternatives to the standard releasing of music. Hybrid distribution options. Make sure that you're sharing out this content to Facebook, discord etc groups and your artist friends we need to spread awareness about this.
Yes me too! I've been rather uninterested in dealing with the nonsense we call the music industry even before this, unfortunately it seems worse than I thought (for us little fish).
I believe that the all streaming fraud is a mess. How can they demonstrate that your client actively bought streams? I mean not only they have to demonstrate that the streams have been bought but also they should demonstrate or have receipts that shows that your client or somebody related to him bought the streams. Imagine a situation where I make music and my haters buy streams so I get taken down. The right way to fight streaming fraud is not by punishing the artists but punishing the people that are behind, who sells service that allows you to buy streams. If nobody sells streams it's difficult to buy fake streams.
In California, there's a law regarding the entertainment industry that if the company doesn't pay within a time limit, then they have to pay something like 7-fold. A friend of mine won a judgement against our employer, who refused to pay, then won the 7-fold judgement because of that time limit.
I'm lucky to have a distributor who fights for my rights against the DSPs. Spotify tried to withold my royalties because of the "streaming fraud" argument but my distro "Sharpline" succesfully got my money. The argument that an artist should have a number of streams distributed equally over all DSP is utter BS. My promotion is focussing on Spotify playlists so 95% of all my streams come from Spotify.
Thanks TuneCore for illustrating how the US is so different from Australia. Here, no matter how articulate a five year old is, they're still not allowed to work.
Greetings from southern France, I've been watching the other videos and you've been doing a great work. We have similar issues in Europe, but I personally found a workaround to prevent this from happening.
Hey Krystle (Christelle in French 😉), thank you! Essentially, it's quite simple and you might be in a great position to start this journey given recent events. Did you know that traditional distributors/aggregators aren't necessary to get our music onto platforms? There are ways to establish our own indie distribution, allowing us to deal directly with DSPs. I've been working for years with a music business specialist in France who has provided mentorship and rights management for indies along with distribution through a deal with Believe (TuneCore's home). On December 2023, they took down all the tracks of their client labels/artists, including mine (thousands of tracks). I had invested a lot in promoting my playlists, but I lost all algorithmic traction overnight due to the takedown. So, he searched for a solution and launched his own distribution. He now hosts monthly listening parties with DSPs for editorial playlist placement. If necessary, he can update a track within an hour. This means we can launch our own distribution service for all the pissed off artists. In the event of suspected fake streams, we could handle the matter in a more ethical and professional manner. I can give you more details via email or DM...@@TopMusicAttorney
Hey Krystle (Christelle in French 😉🥐), thank you! Essentially, it's quite simple and you might be in a great position to start this journey given recent events. Did you know that traditional distributors/aggregators aren't necessary to get our music onto platforms? There are ways to establish our own indie distribution, allowing us to deal directly with DSPs. I've been working for years with a music business specialist in France who has provided mentorship and rights management, along with distribution through a deal with Believe (TuneCore's home). During December 2023, they took down all the tracks of their client labels/artists, including mine (thousands of tracks). I had invested a lot in promoting my playlists, but I lost all algorithmic traction overnight due to the takedown. Today, we still don't know the reason, and if one of the clients commited fraud, taking down the distributions for dozens of labels not related is unacceptable! So, he searched for a solution and launched his own distribution. He now hosts monthly listening parties with DSPs for editorial playlist placement. If necessary, he can update a track within an hour. This means we can launch our own distribution service and be the one who upload/takedown and talk directly to DSPs for all the pissed off artists. In the event of suspected fake streams, we could handle the matter in a more ethical and professional manner. I can give you more info via DM or email, I just added you on LinkedIn. @@TopMusicAttorney
I’m so glad you are fighting them. The level of gaslighting and condescension is unbelievable! I’m with DistroKid now… I’m sure they are doing the same thing though, just not getting exposed on the same level. Artists need a new solution!!!
One thing I find very frustrating on these takedowns, is that it has never any proof that the artist themselves were the responsible for the botted plays. If a botted playlist includes a legitimate artist, the artist has no action that they can take to remove the songs from said playlist, and no way to prevent their music from being played by bots. Even if they can proof that a certain song has played through automated illegitimate ways, that's miles from actually proving the artist did this on purpose. They would need to proof the connection between the artist and these bots and I have never seen this mentioned by the distributors.
With these takedowns, a competitor could even abuse the system, to remove the song from artists that are on the same market as them by playing these songs with bots. To proof that a bot played a song is not a proof that the artist hired that bot.
I absolutely think you are in the right here. However, it does sound like on some level the artist in question "worked the system" in one way or another to get a lot of streams. My guess is cutting songs artificially short to get more streams. It gives no legal right for Tunecore to do what they are doing, however this would be good information for artists to have that are following along, since everyone is feeling that their music is in jeopardy, when really this person most likely worked the system in some way to garner more streams than they probably should have had, which is why Tunecore feels like the stance they are taking is appropriate. They still legally cannot keep the persons money, but it seems like there are some details about the actual music itself that should be included to give a full scope of what is transpiring.
Appreciate your perspective. I think the music piece could be interesting. Showing what kind of music a "not real artist" makes 😅 Appreciate you being here 🙏
I’ve been following this situation very closely over this past week or two. In my very humble opinion, they are absolutely bluffing. They don’t have a leg to stand on. I would absolutely call that bluff and take their asses to court.
I hope you guys will be able to bring this into a class action. In the American system, ordinary citizens are vulnerable against major corporations - and they get away with murder by exploding the costs for litigation to a level no mere mortal can abide. Either way I trust you’ll be bringing us the news on how this develops. Thank you so much for doing this - both the legal work and the educational work, (and the social outreach), here on your channel.
BOOOOOO TuneCore! Boooo... They fear the truth, and the reaction is agressive to difamate the artist and the laywer to scare them out, BUT the truth will win surely. Go to court you will win. All the power to you! If they weren't guilty of anything they would communicate in a decent and objective language. The fact of insults via phone and threatening is sign of their weakness. Power to you!
Why does this only happen to people who can't afford real lawyers? Me and my friends have been doing this for decades and not a single one of us have a single percent of fraud. However, we see everyone who's a charlatan or liar post about having fraudalent streams.
Tunecore payed my 🇮🇳 artist $2400 for 22,000,000 (22-MILLION STREAMS). Our Lawyer says if we collectively pool a 2 to 3 cr ($250,000) revenue fraud, We can sue them in the court. If you are an Indian Artist or anywhere in ASIA (Drop your mail id's with the approx number of fraud), You won't be charged a lawyer fee, I'll bear it on my own.
Is tunecore run by the mafia lmao.. they're like wow, alarming you're calling out our alleged widespread fraud lmao.. personally? I'm building my own custom streaming platform..
There have been a lot of those comparisons made by the community. And what kind of things would you do to make your distributor platform different? How will you tackle these issues?
Make sure that you're sharing out this content to your Facebook groups, discord, and other social platforms we need to get awareness going to apply pressure.
@TopMusicAttorney hi:) thanks for asking, and I def apprec your vids about this tunecore situation, im blown away like everyone else.. I'm a lifelong musician who came up before streaming platforms and online billboard charting rules.. I'm working on my latest album asw, and like pretty much every other artist have noticed the inequities in the streaming game.. Over the last 12 years I've become a full stack developer starting with blockhain and custom social media code , so i can build these types of platforms myself, which im currently doing. I'd be open to communicating via dm or email with you regarding the details of my vision and what im building , I noticed you're an artist yourself which is awesome:) and in light of everything that's going down may need you as a lawyer someday, as well:) My vision is more like Tidal and less like Tunecore, I think it's safe to say for public consumption:)
Tunecore: your music got to popular and we spent your money Any Artist [pick one]: So the royalties I am owed will be paid? LunaticCore: the cocaine we buy by the truckload went up in price so no.
Too bad you are trying to beat them in New York. Chances of a fair outcome are slim. Our music went through the same issues with Distrokid. Fight the system in control and they will try and destroy you. I wish you all the luck in pursuing this effort.
Tunecore copyright striked one of my bands music videos recently. WE NEVER EVEN USED THEM AS A MUSIC DISTRIBUTOR. It’s crazy the amount of things that have been happening with this distributor.
Legitimate artist? It would seem to me that a name on a SR and/or PA form legitimizes a creator Artist in eyes of the US Copyright Office and the Library of Congress, therefore TuneCore would have to prove otherwise. Interesting twist on "legitimacy" and what body or bodies determined who is a "legit artist".
That's not even a relevant issue! If Tunecore entered into a contract with someone to provide a service, they must provide that service. End of subject. Coming up with all these nonsense issues makes me think they are operated by a bunch of clowns. If their legal ops are run the same way someone with deep pockets would wipe the floor with them in court.
The biggest thing that you can do to support is to share this and see Facebook feeds, Facebook groups, with your other artist and producer friends. I really am trying to get the most awareness possible for this cause It affects all of us as a community
After uploading an album, Tunecore refused to publish it with the same copy and paste email without explanation, and after weeks of emails nothing changed, a year has passed and it seems there is no way to delete my account but only unsubscribe singles or albums
@18:41 - The letter says "and/or returned BY you", which means they can require your client to return their earnings (as far as I understand the legal jargon)
Just a minor point that is big for me because I am a grammar nerd - if that email came from their legal department, they need to learn how to write English let alone legal English. Their use of the apostrophe in the acronym plural of DSP is incorrect. The plural of any acronym, thus including DSP is DSPs, without the apostrophe. They are abusers of apostrophes!! I have been considering moving to Tunecore myself, but just on this fact alone I think I might skip it LOL Also, their threat of a counterclaim for fraud does not make any sense at all and I think they are just blowing smoke: if he wins his case, then he is cleared of fraud because winning it requires proof of non-fraudulent activites, right?
Your soo awesome! You rock and there are probably a million people standing by your side on this! The whole music industry in general is a racket and a blood sucking entity...Too much power and too much greed..
And a lawyer citing ETHICS as a justification for their client's actions? I laughed so hard. I used to serve civil process. Ethics ain't got nothin' to do with what lawyers do. Nor should they. Justice is um... I don't know, blind?
This might be a really rough and hot-headed take and in my opinion (therefore not defamatory), but all artists should consider dropping Tunecore if they can. If a "distributor" will go to an extent to insult a client's put effort into music, they will go to any length to keep artist's money. Wow. Got nothing else. Thank you for opening my eyes to this.
Could you please help me ? I want my release back in the stores! They have not provided any evidence and keep ignoring my emails, and the MU (Musician's Union) said they haven't got a reply either.
I never understood Companies fighting the current when they know they’re in the wrong. You just expose yourself and wind up paying more money in the end. TC just send a letter of apology and give the artist their money.
Wait, so their entire argument hinges on the completely unsubstantiated claim that the shares of streams from each platform/distributor are supposed to match each one's market share? Who says? I have seen plenty of artists who are popular on one platform and not another. Its an entirely made up metric.
I have no idea how TuneCore could possibly hope to launch a successful law suite essentially because someone is suing them for breach of contract, especially without providing any proof of any misdeeds. They seem little more than a bunch of bullies with industry connections. I am glad I don't use Spotify although without any data to say otherwise I will assume that it is a similar situation with regards to UA-cam Music. Unfortunately, there is only one effective way to deal with bullies: That is to hurt them so bad that they know the pain that they get from bullying you (or your client in this case) makes whatever satisfaction they get from bullying not worthwhile. That is easier said than done though, especially when you are outnumbered and they have more resources than you do.
It seems like Tunecore are being very badly advised or, more likely, ignoring their counsel’s advice. Using an emotional argument against facts is never going to win. Even if in this case it turns out that there is evidence of fraud (which I’m not suggesting there is), the PR damage is already done. I moved from Tunecore to DistroKid, simply because it was a better, cheaper offer, but I would imagine many artists are watching this and considering either moving away or not going to them in the first place. It’s a salient lesson in sticking to the facts and not allowing yourself to get caught up in how you feel… Well done for having the courage to make this public!
Oh and btw, wouldn't this be a good case for declaratory relief? Especially with the other party trying to intimidate me with potential sanctions for a frivolous lawsuit. They're scared of my complaint. Let's get a judge to declare legal rights in the controversy.
The expectation that streams would line up across providers is so ass backwards, and ignores that an artist may choose only to share a link to one service (Often Spotify)
Your gorgeous! Fight on sis!!! 😂 Tunecore are just doing what they think is right even if it doesn’t conform with real life legality they agreed to be held to account by NY law and therefore are indeed bound by it, if they get it wrong they’ll have to pay up! Just like anybody else! but jeez, the lengths some corporations will go to blatantly take what isn’t theirs is staggering! And like you said the gripe is with two outlets not tunecore! Who’s to say tunecore doesn’t have people working in Amazon music or Spotify that falsely report on commission it could be a conspiracy! It’s not like we haven’t seen this stuff before! It’s extremely fascinating and I personally thank you ! 🙏 I’m sooo glad I found you! 🙏🕊️✨🛸
wouldn't the best thing to do is if Tunecore had an issue.. just release the funds and stop doing business with the artist? They will likely waste more money and ruin their reputation for future profit. I've used two other distributors without issue, and just from this story would never consider Tunecore going forward.
For real. At this point they might not want to budge because it has larger implications for all artists. 🤷♂️ A win becomes a blueprint for other legal cases.
Based on what I've heard it certainly seems like tunecore, cdbaby, distrokid, etc are all just shady rent-seekers looking for excuses to rip artists off to support their broken business model.
This is why I advise people to not depend on these distributors. It's cool to get them helping to spread your music, but when there are a few distributors distributing everyone's music and they take a slice of each, the distributor ends up with a lot of money and that money gets used to make laws that are not in the best interest of the artists. It's better to distribute the music yourself. If you sell music to someone for a set price, then you get to set the price, you get the money, and no one can take down your music (in the US with freedom of speech at least). You get your customer's information instead of some company being able to stand in the way of you and your customers. It would be better if payola was legal and you could just flat out pay for plays instead of having to get an attorney (no offense) to fight for your pennies, even if it's a lot of pennies.
This is why I've been trying to buy cd's as much as possible again. Even if I have to spend $40 dollars and wait 6-8 weeks because it's coming from Japan through ebay or amazon
Incredible...I wonder if the court finds such 'evidence' inconclusive, will this be a precedent in countries where there is precedent law? Can they also be held criminally liable for theft of royalties?
My team and I also waiting their internal review on a few of our account and why they holding our fund almost 3months, until I saw this video and look like they just keep delay. What should we do now?
Absolutely. We have been getting a lot of messages from artist and producers dealing with other distributors. That's why we're really trying to apply the pressure. So if you can share this to Facebook groups and your artist community it would be so impactful.
being a musician myself this gives me pause even thinking about using a distributer, ill be keeping a close watch on this , and more importantly the implications .
The Dunning-Kruger effect occurs when a person's lack of knowledge and skill in a certain area causes them to overestimate their own competence. By contrast, this effect also drives those who excel in a given area to think the task is simple for everyone, leading them to underestimate their abilities.
I want to know if Spotify took down that fake band site that was copying El Siberiano's band. He's literally the most famous drummer online these days. And they ignored his emails 7 times now
We wouldn't have "fake streams" problem if the money from the subscribers would just go to the artists in some straightforward way. What if I could tip from my subscription money to the artists I listen to. And if I don't want to do that explicitly then my subscription money gets distributed to the artists based on the ratios how much I listen to them.
They have to go in because if you set a case law precedent that what they’re doing is no bueno, and they’ve taken 20k from like, let’s say 1000 artists, or 10,000 artists, or 100,000 artists on their platform, that could be the end of their free dinner and a LOT of back pay.
Krystal Tom Macdonald is pissed off at TUNECORE for refusing to release one of his albums. Tom goes off he’s in the middle of taking all his songs off TUNECORE. IMO Tom MacDonald is a go-getter 100% independent for the independent artist out to kick the record companies asses. You can listen to him talk all about it on one of his UA-cam videos. His newest ones. Tom would be great for President of new music union, or just the voice for us. Tom’s very articulate and he’s an amazing political rapper amongst other genres he raps in.
Don't give them any further wiggle room to write nasty letters. Litigate, and emphasize to the judge that Tunecore's continued abuse of your client forces you to bring all this in front of the judge, so that any further abuse will be monitored by the court. Also, file for damages based on their abusive treatment and threats, in addition to the unpaid royalties and violations of state law. If you can get some kind of restraining order against Tunecore, that would be huge.
Wow. It seems really easy to, if you have a personal vendetta against a working artist, all you have to do to ruin their life’s work is just manipulate their streaming. I had a client of mine that got their content removed in the early days of streaming because I bookstore streamed their album over and over.
Tunecore Ethical Logic. If I they rob a bank in 2020 and give it to a charity. It's not robbing a bank and they cannot be charged because they believe the money was fake in 2024? Now I get it!!! If I wear an orange. I'm an airplane and I can hear colors, smell sound, and feel the color green. Makes total sense.
SHARE THIS VIDEO OUT AND SPREAD AWARENESS!
Watch The Complete TuneCore Exposed Saga Playlist (Featuring Curtiss King & Benn Jordan): ua-cam.com/play/PLel4vdb39aDaUO9RzLMzKYp_-5m4ypCEY.html&si=q1b4U1NJM4brJIbs
🟡Ready to become your own record label? Get started now!:
www.topmusicattorney.com/becomeyourownrecordlabel
💻 #1 Resource For Artists And Producers: topmusicattorney.com
⚖ Hire An Attorney: www.delgadoentertainmentlaw.com
📰 Get My Newsletter: topmusicattorney.com/newsletter/
📄 8 Essential Music Contracts Bundle: topmusicattorney.com/contractsbundle
🎧 Listen To The TMA Podcast On All Streaming: topmusicattorney.com/podcast
IS IT weird AF that you as the cyber punk lawer lady Talking about Cyber companies lolz.. WAY TO meta
The major problem with anything law is that there's nothing stopping these corpos from not only doubling down on their wrongdoings but also get away with murder. It's rather frustrating and nonsensical that these corpos really are above the law.
I find it hilarious that they are more than willing to keep the "real" money that "real" advertisers paid them, from a "fake" artist. How is that position possibly ethical/logical in any universe?
It could easily be argued that Tunecore is committing streaming fraud, not the artist. By taking their royalties and creating a fraudulent picture.
Hmmm.....
No matter how you slice it, it's not a good look and they are illegally keeping money. Please make sure you're sharing this out not only to your Facebook feeds and artist groups, but your artist community awareness needs to be made about these distributors.
Will do.
I agree completely. A pattern or practice demonstrated by other artists who have been denied royalties without due process. Making subjective claims withholding royalties and can show no damage to Tunecore. There have been other cases like this before. And every time the "Tunecore" of those cases lost.
@@TopMusicAttorney Seeing more and more people posting videos about TuneCore's practices I am smelling a class action lawsuit coming up. I'm not American so I don't know the legalities here but it does seem like if that would go to court TuneCore would lose. I am just glad that when I a few years back changed DSP I did not choose TuneCore or since I am Norwegian any US based DSP as your laws are quite different I think when it comes to this, music rights etc. Personally I landed on Routenote from UK. So far no issue with them, but also no upsale on "wheel of fortune" style of advertising etc.
I'm not even involved and TuneCore is pissing me off xD
Lol right?!
Thank you for watching your voice it's certainly important. Fans should be upset how artists are being treated as well.
Facts
Villagers with picks and rifles in the air chanting tunecore tunecore tunecore. 😂
Exactly! 😂 I’m following the drama like I’m sitting in a theater watching Furiosa. Tune Core is losing the PR on this one BIGLY. I know this though, I’m ready to hear that the talking time is over and the lawsuit is being filed. Enough is enough.
The whole idea of a “distributor” for digitally released music is insanity.
This 🙌
3/4 of all musicians on Spotify are paying more for distribution than they earn back in revenue.
Yes. It's a new job. Like a pimp.
I hear what you're saying. New to this, how would you recommend someone digitally release music without a distributor? I thought this was the only way?
@@RufusJacson It is the only way, that's the point.
What baffles me about these cases is how the distributors always jump to the conclusion "your client / the artist did blabla". Just because there are fake streams (maybe) doesn't show in any way that the artist has anything to do with that, and how is the artist supposed to prove something he didn't do? Anybody can buy streams, that doesn't mean the artist did that. That would even be a way to destroy an artist by just paying for fake streams for him to get a competetor removed.
DSP: ***Takes down music***
DSP: ***Reports little to no streaming activity after the music was taken down***
TuneCore: See? This proves there was stream manipulation! Otherwise, he'd continue getting streams.
A+ research there, guys!!
💪
Don't stop exposing TuneCore they're the fraudsters. You guys are winning. We all benefit knowing this information. Bless
The other day TuneCore put a copyright strike on one of our videos, but we aren't distributed through TuneCore. Our distribution is through United Masters. So we contracted both TuneCore and United Masters to try and get them to remove the copyright claim and allow us to upload our music in a video, United Masters got back to us in two days saying they really couldn't do much since they didn't place the claim and TuneCore still hasn't responded. It's been almost 10 days now.
OH wow! I've been waiting for this video! I've been following the whole situation and I'm mind blown! I can't believe they haven't even provided proof! I'm not a lawyer but after seeing this, they seem to be doing illegal stuff! They need to be STOPPED!
Thank you so much for watching. We have a lot of energy!!!
Its a bluff! If they had solid evidence why not simply present that to you and avoid litigation? Instead they've tried to besmirch your client in hopes that you'll cease representing them. Now they're trying to puff up their chest and show strength to dissuade you. You dont seem like the flinching type, let em have it! 👊🏻💯
Stay tuned.... 💪
Are you an artist or producer? And which distributor are you with?
It's crazy because she is just showing all the receipts. There is no question they are a legitimate artist
Also why is the "evidence" they provide from 2-3 years AFTER the royalties and streams in question?
@@TopMusicAttorney I am a lapsed creative
Wow, their egos are going to become a huge PR nightmare for them! Had they simply discussed this with you in good faith, backed by facts, from the very beginning, they wouldn't be in damage control mode now.
Just imagine how a "Big Corporation vs. Struggling Independent Artist" headline would be a monster PR fail for them! They are risking the loss of MAJOR money from their marketplace simply because their egos got in the way of following good business practices and making proper (and intelligent) decisions.
I've watched this entire series and based on the Tunecore legal response letter I have decided not to use Tunecore services. Perhaps Tunecore should now reevaluate who is representing them.
What distributor did you end up going with?
Seems your client has good standing here. Perhaps a class action suit might even be in order. Hoping there is enough interest in that.
They're definitely has been a lot of energy around that idea and calls into my law office. That's why sharing this out is so crucial, so other artists that have been wronged can be made aware that they have options. Which distributor are you with? are you an artist or producer?
Have you tried contacting other music channels like Rick Beato, Mary Spender et. al. on covering or interviewing you on this issue? I’m certain they would be interested.
Who are they to determine what counts as real music? What about John Cage?
It is absolutely ridiculous. And sets of unreal precedent. Enough is enough. Share this video out let's apply that pressure. Because you better believe that other distributors are watching this video as well
💯
I'd rather give my music away than deal with any of these platforms. I have a day job and absolutely couldn't fathom being at the monetary mercy of these thugs for a living. I came from an era where you made flyers, went to other people's shows for support and networked in person to get known. The internet no doubt has been a fantastic tool for artists to be heard and make money, but lacks the same sense of community as I felt with my local scene back in the day. Maybe we need to have a taste of that again.
Really glad you’re shining light on this subject. The lack of transparency by the distributors allows for fraudulent reporting and payments.
I plan to show this to artists I record in the future to warn them about TuneCore.
Me too and I can't wait to see the conclusion!
Awareness is everything. Artisan producers are waking up. I will be testing out different release strategies over the next few months for my different music projects. And sharing my findings we are going to get this figured out
Please share this out to your Facebook feed / Facebook artist groups, etc awareness is going to make all the difference on this and putting pressure
PLEASE take them to court, PLEAAAAASE set precedence. Discovery would be amazing to see you go through. Proving your client has fraud/abnormal streams is one thing. Proving HE/SHE was the one that sent the streams vs getting sabotaged or distro's doing false positives on purpose to scoop money is going to be fun watching them try to prove, and how a judge would see all this industry wide.
One of the main problems with the behavior of tunecore is that it hurts legitimate combating of fraud. From the very first when I was looking into distributors I came across just how arrogant tunecore was /is, and I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. This case just confirms that
Threatening attorneys over legal action on behalf of clients is itself what I would consider grounds for disbarring of the attorneys who make these threats.
I once had a printing company in Los Angeles try to sue me... for suing them.
Sounds about right 😅 Sorry you had to deal with that. Trying to spread awareness on this. Feel free to share this out on your social media. Awareness = pressure, and with enough pressure, we can enact change 💪
They NEED to share evidence. Quoting something without proof in a legal battle is super sus
Let's go💪
The vehemence of the threats shows that TuneCore fears the precision case.
Please continue.
It's about time this behavior came to an end.
💪
Two days ago Tunecore have said Withdrawals Are Temporarily on Hold no reason or way for me get my money! Thank you for helping fight Tunecores corruption!
There is a question of ethics here and the ethics in question... are Tunecore's. This is why I am NOT on a label, NOT signed up to a distribution service and I just upload to Bandcamp where people can listen for free and, should someone choose to buy my shit, I make 80% of what it sells for. I also absolutely refuse to use streaming services because clearly that whole shebang is meant to screw artists out of hard-earned money.
Granted, I'm a small fish in a gigantic pond with a full-time job, but I value my musical independence over money.
I think I will have to follow a similar model. I do not want to sign with an existing label, so establishing my own, and I am hoping to sell physical media to help with compensation. If I can get close to 80% after material costs, yeaaah baby!
25k ads 100m impressions 🔥
I mean , if it goes to court , you could subpoena them for details of every single instance where they withheld royalties with the aim of determining their process of determining fraud, which could in turn potentially reveal widespread fraud if theyre engaging in it, or prove them innocent accordingly depending on what that data reveals.. correct?
This would change the entire landscape for DSP and Distributors! Do It!
I am new to this channel and I am SO HAPPY I found it. I am a new artist about to release new music into a dying industry. I love your channel, too many artist's don't learn the law in music.
YES! So true! This channel truly has so many helpful tips for artists!
Hello there! And welcome welcome welcome!! I really hope that you find value with the content. I try really hard to inform artists at every level of their career. All I want you to do is succeed and stay protected. ❤️
Stay tuned we are going to be releasing all kinds of videos on alternatives to the standard releasing of music. Hybrid distribution options. Make sure that you're sharing out this content to Facebook, discord etc groups and your artist friends we need to spread awareness about this.
Yes me too! I've been rather uninterested in dealing with the nonsense we call the music industry even before this, unfortunately it seems worse than I thought (for us little fish).
When it comes to distribution companies in the digital world, the lyrics "what was I made for" pop into my head...
I believe that the all streaming fraud is a mess. How can they demonstrate that your client actively bought streams? I mean not only they have to demonstrate that the streams have been bought but also they should demonstrate or have receipts that shows that your client or somebody related to him bought the streams. Imagine a situation where I make music and my haters buy streams so I get taken down. The right way to fight streaming fraud is not by punishing the artists but punishing the people that are behind, who sells service that allows you to buy streams. If nobody sells streams it's difficult to buy fake streams.
Thank you for everything you do. The way you put yourself out there is truly commendable.
Appreciate you being here 🙌
💪
In California, there's a law regarding the entertainment industry that if the company doesn't pay within a time limit, then they have to pay something like 7-fold. A friend of mine won a judgement against our employer, who refused to pay, then won the 7-fold judgement because of that time limit.
I'm lucky to have a distributor who fights for my rights against the DSPs. Spotify tried to withold my royalties because of the "streaming fraud" argument but my distro "Sharpline" succesfully got my money. The argument that an artist should have a number of streams distributed equally over all DSP is utter BS. My promotion is focussing on Spotify playlists so 95% of all my streams come from Spotify.
Thank you so much for the update, Direct to consumer feels like a necessity at this point.
Thanks TuneCore for illustrating how the US is so different from Australia. Here, no matter how articulate a five year old is, they're still not allowed to work.
Greetings from southern France, I've been watching the other videos and you've been doing a great work. We have similar issues in Europe, but I personally found a workaround to prevent this from happening.
Well hello, welcome to the community. Tell me about what you're doing in Europe
Shout out to France welcome to the community
Please... can you share a rough outlind about what workaround you discovered?
Hey Krystle (Christelle in French 😉), thank you! Essentially, it's quite simple and you might be in a great position to start this journey given recent events. Did you know that traditional distributors/aggregators aren't necessary to get our music onto platforms? There are ways to establish our own indie distribution, allowing us to deal directly with DSPs.
I've been working for years with a music business specialist in France who has provided mentorship and rights management for indies along with distribution through a deal with Believe (TuneCore's home). On December 2023, they took down all the tracks of their client labels/artists, including mine (thousands of tracks). I had invested a lot in promoting my playlists, but I lost all algorithmic traction overnight due to the takedown.
So, he searched for a solution and launched his own distribution. He now hosts monthly listening parties with DSPs for editorial playlist placement. If necessary, he can update a track within an hour. This means we can launch our own distribution service for all the pissed off artists. In the event of suspected fake streams, we could handle the matter in a more ethical and professional manner. I can give you more details via email or DM...@@TopMusicAttorney
Hey Krystle (Christelle in French 😉🥐), thank you! Essentially, it's quite simple and you might be in a great position to start this journey given recent events. Did you know that traditional distributors/aggregators aren't necessary to get our music onto platforms? There are ways to establish our own indie distribution, allowing us to deal directly with DSPs.
I've been working for years with a music business specialist in France who has provided mentorship and rights management, along with distribution through a deal with Believe (TuneCore's home). During December 2023, they took down all the tracks of their client labels/artists, including mine (thousands of tracks). I had invested a lot in promoting my playlists, but I lost all algorithmic traction overnight due to the takedown. Today, we still don't know the reason, and if one of the clients commited fraud, taking down the distributions for dozens of labels not related is unacceptable!
So, he searched for a solution and launched his own distribution. He now hosts monthly listening parties with DSPs for editorial playlist placement. If necessary, he can update a track within an hour. This means we can launch our own distribution service and be the one who upload/takedown and talk directly to DSPs for all the pissed off artists. In the event of suspected fake streams, we could handle the matter in a more ethical and professional manner. I can give you more info via DM or email, I just added you on LinkedIn. @@TopMusicAttorney
I’m so glad you are fighting them. The level of gaslighting and condescension is unbelievable! I’m with DistroKid now… I’m sure they are doing the same thing though, just not getting exposed on the same level. Artists need a new solution!!!
We are all here working on that solution 💪
Someone should sue them because they make it virtually impossible to cancel your account with them or cancel any subscription services, like splits.
One thing I find very frustrating on these takedowns, is that it has never any proof that the artist themselves were the responsible for the botted plays. If a botted playlist includes a legitimate artist, the artist has no action that they can take to remove the songs from said playlist, and no way to prevent their music from being played by bots. Even if they can proof that a certain song has played through automated illegitimate ways, that's miles from actually proving the artist did this on purpose. They would need to proof the connection between the artist and these bots and I have never seen this mentioned by the distributors.
With these takedowns, a competitor could even abuse the system, to remove the song from artists that are on the same market as them by playing these songs with bots. To proof that a bot played a song is not a proof that the artist hired that bot.
I absolutely think you are in the right here. However, it does sound like on some level the artist in question "worked the system" in one way or another to get a lot of streams. My guess is cutting songs artificially short to get more streams. It gives no legal right for Tunecore to do what they are doing, however this would be good information for artists to have that are following along, since everyone is feeling that their music is in jeopardy, when really this person most likely worked the system in some way to garner more streams than they probably should have had, which is why Tunecore feels like the stance they are taking is appropriate. They still legally cannot keep the persons money, but it seems like there are some details about the actual music itself that should be included to give a full scope of what is transpiring.
Appreciate your perspective. I think the music piece could be interesting. Showing what kind of music a "not real artist" makes 😅 Appreciate you being here 🙏
So WHEN this inevitably goes to court, would we be able to be in the audience during the trail? Hopefully it's in new york!
I’ve been following this situation very closely over this past week or two. In my very humble opinion, they are absolutely bluffing. They don’t have a leg to stand on. I would absolutely call that bluff and take their asses to court.
I hope you guys will be able to bring this into a class action. In the American system, ordinary citizens are vulnerable against major corporations - and they get away with murder by exploding the costs for litigation to a level no mere mortal can abide. Either way I trust you’ll be bringing us the news on how this develops. Thank you so much for doing this - both the legal work and the educational work, (and the social outreach), here on your channel.
BOOOOOO TuneCore! Boooo... They fear the truth, and the reaction is agressive to difamate the artist and the laywer to scare them out, BUT the truth will win surely. Go to court you will win. All the power to you! If they weren't guilty of anything they would communicate in a decent and objective language. The fact of insults via phone and threatening is sign of their weakness. Power to you!
Why does this only happen to people who can't afford real lawyers? Me and my friends have been doing this for decades and not a single one of us have a single percent of fraud. However, we see everyone who's a charlatan or liar post about having fraudalent streams.
Multi billion dollar corporation calling a small business owner a thief seems a bit like gaslighting
Tunecore payed my 🇮🇳 artist $2400 for 22,000,000 (22-MILLION STREAMS). Our Lawyer says if we collectively pool a 2 to 3 cr ($250,000) revenue fraud, We can sue them in the court.
If you are an Indian Artist or anywhere in ASIA (Drop your mail id's with the approx number of fraud), You won't be charged a lawyer fee, I'll bear it on my own.
Is tunecore run by the mafia lmao.. they're like wow, alarming you're calling out our alleged widespread fraud lmao.. personally? I'm building my own custom streaming platform..
I hear you on this! Lol! They act like it, huh?
There have been a lot of those comparisons made by the community. And what kind of things would you do to make your distributor platform different? How will you tackle these issues?
Make sure that you're sharing out this content to your Facebook groups, discord, and other social platforms we need to get awareness going to apply pressure.
@TopMusicAttorney hi:) thanks for asking, and I def apprec your vids about this tunecore situation, im blown away like everyone else.. I'm a lifelong musician who came up before streaming platforms and online billboard charting rules.. I'm working on my latest album asw, and like pretty much every other artist have noticed the inequities in the streaming game.. Over the last 12 years I've become a full stack developer starting with blockhain and custom social media code , so i can build these types of platforms myself, which im currently doing. I'd be open to communicating via dm or email with you regarding the details of my vision and what im building , I noticed you're an artist yourself which is awesome:) and in light of everything that's going down may need you as a lawyer someday, as well:) My vision is more like Tidal and less like Tunecore, I think it's safe to say for public consumption:)
Tunecore: your music got to popular and we spent your money
Any Artist [pick one]: So the royalties I am owed will be paid?
LunaticCore: the cocaine we buy by the truckload went up in price so no.
Too bad you are trying to beat them in New York. Chances of a fair outcome are slim. Our music went through the same issues with Distrokid. Fight the system in control and they will try and destroy you. I wish you all the luck in pursuing this effort.
Tunecore copyright striked one of my bands music videos recently. WE NEVER EVEN USED THEM AS A MUSIC DISTRIBUTOR. It’s crazy the amount of things that have been happening with this distributor.
EXPOSE IT ALL, because *every* part of the entertainmentindustry needs to show accountability for why they "can't" PAY ARTISTS FOR THEIR WORK.
Legitimate artist? It would seem to me that a name on a SR and/or PA form legitimizes a creator Artist in eyes of the US Copyright Office and the Library of Congress, therefore TuneCore would have to prove otherwise. Interesting twist on "legitimacy" and what body or bodies determined who is a "legit artist".
Exactly 🙏 Thanks for being here
That's not even a relevant issue! If Tunecore entered into a contract with someone to provide a service, they must provide that service. End of subject. Coming up with all these nonsense issues makes me think they are operated by a bunch of clowns. If their legal ops are run the same way someone with deep pockets would wipe the floor with them in court.
@@peejay1981 are you responding to my comment? Seems unlikely. But for the sake of clarification I'm replying. Peace and be well 🤙✌️
@@peejay1981 are you responding to my comment? Seems unlikely. But for the sake of clarification I'm replying. Peace and be well 🤙✌️
@@mrmikemrmike Yes, PJ is responding to you. The artist paid TuneCore to provide a service. Their "not a real artist" nonsense is a red herring.
We support you , here for you and the independent artist involved 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
The biggest thing that you can do to support is to share this and see Facebook feeds, Facebook groups, with your other artist and producer friends. I really am trying to get the most awareness possible for this cause It affects all of us as a community
Absolutely I agree just share this up. Apply that pressure
After uploading an album, Tunecore refused to publish it with the same copy and paste email without explanation, and after weeks of emails nothing changed,
a year has passed and it seems there is no way to delete my account but only unsubscribe singles or albums
@18:41 - The letter says "and/or returned BY you", which means they can require your client to return their earnings (as far as I understand the legal jargon)
I would be shocked if Tunecore TOS doesn't include a class action waiver in favor of mediation.
They don't like that you're sharing their dirty doings! Keep it going, they're scared like Jennifer said!
💪
It’s the rapiest industry I’ve ever known ☹️
Just a minor point that is big for me because I am a grammar nerd - if that email came from their legal department, they need to learn how to write English let alone legal English. Their use of the apostrophe in the acronym plural of DSP is incorrect. The plural of any acronym, thus including DSP is DSPs, without the apostrophe. They are abusers of apostrophes!! I have been considering moving to Tunecore myself, but just on this fact alone I think I might skip it LOL Also, their threat of a counterclaim for fraud does not make any sense at all and I think they are just blowing smoke: if he wins his case, then he is cleared of fraud because winning it requires proof of non-fraudulent activites, right?
Sue them for it. lol jk
Your soo awesome! You rock and there are probably a million people standing by your side on this! The whole music industry in general is a racket and a blood sucking entity...Too much power and too much greed..
And a lawyer citing ETHICS as a justification for their client's actions? I laughed so hard. I used to serve civil process. Ethics ain't got nothin' to do with what lawyers do. Nor should they. Justice is um... I don't know, blind?
class action !!!!!
There has been a lot of interest and calls into my office wanting that
Which distributor are you with and what has your experience been?
There's been quite the call for a class action
This might be a really rough and hot-headed take and in my opinion (therefore not defamatory), but all artists should consider dropping Tunecore if they can. If a "distributor" will go to an extent to insult a client's put effort into music, they will go to any length to keep artist's money. Wow. Got nothing else. Thank you for opening my eyes to this.
It sad that we as artist get bullied by these dsp companies and they just want us to accept it it is really not fair
Could you please help me ? I want my release back in the stores! They have not provided any evidence and keep ignoring my emails, and the MU (Musician's Union) said they haven't got a reply either.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned here, it’s that onerous restrictions should require radical transparency.
I never understood Companies fighting the current when they know they’re in the wrong. You just expose yourself and wind up paying more money in the end. TC just send a letter of apology and give the artist their money.
The fuck about train has left the station and the find out train has no brakes. Be careful Tunecore, this wont end up how you think it will.
Wait, so their entire argument hinges on the completely unsubstantiated claim that the shares of streams from each platform/distributor are supposed to match each one's market share? Who says? I have seen plenty of artists who are popular on one platform and not another. Its an entirely made up metric.
Thankyou so much for bringing this to us. I worry about myself and the 1000’s of artists this is happening to atm with the same distributor.
What a fall from grace for Tunecore. Take em down
I have no idea how TuneCore could possibly hope to launch a successful law suite essentially because someone is suing them for breach of contract, especially without providing any proof of any misdeeds. They seem little more than a bunch of bullies with industry connections. I am glad I don't use Spotify although without any data to say otherwise I will assume that it is a similar situation with regards to UA-cam Music.
Unfortunately, there is only one effective way to deal with bullies: That is to hurt them so bad that they know the pain that they get from bullying you (or your client in this case) makes whatever satisfaction they get from bullying not worthwhile. That is easier said than done though, especially when you are outnumbered and they have more resources than you do.
It seems like Tunecore are being very badly advised or, more likely, ignoring their counsel’s advice. Using an emotional argument against facts is never going to win. Even if in this case it turns out that there is evidence of fraud (which I’m not suggesting there is), the PR damage is already done. I moved from Tunecore to DistroKid, simply because it was a better, cheaper offer, but I would imagine many artists are watching this and considering either moving away or not going to them in the first place. It’s a salient lesson in sticking to the facts and not allowing yourself to get caught up in how you feel… Well done for having the courage to make this public!
Oh and btw, wouldn't this be a good case for declaratory relief? Especially with the other party trying to intimidate me with potential sanctions for a frivolous lawsuit. They're scared of my complaint. Let's get a judge to declare legal rights in the controversy.
Basically an artist I like could get in trouble if I stream his music a lot. That’s crazy!
The expectation that streams would line up across providers is so ass backwards, and ignores that an artist may choose only to share a link to one service (Often Spotify)
Your gorgeous! Fight on sis!!! 😂 Tunecore are just doing what they think is right even if it doesn’t conform with real life legality they agreed to be held to account by NY law and therefore are indeed bound by it, if they get it wrong they’ll have to pay up! Just like anybody else! but jeez, the lengths some corporations will go to blatantly take what isn’t theirs is staggering! And like you said the gripe is with two outlets not tunecore! Who’s to say tunecore doesn’t have people working in Amazon music or Spotify that falsely report on commission it could be a conspiracy! It’s not like we haven’t seen this stuff before! It’s extremely fascinating and I personally thank you ! 🙏 I’m sooo glad I found you! 🙏🕊️✨🛸
wouldn't the best thing to do is if Tunecore had an issue.. just release the funds and stop doing business with the artist? They will likely waste more money and ruin their reputation for future profit. I've used two other distributors without issue, and just from this story would never consider Tunecore going forward.
For real. At this point they might not want to budge because it has larger implications for all artists. 🤷♂️ A win becomes a blueprint for other legal cases.
So, they have taken their cut of the money before refusing to pass on the artists cut? Isnt that in itself making a profit from illegal activity?
Based on what I've heard it certainly seems like tunecore, cdbaby, distrokid, etc are all just shady rent-seekers looking for excuses to rip artists off to support their broken business model.
This is why I advise people to not depend on these distributors. It's cool to get them helping to spread your music, but when there are a few distributors distributing everyone's music and they take a slice of each, the distributor ends up with a lot of money and that money gets used to make laws that are not in the best interest of the artists. It's better to distribute the music yourself. If you sell music to someone for a set price, then you get to set the price, you get the money, and no one can take down your music (in the US with freedom of speech at least). You get your customer's information instead of some company being able to stand in the way of you and your customers. It would be better if payola was legal and you could just flat out pay for plays instead of having to get an attorney (no offense) to fight for your pennies, even if it's a lot of pennies.
This is why I've been trying to buy cd's as much as possible again. Even if I have to spend $40 dollars and wait 6-8 weeks because it's coming from Japan through ebay or amazon
Incredible...I wonder if the court finds such 'evidence' inconclusive, will this be a precedent in countries where there is precedent law? Can they also be held criminally liable for theft of royalties?
Thankfully the barrier to prove fraud is extremely high. I’m curious why it has been 2 years and no lawsuit filed yet.
My team and I also waiting their internal review on a few of our account and why they holding our fund almost 3months, until I saw this video and look like they just keep delay. What should we do now?
there are other distributors also doing this as well Btw. There needs to be a class action lawsuit.
Absolutely. We have been getting a lot of messages from artist and producers dealing with other distributors. That's why we're really trying to apply the pressure. So if you can share this to Facebook groups and your artist community it would be so impactful.
Welcome to the community
Since I started talking about this, there have been a lot of people complaining of the same thing from different distributors. It's terrible 😫
being a musician myself this gives me pause even thinking about using a distributer, ill be keeping a close watch on this , and more importantly the implications .
Does anyone know how to upload directly to the DSP's?
The Dunning-Kruger effect occurs when a person's lack of knowledge and skill in a certain area causes them to overestimate their own competence. By contrast, this effect also drives those who excel in a given area to think the task is simple for everyone, leading them to underestimate their abilities.
You are doing a very important work. Thank you.
I want to know if Spotify took down that fake band site that was copying El Siberiano's band. He's literally the most famous drummer online these days. And they ignored his emails 7 times now
We wouldn't have "fake streams" problem if the money from the subscribers would just go to the artists in some straightforward way. What if I could tip from my subscription money to the artists I listen to. And if I don't want to do that explicitly then my subscription money gets distributed to the artists based on the ratios how much I listen to them.
They have to go in because if you set a case law precedent that what they’re doing is no bueno, and they’ve taken 20k from like, let’s say 1000 artists, or 10,000 artists, or 100,000 artists on their platform, that could be the end of their free dinner and a LOT of back pay.
I deleted my initial comment because I don’t need to give anyone ammunition. THANK YOU for shining a light on this.
🙏
Please keep these coming! 😊 Those us of in the industry find this very important.
Krystal Tom Macdonald is pissed off at TUNECORE for refusing to release one of his albums.
Tom goes off he’s in the middle of taking all his songs off TUNECORE.
IMO Tom MacDonald is a go-getter 100% independent for the independent artist out to kick the record companies asses.
You can listen to him talk all about it on one of his UA-cam videos. His newest ones.
Tom would be great for President of new music union, or just the voice for us. Tom’s very articulate and he’s an amazing political rapper amongst other genres he raps in.
Don't give them any further wiggle room to write nasty letters. Litigate, and emphasize to the judge that Tunecore's continued abuse of your client forces you to bring all this in front of the judge, so that any further abuse will be monitored by the court. Also, file for damages based on their abusive treatment and threats, in addition to the unpaid royalties and violations of state law. If you can get some kind of restraining order against Tunecore, that would be huge.
Also friend, super disheartening the ad hominem attacks going on here from them. You are right, super unprofessional.... like what the heck?!!!!!
Wow. It seems really easy to, if you have a personal vendetta against a working artist, all you have to do to ruin their life’s work is just manipulate their streaming. I had a client of mine that got their content removed in the early days of streaming because I bookstore streamed their album over and over.
If it's in NY that should explain everything.
Tunecore Ethical Logic. If I they rob a bank in 2020 and give it to a charity. It's not robbing a bank and they cannot be charged because they believe the money was fake in 2024? Now I get it!!! If I wear an orange. I'm an airplane and I can hear colors, smell sound, and feel the color green. Makes total sense.
😅🙏