X-53mph Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 (edited) Had anyone had a copyright dispute against their own music while uploading to YouTube? I made a video for my OWN song and while trying to upload it to my YouTube channel I got a dispute warning from a company called FUGA. I've disputed it and I'm waiting for feedback. Has this happened to anyone else? Hold on a sec. This is the same FUGA that recently joined with Bandlab. I sure as hell hope they are not stealing music from people posting to this forum and copyrighting it as their own. Edited February 5 by 53mph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackson white Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/13/business/music-streaming-fraud-spotify.html 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X-53mph Posted February 5 Author Share Posted February 5 1 minute ago, jackson white said: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/13/business/music-streaming-fraud-spotify.html I cannot read the article. It's behind a pay wall. Can you give me a synopsis? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesha Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 https://dnyuz.com/2024/01/13/their-songs-were-stolen-by-phantom-artists-they-couldnt-get-them-back/ googled it and found the story at this link for free 1 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackson white Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 (edited) ^^ Edited February 5 by jackson white prev post covered the ask Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Joad Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 I would think who ever has the copy-right 1st owns the song, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X-53mph Posted February 5 Author Share Posted February 5 2 minutes ago, Old Joad said: I would think who ever has the copy-right 1st owns the song, right? Not according to the article. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Stanton Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 you might own it, but you need to prove it. hence the copyright filing which makes it official. depending on timestamps, self-address sealed postage-marked envelopes, etc have varying degrees of success in proving ownership. the article implies that basically someone streams your material off whatever service you use, relabels it and then puts it up on a paid-per-listen(s) service and subsequently then uses bots to play them over and over in order to get royalties. i'm guessing the 40 second noise thing is something the main services can filter most of them out. and as they decide the get smarter about the IP address or device/account used (like you cannot be in the US and EU at the same time, regardless of TCP/IP routing...) they'll block the bots more and more. until the bot programmers come up with something like, likely hacking people phones/tv sticks/laptops etc to play (silently) using your own personal devices 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bitflipper Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 2 hours ago, 53mph said: Has this happened to anyone else? As the article explains, most people who fall victim to this scam will never know it's happened. The scammers create a made-up artist and then use bots to continuously play the song so that they can then collect payments from streaming services. The only way the scammers might get caught would be to issue a takedown request, because only then would the original artist find out about it. That seems like a pretty dumb move. This particular outfit, FUGA, does look sketchy. Their website's front page includes no information, but it does display programming mistakes (e.g. the word "<footer>" ). In the terms & conditions, the sentence "You shall be solely responsible for your own content and the consequences of submitted the content to FUGA." might suggest that they don't verify squat. And have plausible deniability if caught out. It'll be interesting to see who initiated the dispute, and will hopefully reveal the scam organization - assuming it's not FUGA itself. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigb Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 Here I'm trying to not to be an advocate for capitol punishment and this type of stuff happens... 🤬 Hang 'em from a tree upside-down, feed 'em ExLax and let them drown!!! 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X-53mph Posted February 6 Author Share Posted February 6 What I find particularly worrying about this is that the song has only been shared using private links on this forum. If the scammers have indeed copied the song, it would have been done via that link. The fact the name on the dispute is FUGA also sets alarm bells ringing as that is the name of the royalty collection company that BabdLabs have apparently teamed up with (as someone previously posted on this forum). I'm going to have to delve deeper into this, and I'll keep you all up to date on the counter dispute with YouTube. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X-53mph Posted February 6 Author Share Posted February 6 7 hours ago, bitflipper said: This particular outfit, FUGA, does look sketchy. Their website's front page includes no information, but it does display programming mistakes (e.g. the word "<footer>" ). In the terms & conditions, the sentence "You shall be solely responsible for your own content and the consequences of submitted the content to FUGA." might suggest that they don't verify squat. And have plausible deniability if caught out. Unfortunately, FUGA are a partner of BandLabs: https://fuga.com/press-releases/bandlab-empowers-creators-by-unlocking-digital-music-distribution-for-its-membership-subscribers/ https://creativeindustriesnews.com/2023/11/bandlab-partners-with-fuga-to-provide-global-digital-music-distribution/ This is very worrying if it is indeed FUGA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X-53mph Posted February 6 Author Share Posted February 6 If I were BandLab, I would be extremely concerned about the feedback on FUGA. If you ask an AI chat for information on FUGA, this is what you get: "FUGA, a music distribution service, has been embroiled in controversy. Users have reported several issues with their platform: Scam Website: Some users have labeled it as a scam website. Poor Support: The customer support is reportedly horrible. Analytics Delay: After 11 months, there have been no updates on analytics. Terrible Payouts: Artists complain about low payouts. Unreasonable Staff: Tickets are closed without reason. Account Termination: There are instances of accounts being terminated after paying for a “pro account.” Partnership Reconsideration: Concerned users have reached out to FUGA, the head distribution service, to reconsider their partnership1. While I cannot definitively label it a scam, these issues warrant caution. If you’re an artist, consider established platforms like DistroKid, TuneCore, or CD Baby for music distribution. Remember, the music industry can be a wild ride—sometimes even wilder than a hip-hop beat! 🎵🎤🎶" So the take away from that?....if you want to distribute your music and not get screwed.... Don't do it with Bandlab? BabdLab should be looking into this. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwal³ Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 9 hours ago, Glenn Stanton said: (like you cannot be in the US and EU at the same time, regardless of TCP/IP routing...) with a vpn you can 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigb Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 37 minutes ago, pwal³ said: with a vpn you can And ProtonVPN has a free option and they don't log your information. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bradley Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 I’ve had a number of my Christmas songs copyright claimed on Youtube – though still allowed. The copyright trolls just want to claim any nonexistent revenue I’d get. I’ve pointed out to Youtube that the claimant has no business claiming copyright on new performances of songs that are centuries old and most definitely in the public domain (e.g, Auld Lang Syne, Greensleeves, hymns written in the 1800s, etc.) and I’ve been completely ignored. If I had any hope or intention of making money with my vids I’d be annoyed, but as is, I’m mostly bemused. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X-53mph Posted February 6 Author Share Posted February 6 (edited) 4 hours ago, John Bradley said: I’ve had a number of my Christmas songs copyright claimed on Youtube – though still allowed. The copyright trolls just want to claim any nonexistent revenue I’d get. I’ve pointed out to Youtube that the claimant has no business claiming copyright on new performances of songs that are centuries old and most definitely in the public domain (e.g, Auld Lang Syne, Greensleeves, hymns written in the 1800s, etc.) and I’ve been completely ignored. If I had any hope or intention of making money with my vids I’d be annoyed, but as is, I’m mostly bemused. From what I understand of the article, the scammers might copy your song (literally rip it from the video) and then upload it to Spotify or whatnot, fake stream it, and collect pay that way, while at the same time shutting you out of any potential revenue from your performance. It's true that this won't matter much if your song doesn't make any money, but if they get one big earner from a million stolen songs, they can make a lot of money without ever making any music themselves....kind of like what Spotify does anyway. 😂 Edited February 6 by 53mph 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulo Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 1 hour ago, 53mph said: if they get one big earner from a million stolen dogs I guess that would explain why Baha Men were so concerned..... 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulo Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 The bot thing could also explain why Bandlab thought that a free 3 day trial of their "Membership" might convince people to give them $15 a month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhonoBrainer Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 Hey 53, which site did you originally post your song to, even just as a Private link? Was it Bandlab? Or Soundcloud or something else? Following with interest . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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