The New Music Thieves: Stealing from Artists

There's a lot of new fraud out there hurting artists, and it’s our job to let you know about it.

We're lucky. Back in 2005, we built something game-changing, turning the music industry on its head by removing all gatekeepers and allowing every artist to have access to distribution while keeping their rights and getting all the money form the sale of their music.

But when you change the game, you encounter new kinds of scam artists and cheaters: with new technology and new business models come new thieves and new kinds of fraud. These are people who'd do anything to make at buck, no matter who or what they might damage. So here's a heads-up:

Stealing Someone Else's Song

From time to time, someone will knowingly steal someone else’s song and try sell it and pass it off as their own. I do mean stealing: if you want to give away your music, that’s fine, you have the right to do anything you want with music you control. But you should have the choice, and no one should be able to make that choice for you, either ahead of time or after the fact. 

For example, we had a customer steal someone else’s song, sell it on iTunes and not pay the person who wrote it. iTunes then got a legal notice from the songwriter, they in turn sent TuneCore a legal notice claiming copyright infringement (under the law, TuneCore can now be fined up to $150,000 per willful infringement).

Once this happened, we had to hire our lawyer at hundreds of dollars an hour to respond. This person paid TuneCore $9.99 and then stole another person's song, used it and did not pay them, but told TuneCore he did. We did call him to let him know what someone else was accusing him of and to defend him if necessary. He stated he knew he stole the song and demanded that TuneCore send him money or he would write articles and blog postings attacking TuneCore’s credibility (making it more insane was the fact that we did not have this money to give him, it had already gone to the actual songwriter whose work he stole). To top all this off, it became possible for TuneCore to get sued. 

In addition to these legal problems, threats and costs, there is also the damage done by this person with iTunes. We had to call up Apple and try to repair things, as this one person's actions might have screwed everything up for all other TuneCore customers.

True to his word (at least he is honest about one thing), this person began posting articles on the Internet accusing TuneCore of anything he could think of.

Frankly, it’s our job to deal with this kind of ridiculousness, but his actions also put iTunes, TuneCore and every TuneCore artist and label in jeopardy. 

Here’s what’s troubling: it’s not about a new-age techno-bully’s attempts to shakedown TuneCore. It’s about the damage being done to other artists whose work is being stolen. Songwriters and artists work hard, and yet they have to contend with RIAA board members calling their music “crap” and claiming they should not be allowed to have distribution. The last thing they should have to worry about is others stealing their song to make a quick buck.

To anyone stealing, we ask, why cheat the artist? Don’t they have it hard enough out there? If you thought their work was good enough and important enough to use, why steal?

There’s nothing wrong with using other peoples’ work, there’s dozens of ways to use it fairly. Wouldn’t you want someone to pay you for your work, if they used it? Artists are not the enemy. They’re trying to look out for themselves in a very complicated industry, they need help from their fellow artists and from their digital distributor.

The idea is to arm everyone with the knowledge that enables artists to make informed decisions, control their rights, make money and pursue their passions on their own terms. That’s why we created so many free guides, or our Ustream video broadcasts:  and our most recent Free .PDF, How Not To Get Screwed – The Six Legal Rights That Drive The Music Industry. These are free for anyone, even those who decide not to use TuneCore.

If someone stole your music, you bet we’d be there to make sure you got your money. And if it ever happened to you, we’d be there for you. If someone reaches out to TuneCore artist and accuses one of our artists of stealing, we’re going to notify you, fast. We’re going to help you reach out to this other party and find out what’s going on. This is the kind of honesty and protection artists deserve.

If It’s Too Good to be True, It Is!

Sometimes scammers use fraudulent credit cards to buy gift cards, and then they try to sell those cards to unsuspecting artists. Please, be careful!

If someone is trying to sell you an iTunes, AmazonMP3 or any other store’s gift cards or gift certificates of any kind below cost, it might be a scam, watch out. Even if you legitimately buy a gift card, Apple may see the purchases as fraudulent and not pay out any money from these sales. Things to look for: asking for cash, super low prices (like, five cents on the dollar), and using semi-anonymous selling venues (Craigslist and its clones)

So to fraudsters, scammers, thieves and others like them, if they want to reach out to TuneCore or our artists and make good, they can write us, we here, and we've always been here.

If you have any questions or concerns, reach out to us, we’re here and can get you pointed in the right direction or provide information.

It pains us when people stick their heads in the sand, lash out at TuneCore because they don’t want to face the consequences of their actions. They’re hurting artists, making it even harder for us to keep helping, keep opening doors, and keep changing this industry for the good.

In the meantime, here’s a great list of free resources:

 

U.S. Based Performance Rights Organizations

ASCAP: http://www.ascap.com

BMI: http://www.bmi.com

SESAC: http://www.sesac.com

 

Where To Register To Collect Digital Transmission Money

SoundExchange: http://www.soundexchange.com

 

Where To Register Your Copyrights

United States Copyright Office, Library of Congress: http://www.copyright.gov/

 

Where To Get More Information

ArtistHouse Music: http://www.artistshousemusic.org/

Future Of Music: http://futureofmusic.org/

Other TuneCore Music Industry Survival Guides: http://www.tunecore.com/guides

 

Find Us Online

TuneCore’s Twitter account: http://twitter.com/tunecore

TuneCore on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TuneCore

TuneCore's YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/tunecore

 

--Peter & Jeff

 

Reach us at:

[email protected]

 

 

Comments

[Wingy_Tunes]

I'm glad to read this, I have noticed a lot of bad words and posts on twitter, and read blogs, about Tunecore running away with money.

I rarely fall for those things but after a while I was looking around to see if it was the truth or not.

I am glad to see a post about this and you guys explaining freud in these businesses.
Also I was glad to have found out about the recent happenings, that the poster and all the bad mouthing about Tunecore was of artists who misunderstood facts of copyright.

I really hope things get sorted properly, and I am grateful to be a tunecore costumer.
Us artists would be nowhere with companies as you! Keep up the good work.

Wingy ~

[TuneCore]

Thanks, Wingy. Misunderstanding copyright is a problem, because some one winds up paying the price for theft, and far too often it's the artist. If it's done by mistake, okay, it's hardly great news, but anything is fixable.

But some people would rather lash out blindly than realize what they've done. And some, who know they've done wrong, lash out when caught. Either way, we're here to protect the artists. It's only natural--artists are our customers, why shouldn't we help? Heck, just about everyone who works at TuneCore is a musician, we've all been there.

For the record: whatever anyone might say, we never keep any artists money. Everything goes to the artist, the the owner of the rights. We have to account for every single penny, and that's a good thing.

--Peter
[email protected]

[Dj Kru]

Thank you so much for posting this, this is def a good heads up to the artists to be even more cautious in this age of digital piracy.

TuneCore always is helping out the ARTIST, I can't believe someone had something bad to say about it...

Dj Kru

[Don Shetterly]

Thank you for posting this guys. Amazing.. eye shocking.. Glad you're there watching out. Amazing that people just don't realize what a copyright means or that the proper thing to do is respect other's work.

[Stone E]

Good to read this from you.

[A grateful Tunecore member]

Tunecore rocks.
Sorry to hear you've been going through this.
Hang in there, we're with you.

[Tam walker]

Sorry to hear you have had to deal with this! I had a great experience with TuneCore and think it's amazing that we artists are able to take distribution into our own hands via yourselves!

[Falik]

An individual stealing a song is heinous, but at least it's out in the "open". Companies steal, too, and hide behind contracts.

Digital Distribution http://mrcard.justinpecot.net/blog/blog6.php

[Evan]

TuneCore has been nothing but awesome to me. I've referred them to everyone I know making music. They're FAR from criminal. If anything, they're one of the few white lights of the music industry.

[[email protected]]

Thanks. I know of someone claiming that she wrote songs when she merely contributed vocals. By law, she has mechanical license rights to post those songs anywhere she wants and not give credit to the original song writer.
If you have any insight how to prevent this person from using these songs on any site, it would be most appreciated.
Best
Barbara

[Rob Mazurek]

Jeff, I hope you guys charge that idiot for "Exortion" as he was clearly trying to blackmail tunecore to extort money from you. I believe thats a "Felony" offence.

Guys like that deserve no mercy and should feel the full extent of the law due to their own stupidity and greed.

I hope Tunecore and your lawyers pursue these charges and financial damages against this idiot for legal fees and other compensation for damages (as he clearly potentially jeapordized tunecores relationship with Apple) incurred because of his actions.

[TuneCore]

Ignorance is the real problem in this industry--has been for more than a century. People need not only to know how the business works, but their rights, how to use them, and their responsibilities, too. You're absolutely right.

--Peter

[TuneCore]

It's true, Rob, these are serious problems. But my impulse, always, is to fight fire with education. That is, let this be yet another example of why it's vital we help our clients (and the world) understand their rights, responsibilities and opportunities. Ounce of prevention...

--Peter

[Red Joe]

Thanks for the info and support!