In the past, I’ve had 2 SoundCloud mixes flagged for copyright violation. These weren’t BeatPort top 10 style tracks, and that’s what surprised me. So I started doing the tried and true “5 seconds of silence” trick, and that was working fine until last Saturday I was uploading my July mix but it was flagged. I edited the mix and put 10 seconds of silence in, still was flagged. This, along with these two articles have lead me to downgrade my account from Pro Unlimited, and at the end of this month I’ll be back to basic, and I’m moving all my 2014 mixes to MixCloud and Mixcrate.
My gripe with the whole thing is this: how come I get flagged, but Mixmag/Thump/Fact/other popular podcast or emag puts mixes up regularly with nary a slap on the wrist or a cross look? Besides a large number of followers, a dedicated social media PR team, and a strong presence in the industry, what’s the difference between us? I’m not doing anything different than they are, they just happen to reach more of an audience.
Look, we all know when we put a mix up we don’t own the rights to any of these tracks. We’re just trying to share something we’re passionate about. Some labels see it as free promotion, spreading awareness of their product. Others think you’re violating their copyright and taking money away from them. That’s fine, a little discouraging, but that’s their right. All I’m saying is if you’re going to go after the little guy, then the big boys should be held just as accountable. Your number of followers/plays/likes shouldn’t make you above the law.
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