Major labels can now flag SoundCloud accounts directly

[Steve]

A DJ on SubFM called Mr. Brainz used to upload his radio shows to SoundCloud. Some of them started getting flagged and he received a 3rd strike notice saying his account would be shut down. He emailed SoundCloud to ask what the deal is and he received this reply: -

 

http://i.imgur.com/942upaV.png

 

So, not only were the radio shows removed, Universal don't even have to tell you which tracks are infringing and they don't tell SoundCloud either.

 

Not good news for DJs.

[Guest rasteri]

Yeah this is similar to the deal most major labels have negotiated with youtube. There doesn't even have to be any infringing content in an upload whatsoever, they can have content removed without having to even give a reason. It has been used to deny monitarisation to indie labels that the major labels have decided are getting too popular.

 

Again, none of this is illegal, because it's a private contract negotiated with soundcloud : https://torrentfreak.com/megaupload-youtube-and-the-dmca-less-mega-song-takedown-111216/

 

 

The label says that they have a private arrangement with YouTube that falls outside of the DMCA, and that essentially they can take down any content they like, whether they own the copyrights or not.

[d00ban]

Fuck major labels man, fuck them all right off. In what way is a DJ putting one of their songs on a radio show in any way bad any way?

[Jon]

Fuck major labels man, fuck them all right off. In what way is a DJ putting one of their songs on a radio show in any way bad any way?

 

I imagine it's because they and their artists don't get PRS through soundcloud, and if the soundcloud user offers downloads, then they could potentially be losing sales (not everyone wants to mix tunes in top quality and may be happy listening to a song in a show format perhaps?). If the soundcloud user is popular and people are listening to that person's mix rather than youtube or mixcloud etc (which do pay prs as far as I understand) then they are losing out on money. I don't agree with their approach to solving the issue but if that's their reasoning I can understand why they're doing it.

[Jimmy]

i was getting so frustrated trying to find a service that offered downloads for my mixes. Mixcloud can stream, but then mediafire started blocking everything as much as soundcloud. It seems the problem is only getting worse. Soon will there be any realistic ways of doing mixes and offering downloads? other than having you're own servers, which would also mean generating all of the traffic yourself as they'd be no 'community' as such linked.

[Steve]

Even having your own servers doesn't stop you from getting takedown notices.

 

I'd like to see SoundCloud become a bit more Mixcloud-like. Instead of using waveform scanning to ID songs for takedown purposes, they could do it to link people to places to buy tracks. They could have artist bio pages. They could have upcoming show lists for your favourite artists, as well as recommending tracks, albums and shows to people based on their location and listening habits. In return, the labels could be more DJ-friendly.

 

Right now their business model seems to be based on something that the site isn't and never has been.

[DJ Rock Well]

You've summed it up about right there Steve. They seem to think they've made a site for singer/songwriters to sit down with their guitar and upload their latest original ballad.

[doppelkorn]

Yeah, AFAIK that's Bandcamp's territory isn't it?

[Jimmy]

do people think less mixes will end up being made, in the end, from all this?