VERY LONG POST ALERT!
So, i've mentioned in the comments of this topic that i had my music 'stolen' multiple times earlier this year and some of you were interested in having more details so i'll try to explain as much as i can.
One day i received a message from one of my fans saying that somebody uploaded one of my tracks under another name on Spotify. I went to look it up, and this 'artist' had only a few releases, some of them with 20-50 MILLION streams, and then there was mine with thousands of streams. I started doing some research on that 'artist' and i couldn't find anything. You know what i'm talking about.. No profile picture, no bio, no instagram, no facebook, no website... NOTHING.
I panicked for a bit. Then i thought: ''Well, as long as i get my royalties, i guess it's ok.'' but then i started to wonder if i would really get paid at all, since this person never asked for my permission and you couldn't see my name anywhere... no mention at all that it was a cover.
I started to ask around.. checked with my distributor, with my PRO.. i'm talking days and days of research and emails. Nobody could guarantee me that i would get paid my royalties. So i decided to reach out to Spotify and they pretty much told me the same, and that if i don't approve this i can always file a copyright infringement claim. So i did. The track was almost immediately taken down.
The next day, i get an email from a guy named Andreas Romdhane. (Now, remember this name because it's very important) Andreas said that he represents the 'artist' that i've reported and that he's simply a fan of my music and there's no law that forbids covering music we love. He then gave me some examples of how many covers of Bob Dylan you can find on Spotify and bla bla bla. and finished by asking me to remove the copyright claim or otherwise, he will dispute it.
I kindly explained the situation to him and my concerns. I said that while i have no guarantee that this was done THE RIGHT WAY and i would get my royalties, i preferred not having my music uploaded to Spotify, specially without my permission. Then i told him how much i appreciate their support for my music and invited him to share it on YouTube instead, just like many other people have.
He replied a few minutes later saying that this isn't right, that he is free to cover anyone's music and i have no right to oppose myself. Which i respectfully replied: ''I composed this piece. I own this music. I have the right to oppose myself to anyone getting paid for my work. Go ahead and dispute if you want, my decision remains the same.''
I didn't hear back from him again, the piece was taken down, that was the end... or was it?
A few days went by, i kept doing some research. I was relieved to know the piece was taken down, even if i'm sure he probably got SOME money out of it before it was removed from Spotify, but i was also worried because it made me wonder how many other pieces of me could be on Spotify without me knowing..
Then i had an idea. I told myself that i would search for my own name on YouTube and start looking for anything suspicious. This took me a while but i ended up finding two 'automated YouTube 'videos' (automatically shared to YouTube by some distributor) that were named after my pieces.
So then i panicked again, i looked them up on Spotify. SAME THING. a few tracks, MILLIONS of streams, and another one of my pieces. So i reported them and both tracks were almost immediately taken down.
Next day, Andreas Romdhane emails me once again with the same bullsh*t. I answer the same exact thing, i tell him that i haven't changed my mind and to please stop insisting. He threatens me to take legal action, bla bla bla. and i simply ignored him.
For the next few days/weeks i would go to YouTube almost EVERY DAY and search for my name, then filter the posts to 'UPLOADED THIS WEEK' and every few days i would find a new 'cover' of one of my pieces. Frustrated, i would look them up AGAIN, notice the fake profile, millions of streams, report them, repeat.
Here's one of the emails he sent to me and also my last reply to him:
Never heard of him again. To this day, i keep checking once a week on YouTube the same way i said. I look up for my name, filter to 'THIS WEEK' and make sure there's no new releases of my music by random fake artists. I would strongly advice you to do the same. At first, You might need to check on YouTube as a whole and not only the recent videos, which will take you quite some time, but once you do that you'll be up to date and can only search once a week filtering to the recent videos only like i do. Of course this is NOT a bulletproof method but it's the only method i've found so far.. other than that, there's not much i can do other than hope my music is not being released on streaming platforms without my permission...
I was lucky enough to find and report these releases pretty quickly even if some of them had already THOUSANDS of streams. Christopher Dicker on the other hand found out that his piece 'dream river.' (woodsman moniker) was also stolen, had 900K streams and was added to some editorial playlists. I spoke to him when he shared it on his stories and explained my situation. We found out that we were both receiving emails from the same guy, telling us the same things.
I believe that the reason they KEEP the original name of the track is because if they get caught, they can just hide behind the excuse that this is simply a cover. If they stole your music and uploaded it under another name, that wouldn't be possible and they would probably get in trouble.
Now, i told you to keep in mind the name Andreas Romdhane. So here are two very good articles to better understand who he is. SPOILER ALERT: He's linked to UNIVERSAL MUSIC and is behind many (if not most) 'fake artists' found in editorial playlists.
Who in the f*ck are Andreas Romdhane and Josef Svedlund – aka Quiz & Larossi
The secret Universal ‘fake artists’ behind a bunch of Spotify’s most streamed tracks – revealed
If you made it this far, thank you for reading and please share! I'm sure this happens to a lot of people and they have no idea... These people are making money on your back and seem to aim at emerging artists or 'smaller' established composers.
Thank you,
-Francisco
Hi, I'm only joining the conversation now but I guess it stays current. First of all thank you for sharing this story with us.I hope things have gone to posto.se I can I wanted to ask you if I am registered at the S.I.A.E. that is the Italian protector of artists risk equally? How do I know if they have taken any of our music illegally?
thank you very much
This is a really interesting but quite frankly disturbing read. A part of me thinks, how can Spotify allow this to happen. But then the cynical part of me thinks. they are a big business so bound to be corrupt in some way. Such a shame for us emerging artists. Thanks for sharing this Francisco, and I'm pleased you managed to get the issue resolved for now.
I am new to streaming, but this trend is very disturbing and very discouraging for new and emerging artists. Thank you for alerting us.
Thanks everyone. I know that these 'fake artists' have been around for years but i was shocked to see they took my music. Now, i know there's plenty of covers on Spotify but as i mentionned, my name wasnt in the credits or metadata for any of these releases. Same for Christopher Dicker.
All i wanted was them to reassure me with proof that these covers were done the right way, which they didn't. Instead, they reuploaded a new version each time with a different 'fake artist' until they gave up after 6 reports and moved on to someone else.
The thing that i'm most worried about is that Universal and Spotify are doing deals with these producers and just imagine if whenever they like a piece of you, instead of adding YOU to the big playlists and paying you the full royalties, they decide to remake your piece and release it with a 'fake artist' profile and then add THAT version instead to their editorials. Now they would only pay the original composer some mechanical royalties (if included to the metadata) instead of the full royalties... How are we supposed to make it as emerging artists if they go that path? I feel like we can't win like this. Now they left me alone and i'm happy with that. I only shared this to help people keep their eyes open. If you are ok with this and you don't mind them doing this to you, then good for you but I'm not ok with it and that's why i had them removed.
Undoubtedly this is a big issue. It's a real shame seeing so many composers trying so hard to get their sound out their and having their pieces stollen by other's. Then when Spotify essentially hire ghost writers to just create music for fake accounts to put on their playlists and then take streams away from others, it can be a real challenge. I do think some of the music for the Spotify fake artists are actually pretty good a lot of the time, so I wonder why the composers don't just release it themselves as well. Like you mentioned, on youtube you can see who the composers are. Not as much recently but I remember quite a lot of the tracks on peaceful piano were written by Jesper Nordenström and Fredrik Boström. All under different alias' but with tens if not hundreds of millions of streams and all of these were featured on Spotify's biggest playlists. There seems to also be a link with Catfish music group (bit of piss to have that name). It is annoying but it doesn't seem like there is much that can be done since Spotify have all the power, so best to just keep composing and hopefully see some success with our releases.
Thank you for sharing in such detail Francisco! It's very disturbing and eye opening! Glad that you managed to put a stop to it being done to you.
Thanks for sharing that tragic story, and in such detail, Francisco. Some dirty dudes. That's just crime. Well I even spent 100€ for a music appraiser, writing several right holder like Universal and hours of research to doublecheck if it's any near okay if I cover and publish a piece by Yiruma. (I had some orchestral addition and an own ending) While it is true that you're allowed to cover anything on spotify (it only stays a cover and not arrangement / editing if the core of the piece remains) you're still obligated to name the real composer of the piece at least in ©. If the composer and owner of the piece/ or right holder (like you) didn't want it to exist, you can immediateley say so or force it. Even argueing with you about your own creations is damn rude. If they would really adore your music and that's the reason they're covering you, they wouldn't behave like that. I think you're still able to get a few revenues from your MLC, if not from the distributor. They should be the one having an eye for such things but the internet is stil new territory 🙈 The solution to such things is quite easy: a filter system like content ID on youtube. You'd be informed and decide if to keep the cover/report it/take it down/retain it but keep all revenues. While Spotify earns with every stream no matter what kind of, they aren't keen about that. But such profiles always should be reported, not only the titles. If you're not named in the © or as author in detail, please do so.
I hope I'll never experience it like you did and get in a similiar kind of situation
Wow… what a story! Thanks a lot for sharing and describe it in detail. Very helpful.
So sorry Francisco. It's shame that some people just do whatever they can to earn money. A lot artists on Spotify are fake profile and they're getting millions of streams per month. There should systematic process to avoid these kind of acts.
Thanks for sharing this Francisco. Sad to hear this. I would understand it that people cover your song but only when you are sure you get your royalties.