The mind-numbing problem with DistroKid (and online music distribution in general)

This video still has a few problems, but I figure it's better to get the word out ASAP rather than strive for perfection. If you upload KZbin videos, and you've received copyright claims from "BFDI Music Record" via "Interstreet Recordings", it isn't me or Michael causing it! We're trying our best to resolve it - thanks for understanding.
Huge thanks to my brother Michael, who produced the music, and also found 30+ links to stolen music on 4 different platforms. That was probably what helped DistroKid take down the stolen music the most! Check out his music channel Yoylecake, which is the true home of that music: / yoylecake
EDIT (from 2021-08-25): All music claims were removed shortly after this video came out (in mid-October). As of around May, the BFDI Music channel's videos are mostly removed. Also, I edited this video to protect the privacy of some people involved in the story.
EDIT (from 2021-09-03): Due to viewer demand, I made this video public again!
Michael's SoundCloud, which dates back to 2014: / yoylecake
Also, huge thanks to the BFDI fans in the Discord servers, Instagram pages, Twitter threads, and emails who all helped piece together evidence to help us get to the bottom of this mystery. Each one of you made it easier for me to make this video!
[REDACTED]'s "Night Mote Sonic" video that started it all: • Video
kings_uwu_damnit's Instagram post that had a ton of the screenshots I showed in the video: / cenmvjzaxan
SanJay C's video on DistroKid, which was helpful and informative: • DistroKid - BEFORE you...
************ MUSIC USED IN THIS VIDEO **************
I didn't use any of Michael's music in this video because I didn't want to get copyright claimed, lol
Talking With You by Artificial.Music / artificial-music
Creative Commons - Attribution 3.0 Unported- CC BY 3.0
creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Music provided by Audio Library • Talking With You - Art...
"Something Wicked" by Ross Bugden
• ♩♫ Epic Horror Synth T...

[@NeatNit]

One word: lawyer. It's literally the job of a copyright lawyer to resolve stuff like this. When you find yourself backed up against a wall, no one is actually talking to you or helping you resolve things gracefully, you need a lawyer who knows how to get it done. (disclaimer: I'm talking out of my ass but hey, it sounds about right)

[@carykh]

Yeah, that's a smart move. In the past, I've always thought "oh we're just youtubers, which is like a tier below serious-adult-professions!" which means, there was no need to get a lawyer involved. But dealing with intellectual property is totally a serious topic that lawyers know a lot about (and I don't). So, that might be the only graceful path to take from here on out! (That's what I'm realizing right now.) Oh, other people have also recommended DistroKid's service DistroLock, which prevents other users from stealing your work. I want to let you guys know that I am aware of it, and I have considered it! However, I'm not sure if I want to join a database due to pressure/obligation, and not out of them providing a useful service.

[@ReneSeckler]

@@carykh Tom Scott made a great video about how and for what the copyright laws and systems are built. You basically need a lawyer

[@CDJAM-webm]

Big brain

[@x12lesser21x]

@@carykh please get a lawyer, I wanna see some justice here

[@xelnagazchild]

yes but...lawyers are expensive, and to find one knowledgeable and effective in that domain... good luck.

[@CodeParade]

Companies like that don't care because they know they can get away with it if they believe you're not going to do anything about it. You need to send a strongly worded legal letter to get their attention, threatening legal action, etc. Regardless of if you want to actually follow through to court or not.

[@yarde.n]

Yeah.

[@z-beeblebrox]

They always eventually want to comply so it's harder to sue, but it's in their best interest to make it take as long as possible because every day that goes by is more money they're skimming off that stolen revenue.

[@BLiu1]

exactly; sometimes you just run out of options and need to retaliate quickly

[@shyamalaprasanna4065]

Hey i watch ur youtube videos

[@alexis_electronic]

Not only that, but they know they'll try to settle so they can do it again.

[@DoodleChaos]

This was infuriating to hear. I’ve always resisted getting a lawyer for my copyright problems because they can be expensive, but I think you’re in a situation where it would be the best choice of action. Good luck!

[@wobber.]

I love your content. Keep it up.

[@amirlivny7842]

Unbelievable for me you were able to keep your cool after all those ridiculous commercials. Infuriating. Love your ideas btw

[@zionj104]

Wait... are you... oh yeah! You're the person who makes those insane music videos!

[@AkariInsko]

L

[@thatpersonsmusic]

Oh wow, it’s you here

[@eudgenius46]

The saddest thing is that the "BFDI Music" guy can act like a saturday morning cartoon villain in plain sight, with clear evidence of his wrongdoing, and nothing will be sorted unless you get actual lawyers involved.

[@userx-inactive8]

yep

[@Johnyknowhow]

It's literally mustache-twirling, dollar signs for eyes cliche villainy too. And DistroKid support tries to paint Cary as the villain here...

[@z-beeblebrox]

@@Johnyknowhow It's more infuriating when you realize that entire process is irrelevant to the youtube copyright claim situation. While all this happens, youtube sits there quietly, pretending they don't see anything.

[@splegoon4289]

z beeblebrox it's what KZbin does best.

[@thatoneguy9582]

>”And I would’ve gotten away with it too if it weren’t for you meddling kids”

[@stephankern6951]

I am pretty sure a copyright lawyer would have fun with this.

[@doughyanimations6200]

Hey just want you to know that your comment is famous

[@WishingLime]

Yep

[@ihatemice_elf]

wow 420 likes xD

[@tspander]

I've been using DistroKid for a while and thought they were alright until I had to deal with their support. :/ Then I got a copyright strike on my own music because someone sang over it and copyrighted that. I sent their distributor (not DistroKid) an email and they took it down surprisingly quickly upon me providing proof.

[@carykh]

it's interesting to hear someone else's perspective on DistroKid, especially from the side of musician rather than outsider! I guess DistroKid's customer support might not be the greatest. But it's nice to hear that in certain instances, you can get a false copyright strike removed promptly.

[@SarahDavis]

Tom Spander oh no

[@KlausKlass]

carykh you should definitely use a lawyer and this seems like an open and shut case. Also, you could probably get them to help set up something like a Creative Commons license. A lawyer might be interested in being paid from fines given by distrokid. They’ve been charging that guy $20/month for so long + whatever % cut they get. Distrokid won’t change unless they’re threatened with a lawsuit and more people will suffer.

[@userx-inactive8]

same! i've been using distrokid for a while and i have the same opinion as you. however i dont think i've been affected by the whole false copyright claiming thing yet

[@quinnencrawford9707]

@@carykh dude he specifically specified "not distrokid" he contacted interstreet recordings

[@yoylecake]

Thank you my bro! I just wanna say: people featuring my music in their creative endeavors is AWESOME! 👍 This video is not about that though. Having been with you through this infuriating experience over past few weeks... it definitely makes me wonder where automation in businesses is going. Human brains for the win!

[@userx-inactive8]

Automation isn't that good at times..

[@firstnameiskowitz8493]

Cary has showed the names of all the tracks, are you going to release them publicly or what?

[@baconbear_463]

@@userx-inactive8 oh hi dude

[@gg72yt]

Sad to see Micheal isn’t verified also has somebody Sent a DMCA to objecttion guy

[@stevenanimates3697]

YEAH HUMAN BRAINS we are super smart

[@Pixelcraftian]

They took down a meme reupload channel, they took down someone reuploading the main Mario theme, I'm sure they can take down BFDI Music.. right?

[@barnabyjjones2348]

Pixelcraftian someone reuploading the mario theme? Lol

[@Bluey]

oh god someone got taken down for reuploading the main mario theme?!

[@karolkozik5918]

dude, Artist Name - Topic channels aren't part of the normal KZbin channel system. they are auto-generated from the KZbin copyright holders database. And since the instigator got in through Distrokid, no one, but Distrokid can do anything about it. KZbin can rightfully say "I didn't do anything wrong", because they trusted Distrokid was right when they sent them the updated list of people signed to Distrokid, along with the music they claim their rights to. In general, music label channels exist in their own little bubble on KZbin, and KZbin doesn't really touch them because they only exist due to KZbin's connections with labels and production companies. Tom Scott's video (which is owned by his production company, Plan 26, side note) does a great job at unravelling the mess of this whole copyright mess.

[@karolkozik5918]

@@Bluey Multiple people. Thousands even. Back in the day, Nintendo was really strict with their rights. They got a bit 'laxed in the mid 2010s, but yeah, apparently they're going back to their old methods. Nintendo's a bitch.

[@freefiles3839]

Pixelcraftian what is the music at 17:21

[@TheRealGuywithoutaMustache]

Like many people have been saying already, get a lawyer take this to court. This is messed up and winning the case will set things straight. Good luck dude.

[@callumlindars]

Bruh im seeing you everywhere

[@wisteriaaconite1132]

39?

[@mariomario9209]

Huh why are you here

[@tythorn13]

Cary: "this my music" Distrokid: "lol sure it is noob" Cary: "no I'm serious, it actually is" Distrokid: "too long didn't read" Cary: "so anyway I told my lawyer-" Distrokid: "WAIT WAIT WAIT"

[@thedoublessymbol]

How to be sued 101

[@IdaeChop]

Change the my to "our" and it makes more perfect

[@manypixelsyt]

@@thedoublessymbol lool

[@thedoublessymbol]

@BFDI Music can't tell if your joking

[@khachapuri]

BFDI Music lol sure

[@austinreed5805]

The Huang twins are so nice. It’s a shame that people want to steal from them.

[@R33dicus]

Nice last name

[@Avengerie]

Nice to a fault, I would say. Caring about whether people would think you were cooperative and accommodating enough with the thief who stole your music is not a sign of confident person.

[@definetlynotoracle.]

Yes

[@chexo3]

Revermations can reset the DistroKid password using the email access, ensure that their email is the only one on that account, then lock them out of both the DistroKid and email accounts and take down the music themselves

[@userx-inactive8]

yeah; I should've. but at that time, I was switching to another music distributor

[@khachapuri]

BFDI Music “you” is such a weird way of spelling “i”

[@adr2215]

BFDI Music hey, guess what: it isn’t funny to roleplay the person everyone is against. you’re not even the actual BFDI Music topic channel.

[@adr2215]

BFDI Music actually, it seems like you are. So, tell me, do you want to be sent to jail? because you can be sent to court for this, and will be sent to jail if you dont take down the distrokid account you made.

[@chexo3]

@@userx-inactive8 You should do that sooner rather than later. Every time you don't act is an opportunity for the content ID troll to transfer the distrokid account, or otherwise button up their security, or fuck with your email account with their access. Seriously, please hurry, right now they're being comically clueless but that could change at any moment without any warning.

[@ferricacid2564]

Sue this “BFDI Music” person, they are literally getting paid for Michael’s work and intellectual property. Also, I think you should involve the people from Distrokid you had communication with for showing negligence to do what’s correct, despite having solid proof.

[@LordmonkeyTRM]

And fund it how?

[@OntarioTrafficMan]

@@LordmonkeyTRM fund it with the revenue that anonymous guy stole plus damages

[@LordmonkeyTRM]

@@OntarioTrafficMan that's really not how it works.

[@GanerRL]

sue distrokid, they are the distributors, this random kid isn't the problem but rather part of the larger issue

[@Zveebo]

​@@GanerRL You can't really ignore the random kid - he's literally chosen to create this entire issue, claim a bunch of money that isn't his, and then appear proud of doing it. No need to be apologetic for taking action against him.

[@RupluttajaGames]

This is just screaming for a lawsuit. It is a clear cut case.

[@PotVon]

The problem is its costs A LOT of time and money

[@aarnijarvelainen8499]

@@PotVon that's why usa isn't democratic

[@jannikheidemann3805]

@@PotVon You get that money back if you win, which is verry likely in this case.

[@yoavco99]

@@jannikheidemann3805 as a big company they probably have good lawyers so it's not 100% that he will win

[@ezon02-j77]

Aarni Järveläinen WHAT??

[@AnimationObjectShow]

GUYS I THINK IT GOT RESOVLED! It shows that my videos got uncopyrighted, so I think that jacknjellify’s video are uncopyrighted to!!! This is so awesome, congratulations on making this happen!!

[@userx-inactive8]

yay!!! 👍

[@chromedoesstuff]

yay!!!

[@definetlynotoracle.]

Yaaaaaaayyyyyy

[@Jabrils]

This was fucking maddening to listen to

[@madkirk7431]

Yes or no? *hmmmmm**************

[@atchaaa]

hello jabrils

[@user-sw4tp2hk9n]

@DANIEL LAI ZEKE Moe HSKSJK WHAT ARE YOU 5?

[@user-sw4tp2hk9n]

@DANIEL LAI ZEKE Moe you did not just delete your comment lmao-

[@user-sw4tp2hk9n]

@DANIEL LAI ZEKE Moe makes sense

[@kitma9]

19:04 That's like your wife being kidnapped and put on a ransom, and the police saying: "you have direct access to the criminals? well talk to them then it's not our problem."

[@hielum1337]

he seems to be a edgy 11 year old

[@iDunnoMC]

"Yeah, the guy stole your money, so sort it out with him, even though he will probably never listen to you. Here is the identity he stole"

[@_chadrose]

This is hella accurate

[@z-beeblebrox]

ngl that's actually not very far off from the truth of how law enforcement works for many crimes...

[@Victorsandergamer]

the thing is, they can't be the police in this scenario, there doesn't seem to a public constitution that can act upon those crimes in the online copyright law world, DistroKid is like a clumsy weapon "seller", that gives out guns for everybody for free, and that kid is the criminal partnering with them, there is no justice.

[@almightyhydra]

Get a lawyer and sue.

[@captainretro373]

almightyhydra Sue and sue and sue

[@captainretro373]

BlackMagic Dirt actually yes, they have committed wrong, they claimed media that (they definitely know this) doesn’t belong to them

[@AndroCubed]

@•{MOMREDO 555}• *i mean you're not wrong*

[@intermcvn]

no

[@intermcvn]

your sue doesn't work

[@lusitaniagaming6117]

The name Distrokid is fitting cause their acting like a child

[@malikmalikmalikmalikma]

And it's totally *distro* ppointing

[@lusitaniagaming6117]

Denpa normie 😂😂

[@AngelShrimpChips]

I bet they aren't social *distro* sing haha not funny

[@noskillpureandy]

This situation is *distro* ssing.

[@robblequoffle8456]

The kid is 100% an edgy 5th grader

[@NoLatitudeMusic]

I'm a distrokid user. You can tell by the music note next to my name. Distrokid has turned into a hell hole. And the customer service is literally the worst in the world. The customer service never breaks their script, and they never "humanize" their answers. They do NOT care about you, they only care about the money. The only reason I am still a distrokid user is because as a musician, they're still the best distributor. But as people? They suck.

[@TheBulbasaurGuy]

music: exists distrokid: hippity hoppity, your songs are this random guy's property

[@jazzenycatten]

When Cary or Michael hires a Lawyer: A lawyer is going to end this random guy's career.

[@TheBulbasaurGuy]

@BFDI Music do you are have stupid

[@neesicourt]

@BFDI Music ok fake "bfdi music"

[@neesicourt]

@BFDI Music if he stole the music, then why michael uploaded the music 4 and 1 or 2 years ago?, thats a lie kiddo, thats a lie.

[@khachapuri]

BFDI Music even though he uploaded the music 4 years ago (which was way before _you_ did)?

[@eidane1]

this could potentially be show of bad intent on their part. put it int royalty free copyright, then they will not be able to do that attack. distrokid is liable for this. that means next mail now would have been court, and that they would loose that. they did smell that.

[@metatron5199]

Not potentially, it is a demonstration of a malicious actor!

[@j.b.4090]

Time to sue their asses i guess

[@davawen9938]

"If the music doesn't go in the next 72 hours, your ass is going to hurt for a while"

[@4Bakers]

The way Toby Fox dealt with this for the Undertale/Deltarune OSTs was by distributing it but specifically requesting his distributer to auto-accept copyright strike disputes.

[@theforgottenone32100]

The annoying thing is that these so called "moderation systems" claim to take action whenever someone does something bad on their platform, but 99% of the time that's false. And, what's even more annoying is that some people literally get framed for something they didn't do. Bots and people who are lazy in the moderation team are the main cause of this. I was pretty surprised to hear about all this being a BFDI fan, and it's pretty sad to see how some people may enjoy your content so much that they use it for bad purposes. Happy this got resolved.

[@Samdude12]

agreed

[@richetherapperinductionsol9155]

Next Cary video: I made an AI that helps me in my legal case

[@sabbyblue]

Seeing as he doesn't seem to mind other people using his music online, you could introduce Michael to the prospect of releasing his music under a royalty free license (such as Creative Commons 4.0 International)That way you can make it official.

[@Mnnvint]

You can make it official, but do you think that stops these guys? Oh, no! Recently a bunch of youtube-famous meme track ("sounds from the supermarket") were claimed by "Plus Crier". They do not remotely own the music. The music is owned by a British production music company called DeWolfe, and was written by the composer sir Karl Jenkins back in the 80s when he wasn't knightied by the queen and had to do production music for a living. But I guess DeWolfe isn't bribing DistroKid. Go to pretty much any streaming service besides spotify, and look up "Angry man". Google qobuz "angry man" for instance. You will find 300+ albums, all with the same cover art and title, but different (real, established) artists. "Angry man" by the Dubliners, "Angry man" by Marvin Gaye, "Angry man" by Mississippi John Hurt etc. Even major artists like Bob Dylan get these fake albums in their name. And that guy has done that EVERY WEEK since 2016 at least. Different record company names every two albums or so, but you can see it's the same guy running a script. He's uploaded hundreds of thousands of albums. On some small subscription services (like the French Divercities) 90%+ of new albums are by this one spammer. They just don't care (maybe they get a kickback?)

[@Zveebo]

CC doesn't in itself do anything other than tell people they can use the music - it doesn't do anything to stop a bad actor stealing the music and claiming ownership over it.

[@saigetripletone2673]

@@Zveebo But it provides an actual liscence under the owner's name that you can find, and a less arbitrary legal ground, so it is riskier to steal it, because there is more proof of actual ownership. I think that's probably why you would want a CC, but I'm no legal professional.

[@Zveebo]

@@saigetripletone2673 There are lots of good things about CC (makes it really easy for people to understand what they can and can't legally do with your work), but it doesn't make a difference to legal enforcement if somebody steals your work - it doesn't provide you with any additional powers or proof unfortunately.

[@saigetripletone2673]

@@Zveebo Thank you for clarifying that, I didn't know that.

[@Waffles_Syrup]

That person seems like an actual child wtf

[@JackDaBoi]

@@veryoriginalusername3402 honestly

[@csmandmusic408]

Yeah if I was behind it I would not admit to it

[@dolphin550]

It has been a while since I have seen this video and out of curiosity, I am curious if the music problem got fixed. I am hoping it is.

[@wrettist]

I havent seen alot of objection and I heard he moved into other envedaours.

[@gooseboi4819]

check description

[@k_fall_c8046]

it didn't. they are still out there. they are still nearby. they can copyright claim ANY of us. if there's anything i've learned about the internet, it's that we are not safe.

[@ctlaserdisc]

heyo! sadly, its not. i saw so & message the r/battlefordreamisland mod team about it a while back, and they cant do anything. if this continues i advise cary to look at his legal options

[@StefAppelhof]

You need to get a music copyright lawyer involved.

[@carykh]

After everything I've experienced so far, I definitely agree with you here. I'm just worried because lawyers can be expensive

[@egormatuk3786]

@@carykh I know that's a bit of a ridiculous idea but maybe crowdfunding part of the lawyer's cost is a solution?

[@oninoni]

@@carykh asking a lawyer can't hurt

[@orangepeninc]

@@carykh yes but I feel like it's the only way and I wasn't expecting the f word that caught me off guard

[@Rafael-yi5xj]

@@carykh make a lil campage

[@MalleeMate]

This is horrifying. I'm so sorry to hear you and Michael are going through this. I hope Distrokid picks up its act and the kid who did this loses access, but that might be unlikely. Good luck Carykh

[@rainbowkittycat627]

Quick disclaimer: While I am not a lawyer, both of my parents are, so I'd thought I give some thoughts on the matter. However, I am still NOT a lawyer, and this is NOT legal advice. For proper advice, you should contact your local attorney. you know they can get in legal trouble, right? I know lawsuits are expensive, but you can sue the artist and the distribution label. Have you tried contacting the company? Even if you can't reach out to the original people, if you contact anyone that hosts the music (i.e. youtube), you might be able to get things worked out, because they couod be liable too. (Although in youtubes case, you might need to wait for them to claim your original BFDI video to get youtube to step in, and either way, them claiming your video would be very strong evidence of harm) #notlegaladvice #pleasedontsueme Edit: Dude, if they claimed Michael's videos with the music, you have such good grounds for a suite! Just email distrokid again, be professional, but be mean. Show them that you are serious about taking legal action. Don't be nice, don't be curtious, be strong. Also, if they say they need more proof, say something like "This should be more than enough proof to satisfy the burden of proof required to prove ownership of the music. I have more evidence, but I will refrain from disclosing that information until a lawsuit has been filed and I have talked with my lawyer." That should scare them right up. Additionally, you could try to publish Michael's music under a license like the CCL, and because you have the proof that you are the owner it should be fine, then force the governments hand or distrokid to fire first. This could backfire, however, because distrokid could use it as evidence that you didn't originate the work because you asked for a license second, but it still is a possibility. Don't talk to them like a person, be mean. #Notalawyer #Notlegaladvice

[@puppypoet]

that is good

[@wigley7610]

@Jacknjellify Be Snowball

[@SmartToaster]

Fun fact: The background song in this was released with Distrokid! We've moved over to Symphonic Distribution since then. Anyway, just wanted to let you know I've been a fan of yours since highschool and everytime you use my music I'm always absolutely stoked. Seeing your work become a part of other art is just beautiful and even moreso when it's one of your childhood idols (I went on to study cog. sci in uni haha!)

[@wrettist]

Wow!

[@missleafeatheleafeon2593]

I do like the subtle joke of Total Drama ending at 2014, since that’s when it felt like the series died

[@yarde.n]

It actually did end then. After that there were only spinoffs.

[@Bluey]

wikipedia also says it ended in 2014

[@PerrcusionBox]

Dingus

[@BenMclean007]

I think the only thing that would get them to easily cooperate is a "Cease and Desist", which kinda sucks ass

[@rkan2]

I wanna see this story :P

[@jfbarnard3109]

A cease and desist would have likely helped. However, you should try sending a DMCA takedown first for copyrights since most platforms have systems in place to handle those quickly

[@BenMclean007]

@@ruakij6452 Costs a lot of money for something carykh & his bro did out of generosity

[@baronofclubs]

@@jfbarnard3109 @JF Barnard That's beyond this situation, though. You don't file a DMCA Takedown notice to someone claiming to own copyright on something they haven't published. Look at it this way: Micheal and Cary have no issue with others posting their work. Think of it as a license. If I purchase a license to use another person's work, they agree not to file Copyright Claims on my publishing of that work (this is an extremely over-simplified description.) What's going on here is a third party is claiming that work. A DMCA Takedown Notice is the wrong action here. A lawyer is best to discuss the correct plan of action, but from my understanding it will be something like this: Micheal should release his BFDI music under some sort of creative commons license. This will allow others to use and remix this music as they see fit, as he intended. Each person with a false claim should file disputes with KZbin saying they have a license. A Cease & Desist letter needs to be filed with DistroKid and the offending channel owner for falsely claiming the music. A DMCA is filed on the publishing of a work, not the false claim of a work.

[@laurinneff4304]

@@BenMclean007 yes, but since it's very unlikely that they'd lose a lawsuit they'd just have to put in the money and distrokid or the person who stole the music will have to pay in the end

[@pud]

DistroKid founder here. The infringer has already been banned and all content removed from ContentID (and elsewhere). Usually takes KZbin and the other services a few days for everything to completely disappear. ❤️ 🙏 I would also like to mention that DistroKid is the only distributor that checks every audio fingerprint in 3 public databases prior to distribution: AudibleMagic, AcoustId and our own DistroLock.

[@TomochiTheGreat]

Cary and michael have to see this!

[@ericyang9404]

@pud will you do anything about the money sent into objecttion3's wallet? Thanks discord btw

[@pud]

h. Thanks. Thumbs-up it I guess. DistroKid is awesome because it allows indie artists to get their music into the major streaming services without record labels. Inevitably there will be jerks who upload other people’s music, tho not very often. And we try to block it but it’s impossible for our software to know all music in the world and who owns it. That’s one of the reasons we made DistroLock (Google it for info) which is a free way for content owners to block other people from uploading it. Either way, we take infringement seriously and have a pretty effective way of banning bad guys who do it.

[@jde12]

What happens to the revenue from the false ContentID claims?

[@sirhellhound3074]

@@pud What happened to having a semi-professional support team? At least put more security in place so it doesn't happen again.

[@kickass1437]

It’s so frustrating learning about how broken music copyright law is.

[@zeroone171]

Boy am I angry! And I haven't even watched a single episode of BFDI!

[@alphagamma1289]

@@whathteNkkk now I don't wanna support that person though

[@potatogamer1877]

@@alphagamma1289 how would that support the stealer? Besides the money that is imported, that issue will be sorted out and it is still worth it to enjoy their work.

[@alphagamma1289]

@@potatogamer1877 nvm I mixed up bfb and bfdi. The latter uses royalty free music

[@Vlad-Ra]

Im angry too!!!!

[@joaomanozica9579]

ya should

[@wkuj]

welp, time to sue a company

[@saucemonster7137]

i dont think he should sue the company (even though this is their fault), as they are dealing with the issue now. he should sue the bfdi music guy, but the problem will still persist, which is kinds sad.

[@LieseFury]

@@saucemonster7137 the company is more responsible and more likely to actually pay any damages

[@jfbarnard3109]

Just send them DMCA. I've been making music for over 10 years, and that's the messed up state of things. What you described is not only happening with bad actors but mostly people registering your music accidentally. Content id is amazing for a final single work, but when you want to let people use the music, you better be ready to see how inappropriate all the systems are. Honestly, the real problem here is KZbin not giving access to content ID directly themselves on a per channel basis instead of relying on 3rd parties. Another solution would be to be able to register content only to prevent it from being added to content ID. I've yet to find anything to help the situation. Distrokid is just a cheap publishing robot in a world where everything is still somehow done manually. They are not the true problem however, just a side effect.

[@jfbarnard3109]

As someone who dealt with receiving claims on my own stuff by my own stuff from random people on a weekly/monthly basis for years I'll provide some more info on how to handle these situations. I first contact the distributor to tell them to remove or not the content and to remove the assets from content ID asap, usually this is enough. If this doesn't work, the ONLY thing you need to do next is a send a DMCA takedown to the platform. It's literally a system made for that sole purpose. If they don't handle DMCA, then the platform is liable and then you can take legal actions, but this never happen. A lawyer, as others wrongly suggested, will only be able to give you info in this case. If you want information for your company, then this is fine but don't hire one to solve one off situations like that. You can only sue for dammages when you don't officially register the work for copyrights which is basically nothing + the fact that, in this situation, people were allowed to reuse the music would void any case. Registering your work is still not that great because you have to enforce the copyright so there is still the same problem of letting other reuse the music. It's probably a good practice to register the music but if things really get out of hand, being able to sue for dammages is enough for me. All in all, there isn't much you can do, so, unless you somehow have a team of lawyers behind you, don't worry about it. Btw, if you are working on solutions for anything related, contact me

[@LaguAnakIslamiKita]

hello, I now have the same problem, someone stole our songs about 23 songs and copyrighted them using distrokid, is there a way for me to connect quickly with distrokid admind? I've submitted a ticket, it's been 3 days and no reply

[@legokirbymanchannel]

I just connected all the dots in my head and now everything makes sense: I first heard of DistroKid from CDawgVA's video (he got copyright-claimed for his outro music and also had to pass through a lot of "walls" but he didn't get the rights back), then I heard of TheFatRat's "The Calling" being claimed by someone (and the situation looked quite simular to yours), and then I watched this here video and confirmed "Audiam" and "Interstreet Recordings" are belong to DistroKid. As I know, there are many trolls and "fukwads" on the internet, and these distributors like DistroKid are just tools to them. The solution to such problem would be either properly copyrighting your music yourself or hiring a lawyer. Dang, there are so many problems that require a good lawyer to be solved... And I thought the government was corrupt... Those companies are even more corrupt. EDIT: I know that I basicaly said the same thing as the video, but for me, the solution would be either to get rid of all trolls and "fukwads" who could do such a thing (Impossible task), get rid of DistroKid (Hard to do and more could pop up) or protect yourself somehow (Not foolproof, but is probably the best solution).

[@Victorsandergamer]

all your music are belong to DistroKid

[@brycew5846]

I'll throw out a recommendation for Tom Scott's copyright video. The whole system is mind numbingly complicated and was meant originally for corporations handling disputes (not individuals). On a conceptual level, I think it would be lovely to have a system where people can easily use a wide range of materials in personal creative endeavors, and in a lot of cases they should be able to profit off of their work. Would love to see some change happen

[@yarde.n]

Yeah, I was also reminded of that. Copyright is broken and wrong in so many ways, and I think that in order to make it fair, we need to write a new copyright system from scratch. Nothing can fix the current one.

[@rougenaxela]

Tom's video is a good one yep. Unfortunately I fear there isn't much chance for change of that nature until we have a majority of politicians in office being people who grew up with the internet. Maybe will take a good 20 to 30 years unless there's a big shift in the age of people being voted into office.

[@oneup117gaming4]

Thanks for notifying us that Michael (YOYLECAKE) has not been claiming us. Honestly, it's a really dumb thing when you get claimed or copystriked for a music soundtrack that's free for everyone to use. (I know that this is a dumb comment, but hey, it still stands)

[@NolanAlighieri]

Glad to hear about the updates in the video and in the description. I do want to take time to mention that if you distribute your music through Distrokid, you are not required to register your music with the Content ID system and in fact you can opt out of that altogether - something I deliberately chose to do with my own music for similar reasons as you and your brother; people are welcome to use and remix my music however they want. I know this comment isn't wholly related to the video, but I wanted to mention it for yours or any one else's consideration.

[@SadToffee]

This is screwed, this really needs to stop happening.

[@Tlelkina]

Cary! KZbin is going to get rid of a "community captions" feature. Can you talk about it on your channel, please? Many of your projects have a community-driven nature, and you are a KZbinr. Please. It's an important subject, I would like to hear about it from you.

[@moonyeclipsey]

What!? Can you tell me why?

[@Tlelkina]

@@moonyeclipsey "Both creators and viewers have reported problems with the community contributions feature, including spam, abuse, and low quality submissions. As a result, the feature is rarely used with less than 0.001% of channels having published community captions (showing on less than 0.2% of watch time) in the last month. " Allegedly, it is rarely used; although 0,001% of CHANNELS and not CREATORS is not that rare, and also that is an accessibility feature - throw it off just because "it is rarely used" is like an insult.

[@moonyeclipsey]

Tlelkina thanks! Their reason for removing this is just like their reason for removing the community polls, sure, not many people use them, but it’s extremely useful for some people. For example, I saw a comment the other day thanking the community for adding captions because they were deaf and used the captions a lot. Also, some youtubers are not english, but they still have a big english audience because they have people who would translate the videos and add english subtitles. I just wish they won’t remove the captions.

[@Tlelkina]

​@@moonyeclipsey Yeah. I'm Russian and community captions are often the thing that makes it possible to share some videos with my friends, who do not understand English so well. Translations of auto-generated subtitles really suck, they cannot be compared to community captions. So there's that too. And there are some channels that rely heavily on community captions, like Nino's home. And I just don't like the idea that youtube can throw away accessibility feature because it's "unpopular". I signed a petition, but... *insert picture with water gun pointing at the sun*

[@_chadrose]

@@Tlelkina Removing it because "it's rarely used" ? My god. That's like removing a ramp for wheelchairs just because only some people used it . - .) Now it's gonna be harder to enjoy Japanese music.

[@nochan99]

_The solution is simple: Revemation has regained access to the email that was used to create the distrokid account. They can thus reset the password and go into distrokid account and delete the claim.

[@userx-inactive8]

The distrokid email got reset on my compromised email after 5 minutes i've accessed my compromised email

[@xFliox]

@@userx-inactive8 damn

[@beehee7438]

I thought objectshow.fanarts was just an art thief, I didn't know he was the one behind this.

[@BlackholeYT11]

I hate to say lawyers, but, maybe lawyers, Cary?

[@kendsplaining]

when you make music without the intention of gaining money from it but somebody else uses it to gain money instead

[@FriskyD.]

Capitalism?

[@kendsplaining]

@@FriskyD. yes. capitalism.

[@CyanPlushCaptain]

*capitlizm*

[@philyk.illagan3161]

This situation evokes so many negative emotions at once. For one, it's downright terrifying for someone who hasn't started sharing music but wants to.

[@ObjectShowYTP]

Will Michael still upload music to YOYLECAKE Michael? Even with the distrokid problem?

[@AColaAnimator]

You know I was thinking the same thing

[@DannySullivanMusic]

If they did this to a UMG artist they would be tied up in a trunk right now

[@metatron5199]

Your being far to nice and generous in your explanation, this was malicious and should be taken as such, hence you need to threaten with legal action and will be coming for much more than just the revenue generated by the content (anything connected to the music) ie you are now coming for damages to you and your brother ie the fact your characters have been defaced/defamed within these communities and have suffered irreparable damages (which technically you have, as none of this can be taken back since all of this has now taken place publicly, yes you may not easily be quantifiable, but this is partially to your advantage as you can now make claims to much greater detriment to your characters as I have already stated aka legally threaten that your coming for 10x or however many X you believe this has adversely affected you, obviously the more you can show possible negative monetary effects on you and your brother from being defamed the higher the X, so let’s just say make a simple calculation that this has effected views/subs and all of the potential monetary gains you would have been able to make from these views/subs that could have been made but were not due to the defamations... I hope this gets cleared up and righted, for you guys are a true blessing to the internet community at large!!! Keep up the great work, cheers Edit: to make clear you need to threat both parties with legal action ie distro kid and this malicious actor stealing your bro’s work, I have a brother with which I am very close with too and would do anything for, which looks like you are in a similar situation, so go to bat for him and threaten legal action ie cease and desist order!!! Edit2: contact legal eagle on YT and see if he would be interested in helping/crossover vid showing the process, might as well make some $$ off of the whole fact you’ve been defamed...

[@ApricotStone]

I just want to say how much I appreciate you and Michael for everything you’ve done for the community. I mean, the two of you have inspired maybe hundreds of mostly kids to make their own shows! And you guys have so many things out there to help us. It’s just so infuriating that someone would take advantage of you two and your kindness. I hope everything gets resolved cleanly

[@icethechampion]

Happy to help, Cary. What this person is doing is awful and I really hope this situation gets resolved. also i finally have my place in a carykh video yes!!!

[@kitma9]

i bet you objecttion3 isn't even old enough to have discord

[@dat1pengu1n]

probably

[@NattyNattaNattakit]

There is a way where you can report someone for being underage to use discord. support.discord.com/hc/en-us/requests/new Trust & Safety -> Child Safety -> User is Under 13 and boi they do response tho. (Requires message link.) so lets go boi

[@iDunnoMC]

@@NattyNattaNattakit i mean we dont have any proof that they're under 13 right? unless they were dumb enough to admit to being underage for discord

[@whythehecknot5038]

@@iDunnoMC i think they are THAT dumb. this persons seems way too confident in himself

[@gg72yt]

How my friend is 10 and he uses discord he has no problem with that im more older

[@aaronzacharyreed6163]

As an amateur composer, I feel your pain, Michael.

[@zerozero1337]

I can confirm that it is really easy to get anything uploaded to distrokid. A few weeks ago I uploaded random sounds and within a few days it was on spotify, youtube, etc.

[@Protronica]

Someone named “Bfdi music” is stealing animated content, showing bfb nsfw content to minors, etc...

[@geshusbakagen]

Ah yes, my favorite creator Cary kiwi house

[@SodaSizzle]

the best creator is Cary kills haters

[@SadToffee]

Crabidad you mean Cary ketchup horseradish

[@Spongentic]

*_C A R Y K N O W S H E L L_*

[@geshusbakagen]

Nono he meant cary korean hand

[@SodaSizzle]

No you mean Cary Kicks horses

[@hunzhurte]

0:40 omg I thought you were gonna reveal that you're secretly *Andrew* Huang's brother.

[@DiscoLucas]

same, for a second i was like "hmmmmmmm, wait a minute, Huang?". But hey, it might just be a common name.

[@carrotisalie]

@@DiscoLucas yup it's a really common name

[@Fupicat]

Thinking BFDI Music is doing this because they think they're X is... a bit ridiculous. To me they just look like an obsessed fan, they want your attention so badly because that will make them more popular in their circle of friends. They found this DistroKid exploit to try to ruin your reputation so you'd notice them, they were purposefully open about being behind the account because they wanted you to find them, they were a piece of shit in the DMs with full knowledge they would be screenshot because he wanted people to be outraged, they wanted you to see his Sonic porn to laugh about in their Discord server with friends about how savage he is. They probably have a friend Discord server where none of their friends are BFDI fans and they manipulate BFDI Music to do stupid stuff to laugh about. The existence of this video was their goal, I don't doubt that as soon as you threaten a lawsuit they'll drop everything and brag about having epicly trolled Cary so hard. They're probably going through comments on this video, screenshotting some of the most outraged ones and sharing on their Discord like they've owned us all. After all that, please always choose and defend a license for your songs' usage.

[@smoothiefries]

I think all the BFDI fans should start eMailing DistroKid at once to heighten the chance of them noticing it.

[@user-wr2uy9pj4m]

The fact that people like this exist is infuriating

[@legokirbymanchannel]

Have you heard of G.I.F.T.? It stands for Greater Internet Fukwad Theory, coined by Penny Arcade. It's a theory that tries to explain where trolls come from. Here's TVTropes article on that tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GIFT

[@sss_says_snek]

another type of person similar to this is the people who dislike a Bob Ross video

[@legokirbymanchannel]

@@sss_says_snek Nooo! Not Bob Ross' video!

[@MudakTheMultiplier]

Have you tried talking to a copyright lawyer?

[@javenlim1703]

That's a great idea!

[@morble4891]

Someone already said that with more likes. Did you get your comment stolen by another user? Shameful. (Also this is a joke)

[@sciblastofficial9833]

Well bois, we did it. According to the Discord server, I think THIEF has been removed.

[@coolgoon8220]

Never in my life would i have thought i would hear the sentence "Cary saw sonic porn"

[@userx-inactive8]

well now you have 😟

[@slowcake1950]

@@userx-inactive8 hey its you!

[@goopyhead]

i didnt think i would hear cary say porn lmao

[@maplemoths.]

@@goopyhead twow

[@goopyhead]

@@maplemoths. and his generating bfdi images video

[@001thefish]

wtf this objecttion person seems genuinely evil. It's gross that DistroKid gives so much power to the users that someone like this can just waltz in and use their service to steal from others...

[@DoomRater]

By hte way, everyone here saying "get a lawyer involved"? We should lowkey mention this to Leonard French. I know he covers a wide variety of cases and while there's no case made here YET, he is a copyright attorney for the state of Pennsylvania!

[@Michael-kp4bd]

We've put it in his discord and it's been tweeted to him, but yes I REALLY want to make sure this gets in front of him

[@toddimations6028]

Cary saying this stuff so casually is funny. He’s an adult he gets to say it but chooses not to most of the time. Respect on his name for as long as it can last.

[@kagevista3375]

I know this is off topic but when cary said the f-bomb at 10:41 i got excited-

[@johan_r59]

Six words: I'm currently reviewing my legal options.

[@mistaecco]

Tom Scott made an excellent video about KZbin's copyright system recently - its definitely worth a watch for anyone who's enraged by this. It's a bad situation, but it's complicated.

[@EmirGD8]

link?

[@mistaecco]

@@EmirGD8 Just search "Tom scott copyright", it's the one that's 45-ish minutes long

[@EmirGD8]

@@mistaecco kk

[@LoraCoggins]

This video deserves to be shared so much!!!!! You and Michael deserves to get your money's worth! I hope the situation has gotten better since this video was uploaded. DistroKid's customer service sounds horrible, and I don't want to be a part of a service that makes you feel like a burden.

[@basicallymax2156]

distrokid: hi ima don’t know what to do Cary: *uploads video about distrokid* distrokid: okay ima head out

[@zxcvbnmproductions5022]

We need a lawsuit right now.

[@emmanueltidor1996]

I'm a new fan

[@merciidanii4145]

PROFILEY

[@saltcaz3995]

I deleted my distrokid account like 2 days ago because it was just a pain to use :/

[@contambrah]

is that the only reason?

[@blackjackson11]

i think so

[@userx-inactive8]

deleted my distrokid too because of the poor ui and customer service, I switched to landr music and then switched to amuse.io.

[@RozWBrazel]

@@userx-inactive8 hello you So is amuse the best to work with, out of all of them?

[@userx-inactive8]

@@RozWBrazel amuse is the best to work with.

[@avenzamusic]

Feel famous for being used as an example here

[@zushistyold]

12:30 This bit makes part of the situation really easy to understand!

[@Bluey]

3:39 i hope he doesn't get his computer stolen

[@flunkytown]

this makes me scream internally- this dip walked in, stole music AND HAD THE BALLS TO CLAIM CONTENT OF THE FREAKING CREATOR

[@ObjectShowStudio]

Cary still smiles to us even at these times

[@UBIRUNGIA]

Same happened with me. What should I do now😢

[@dapper-alcremie460]

Anyone here after Cary privatized that vid

[@Malkovith2]

I wish I was as hardworking as you and your brother

[@KarlisLibietis]

Man, the respect I have for your cool and collected insights on this whole situation is just out of control. If I were in your or your brother's shoes, I would have threatened to sue and cease and desist the ass out of distrokid. Not only did you not resort to such tactics but you also kept a level head when contacting all parties. I wish there were more people on KZbin like you!

[@dani.munoz.a23]

“KZbin’s copyright system isn’t broken. The world’s is.” - Tom Scott

[@DanskeCrimeRiderTV]

Insider here: Soundcloud is sadly not proof of identity, sadly, since soundcloud allows replacing audio files, making it easy to fake. Instead register your music with services like DistroLock.

[@channelname4238]

Please let Huang v. DistroKid become a real court case.

[@Arufi000]

i love how most of youtube edit censors in this video also replace the censored audio part into random music/sound effect

[@anotherdelta]

Hi Cary! It’s me again. Remember the guy who you pinned on your video about the bfb comments problem? I have a suggestion. You need to talk to a higher power: a power higher than DistroKid: you need to talk to KZbin itself. Ask if they could do anything to suspend the ContentID accounts for Audiam and Streetsmart and all of Distro’s services. I know Distro didn’t actually falsely claim any music, but they allowed BFDI music do it through their system, without imposing some sort of verification check, and even going so far to satisfy their clients as to make the whole process of appeal harder for any people who deny ‘BFDI Muisc’s ownership’. It just reminds me of Hoover. And everyone else, don’t use DistroKid, there customer service is so twisted that it might as well be a criminal. If BFDI music is the robber, then DistroKid is the runaway car driver.

[@qu765]

Just wanna say: Your scale of the universe 2 got mentioned in the latest Kurzgesagt (1.29M subs) video!

[@Sakmess45]

BFDI MUSIC IS THERE AGAIN WITH A NEW PICTURE

[@aydenthekirb1630]

Is it the one whith the Happy tree friends looking profile picture

[@NotASpyReally]

How do you keep your cool like this? I'm not even the one with the problem and I'm FURIOUS You and your brother are amazing

[@mrrooster8537]

I really hope this problem can be resolved because it sounds like a nightmare to try clean up

[@52.yusrilihsanadinatanegar79]

9:29 (insert Sanctuary Guardian music here) edit: *_NO ONE EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION_*

[@geshusbakagen]

You got me

[@redberry6395]

That's insane! It's so distro-pian

[@smoothiefries]

This is so underrated

[@youdonotcare]

@@smoothiefries Underrate-kid

[@HDSQ]

I experienced this myself, but was able to get it swiftly resolved by threatening legal action (which I could not afford to follow through with) through an email to the company. I'm glad it worked.

[@MadoctheHadoc]

When you started talking about his email being compromised, possibly because of having a weak password, I was soooooo expecting a DashLane sponsorship

[@userx-inactive8]

nononononononononononononononononononono no no