DistroKid has been quietly taking down songs in response to UMG lawsuit

DistroKid has been quietly taking down songs in response to UMG lawsuit. Artists are frustrated with the lack of transparency around DistroKid removing their songs.

DistroKid 一直在悄悄下架歌曲，以应对环球音乐集团（UMG）的诉讼。艺术家们对 DistroKid 在移除其歌曲时缺乏透明度感到沮丧。

Artists are taking to social media to complain that DistroKid has unceremoniously removed their work without notice. Now DistroKid has confirmed to The Verge that the takedowns are a direct response to claims made by UMG. The label filed a lawsuit in September claiming that DistroKid has created an “AI-slop pipeline.” Artists are saying that their non-AI works are being caught up in the purge, however.

艺术家们纷纷在社交媒体上抱怨，DistroKid 在没有通知的情况下就粗暴地删除了他们的作品。目前，DistroKid 已向《The Verge》证实，这些下架行为是针对 UMG 所提指控的直接回应。该唱片公司在 9 月提起诉讼，声称 DistroKid 建立了一条“AI 垃圾内容流水线”。然而，艺术家们表示，他们非 AI 创作的作品也受到了此次清理的影响。

Musician and self-described “Video Game boy” McGwire reported that six of his songs had been removed from streaming. As has been the case with others, McGwire says that there was no communication from DistroKid before or after the removals, and that he had to contact the company for an explanation.

音乐人兼自称“电子游戏男孩”的 McGwire 报告称，他的六首歌曲已从流媒体平台下架。和其他人一样，McGwire 表示 DistroKid 在删除前后没有任何沟通，他不得不主动联系该公司寻求解释。

DistroKid also makes it exceedingly difficult to contact them. McGwire first had to have a “lengthy circular conversation” with a bot before getting hold of a live agent. One of the songs removed was a cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely,” which he claims to have had a proper license for. Another track used a beat he purchased through a marketplace, which others had also licensed.

DistroKid 还让联系他们变得极其困难。McGwire 必须先与机器人进行“冗长的循环对话”，才能联系到人工客服。被删除的歌曲之一是史蒂夫·汪达（Stevie Wonder）的《Isn’t She Lovely》翻唱版，他声称自己拥有合法的授权。另一首曲目使用的节拍是他通过市场购买的，其他人也曾获得过该节拍的授权。

Most infuriating for McGwire was a song removed for an uncleared sample. The song he allegedly sampled was released two years after his track.

最让 McGwire 愤怒的是，有一首歌因“未经许可的采样”而被删除，而他被指控采样的那首歌，发布时间竟然比他自己的作品晚了两年。

Music producer and marketing pro Jesse Cannon told The Verge that, “DistroKid gave up on customer service about two years ago.” He was sympathetic to artists’ plight, but seemed unsurprised by the company’s indifference. “They should have allowed artists to have recourse in this and a warning to debate,” he said, “but I’ve been told by former employees they see customer service as a waste of profits since they have such a high market share and remain ubiquitous.”

音乐制作人兼营销专家 Jesse Cannon 对《The Verge》表示：“DistroKid 大约在两年前就放弃了客户服务。”他同情艺术家的困境，但对该公司的冷漠并不感到惊讶。他说：“他们本应允许艺术家对此进行申诉并提供辩论预警，但我从前员工那里得知，由于他们拥有极高的市场份额且无处不在，他们将客户服务视为利润的浪费。”

Much of the frustration from artists stems from the lack of communication and recourse. Nerdcore rapper Insane Ian posted that he “had an original song taken down with no warning, and they wouldn’t tell me why either.” Rapper King Chase also struggled to get through to a person at DistroKid. He told The Verge that an entire album for an artist he had been working with was removed with no communication or explanation. “The album had been up for 3-4 years without incident,” he said, and that there had been “no copyright strikes or anything either.”

艺术家们的大部分挫败感源于缺乏沟通和申诉渠道。Nerdcore 说唱歌手 Insane Ian 发帖称，他“有一首原创歌曲在没有任何警告的情况下被下架，他们也不告诉我原因”。说唱歌手 King Chase 也难以联系到 DistroKid 的工作人员。他告诉《The Verge》，他合作的一位艺术家的整张专辑在没有任何沟通或解释的情况下被删除。他说：“这张专辑已经上线 3 到 4 年了，一直没出过问题，也没有收到过任何版权投诉。”

Amanda Ferri, DistroKid’s VP of Artist Services, told The Verge that “A very small number of recordings distributed through DistroKid have been removed in response to claims made by UMG. We strongly dispute the allegations underlying UMG’s lawsuit and regret the disruption to affected artists. We are working to minimize that disruption while protecting artists’ ability to release their music.”

DistroKid 艺术家服务副总裁 Amanda Ferri 向《The Verge》表示：“为了应对 UMG 提出的索赔，通过 DistroKid 发行的一小部分录音已被移除。我们强烈反驳 UMG 诉讼背后的指控，并对受影响的艺术家所遭受的干扰表示遗憾。我们正在努力将这种干扰降至最低，同时保护艺术家发布音乐的能力。”