// THE VERGE — INTELLIGENZA ARTIFICIALE
DistroKid has been quietly taking down songs in response to UMG lawsuit
Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Artists are frustrated with the lack of transparency around DistroKid removing their songs.
Artists are frustrated with the lack of transparency around DistroKid removing their songs.
Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
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.
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.
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.