Freesound Forums

I have recently found all 3 of my sound files - minimally altered and uncredited - for sale on Bigfataudio.com. I am having them removed from the 3rd party seller.

They are obviously registered at this site, as this is where they got the sounds. I want to put the word out to all who contribute and use this site honestly that you're work is more than likely being marketed and sold as someone else's, and no credit is being given. There are clear violations of the CC agreement happening here. I recommend checking their libraries for your UNCREDITED sounds for sale.

This is directed at the person(s) responsible... you are lazy and dishonest. There are people like me who make a REAL living in sound and actually take the time to produce ORIGINAL content. When we use someone else's work, we give them credit. When we decide to share our work, we expect the same respect back. What do you do? You lazily download a bunch of everybody's work, and turn around and try to sell it as your own originally produced material. You are a hack and nothing more.

Thanks for the heads up.

I will make sure to spread the word around my network that these guys are hacks as well.

I think everyone should spread the word about these guys, even if they removed the sounds. It is actions and attitudes like that, that prevent people from wanting to release stuff on freesound and similar sites, in similar ways.

Out of curiosity, how did you manage to find out? What prompted you to check out their site?

PS- take screen shots of of your stuff on their site, in case legal action is ever needed.

I got an e-mail from a fellow Freesound member (The_Entity) that tipped me off to it... Thanks, BTW.

The perp's name is Leigh Haggerwood. He's got some legal questions to answer...

Hi guys,

I think you need to calm down and look at this from both sides. I have apologized to Wayne for using some of his recordings without attributing him, and I am in the process of removing any recording that contains an element from Freesound - although there are no others at bigfataudio.com.

I agree that basically selling a sound as it was found here, is wrong, and apart from a scream that slipped through the net in a collection I had, I did edit the singing girl voices and mix them with other sounds. The only mistake I made was not attributing it to studiorat, and this is the biggest grey area of Freesound. If I made a ringtone that contained 20 sounds from Freesound, how would I attribute each person when it appears as a new creation at a cell phone store? Digital products don't allow liner notes and titles are generally limited to the amount of text you can include. I have no problem with crediting people where possible and I have always tried to do this.

When you upload sounds to this site for free, you are granting public access and encouraging people to use your sounds. Many of them have been downloaded tens of thousands of times and I am sure that they are being used in commercial projects, without attribution, all over the planet. Perhaps this is something that Freesound needs to address? Possibly creating a way for sound designers and professional users to make accurate attributions by directing users to a central database where all usage details can be held. I will talk to the people that run this website and see if I can help with that. The way things are now, this website could end up as nothing more than a place to show off your recordings, and that doesn’t seem to be the point of creative commons.

As I say, I am in the process of putting things right, so please do not attack my name or website here or anywhere else on the internet. I am a sound designer and musician myself, and I do respect other peoples work.

Thank you

Leigh
Big Fat Audio

what part of

This means that if you use the files you need to attribute the creator of the file (i.e. say who made it).

do you not understand from this page

it's all very well to bluster

If I made a ringtone that contained 20 sounds from Freesound, how would I attribute each person when it appears as a new creation at a cell phone store? Digital products don't allow liner notes and titles are generally limited to the amount of text you can include. I have no problem with crediting people where possible and I have always tried to do this.

but if you can't work out how to do it then either ask the contributors themselves, all 20 of 'em, or else just don't do it.

Big Fat Audio........

creating a way for sound designers and professional users to make accurate attributions by directing users to a central database where all usage details can be held

ask the contributors themselves, all 20 of 'em, or else just don't do it.

On your site you make it clear you know licenses, with your own, very ironic, license statement. So playing the "ignorant" card seems far fetched.

Dont forget to take his sounds off from this site and section as well.

http://www.halloween-horror-sounds.com/Halloween-Music.html

The demo titles "halloween chopped up," if anyone is curious contains studiorat's sounds.

To say that a sound file accidentally "slipped through" in your compilation is ludicrous. I've been a professional audio engineer / editor for the last 25 years, and I know precisely what goes into making a compilation - especially in the realm of digital audio editing. To try and call that accidental is basically assuming that I'm a moron that doesn't know how these things are assembled.

In Pro Tools - you need to import the file (possibly even convert it to the proper sample/bit rate of the session), you need to drag the file from the region list into the session, place it where you want it, set levels, add fades, edit out extraneous sections, etc... This is a deliberate, and sometimes time consuming, process. There is no accident here. There is only premeditated decision making.

In a letter you wrote to me, you said something to the effect of "that's the realm of digital audio" in the context of people using free sounds unattributed to the creators. Your "shrugging it off" is an example of the "what are you going to do about it" attitude that is poisoning this field. It may be true that this particular file is being used improperly or sailing around the net on torrent sites. Yes, that is an ugly reality. But I'm not about to say "oh, well" and watch people break copyright agreements in front of me. To try and dismiss it is a slap in the face to the entire industry.

I really don't care that you made a buck or two - what bothered me the most is that you say quite plainly on your site that YOU record the sound effects and edit them in your studio, when in the case of my files, you did nothing of the sort and failed to give any attribution - not even on your website (which you have total control over).

I suggest that you rethink your business model if you truly want to succeed in this business. Piracy is not a good way to start, and will not lend any credibility to your name. Simple respect of simple concepts concerning attribution goes a long way.

Big Fat Audio
If I made a ringtone that contained 20 sounds from Freesound, how would I attribute each person when it appears as a new creation at a cell phone store? Digital products don't allow liner notes and titles are generally limited to the amount of text you can include. I have no problem with crediting people where possible and I have always tried to do this.

Why don't you add a page to your own website to give credit? You've got all of the info about who's files you've used from Freesound (under the "Attribution List" link on the left of the page). You seem to have time to post your "original content" in various web stores like Amazon & iTunes... I'm sure you know how to cut and paste.

Big Fat Audio
If I made a ringtone that contained 20 sounds from Freesound, how would I attribute each person when it appears as a new creation at a cell phone store? Digital products don't allow liner notes and titles are generally limited to the amount of text you can include.

nemoDaedalus

It's simple. The CC license isn't Holy. It exists to give people a quick way of creating new works without having to negotiate licensing, if at all possible. But there are indeed cases in which the license cannot be followed. In such cases you can still contact the sounds creator and ask for permission and do the whole negotiating thing. If you can't get in touch with the creator or they won't give you permission, you just can't use that sound. You'll have to look for an alternative then, or record something similar yourself.
So, follow the license as much as you can, if you need to go beyond the boundaries of the license, ask permission. Can't get permission? Don't use the sound.

the best explanation ever, +2 for you

D