Freesound Forums

Hello freesound users, I'm here to today to inform you of a potential problem to you.

Some of you may already know of the existence of this youtube channel SoundEffectsFactory
:https://www.youtube.com/user/SoundEffectsFactory/about

At first glance, it's a channel that provides sound effects and loops. A quick read of the about page and you know that he's "sharing" content that he either has permission to use or is under CC laws and is allowed to be used commercially. The problem starts when the owner of this channel decides that his ad revenue is more important than your credit being given. INFACT he does not want to credit you in the first place; he will do as little as possible just enough in order to "protect his channel and videos". Under multiple videos you will also notice he hasn't even credited an artist in any way. He will leave the attribution section blank claiming "he doesn't know who the artist is. But you can be damn sure he gets it from this website and possibly from you.

THE SECOND LARGEST ISSUE ABOUT THIS PERSON:
You as an artist are so under credited on this channel that the viewers believe that the uploader is the creator of the piece and ask HIS permission to use the loop/effect. That is one big fucking problem. He never says the tracks are not his and indirectly takes credit for the pieces and when asked "Hey can i use your track in my video?" He responds with "of course!".

Unfortunately for him, he picked of of my tracks to upload (Expressions of the mind) and I was lucky enough to have freesound user "Timbre" to catch him doing so. I was initially taken back by how underhanded this person was in taking my content, misleading the people who view his "uploads" into thinking it's his, and turning a profit for it. But at the time I didn't know exactly who this was and if he was doing so purposefully. When I found out I flagged the video and had it removed within a day.

WHAT YOU SHOULD DO:

Check his channel, see if he's using your stuff. The titles of the videos are not the titles of the original tracks so you'l have to listen to them. If you hear something that is your creation or someones else's, let that person know (as long as it isn't creative commons 0 licesned) and have whatever the track was removed by submitting a copyright claim. You can do so on the video by clicking report and selecting "infringes my rights".

Why are you allowed to lawfully your content from this guy?

This person has a major flaw and it's that he doesn't properly follow the license terms which under CC attribution state he must provide the name of the original track, provide the artists name, A link to the source material (EX: a direct link to where it was posted, not just a general link to your profile or any other unrelated profile) and a link the the license terms.

He never states the artist's name or track name or a direct link to the source. By him doing so, it gives you full authority to have it removed an I encourage you to do so.

Honestly I'd like to see his channel removed for good so if you want to report his channel for just anything I also encourage that.

Fuck that dude
-Shady Dave

ShadyDave wrote: Check his channel, see if he's using your stuff.

Unfortunately Kyle gets paid when people view his monetized YouTubes : only a few dollars per thousand views, but all adds up ...
23,550,202 views on SoundEffectsFactory ... https://www.youtube.com/user/SoundEffectsFactory/about 1,920,956 views on SoundEffectsArchive ... https://www.youtube.com/user/SoundEffectsArchive/about

Only the copyright holder (or their legal agent) can make copyright infringement complaint to YouTube, however anyone can "flag" Kyle's YouTube videos as a scam , you can see a YouTube video of how to do that here ... https://youtu.be/8x8BxUFYfxA?t=2m25s

Tip: If you are going to flag, select one of his more recent uploads, [ https://www.youtube.com/user/SoundEffectsFactory/videos ] , as the ratio of the number-of-views Vs number-of-flags will be more likely to trigger a review of his channel by YouTube.

Oh god, not this again.

Despite alleviating the frustration caused by this fiasco years ago, I'm glad you resurrected this age-old discussion, because a problem will not simply go away if you forget about it. And this is a big problem unfortunately, still.

If anyone else who's not familiar with this debacle, here is the main thread on the topic a few years ago:

http://www.freesound.org/forum/legal-help-and-attribution-questions/33381/?page=1#post

Obviously SEF was removed from the site after disrespecting the whole community, but all else is still intact.

I think what annoys me most about this is that while he could run this "scheme" in full compliance with the CC by 3.0, he really points no credit towards Freesound or its users on his YouTube channel. His so-called attribution is buried at the bottom of the description (you have to click show more to even see it), and obviously he distorts the titles of works making it painstakingly difficult to track down the content.

Beyond this, and I mean beyond the legal realm, I find it highly unscrupulous to blatantly copy off Freesound solely for the purpose of profit. Again, while he could run his channel in compliance with the CC, I find it most annoying that he is running a channel that effectively steals freesound's thunder and has trodden underfoot everything that we stand for about sound freedom. I only wish that we did have some path of legal recourse against this whole scheme, beyond individual copyright claims.

I agree 100%

Short of utilizing another license (the CC really is a good license), I am wondering if there might be a way to 'add' some kind of clause to the license terms by stating in on profile or in a sound description that it may not be used in sound packs, collections, or libraries of any kind...

CGEffex wrote:
Short of utilizing another license (the CC really is a good license), I am wondering if there might be a way to 'add' some kind of clause to the license terms by stating in on profile or in a sound description that it may not be used in sound packs, collections, or libraries of any kind...

We don't have the privilege of setting terms like that with Creative Commons licenses unfortunately. Obviously you are allowed to state this, but it has no legal bearing what so ever. Only the terms described in the CC license terms of use dictate the allowances and restrictions.

In order to restrict the destination you would need to have copyrights independent of Creative Commons, and when you decide to upload to Freesound.org, you forfeit this type of control over your copyrights.

There are pros and cons to CC licenses.

CGEffex wrote:
... 'add' some kind of clause to the license terms by stating in on profile or in a sound description that it may not be used in sound packs, collections, or libraries of any kind...

No matter what license is used, Kyle's response will be "sue me" when he reproduces the sound without complying with the terms of it's license, knowing that it would not be worthwhile for one person to sue.
In such situations "class action" can be a means of obtaining justice.

I do not think Freesound or any of its users really want to pay for legal action, which will likely be long and costly.
I wonder if there is enough will amongst Freesounders to simply create youtube accounts and bombard his channel with comments denouncing him as a copyright thief and providing direct links to freesound?...

And, to continue to denounce copyright infringements to youtube.
His channel has been suspended several times due to copyright. Youtube is obviously not too concerned about copyright: there are tons of commercial music and movies at Youtube. If the big guys can't stop it...
But a little war of attriction with Kyle would certainly cause him some lost revenue and white hairs.

Such comments get promptly removed.

Little update: He Decided to go the counter notification route after I submitted a copyright claim on his video he uploaded of mine. I'm currently applying for youtubes content id system, and once that goes through (I don't see why it wont) I can stop him from using my work.

If my knowledge of the content ID system is correct, he can dispute a content id claim by me, but I won't need to take legal action against him as a final response, I can just remove the content and place a strike on his account or just monetize the video for myself.

Aside from that I'll be making a post to imgur letting people know about this guy and hopefully enough of them will bombard him (If the post gains some popularity) to make some impact.

ShadyDave wrote:
... I'm currently applying for youtubes content id system, and once that goes through (I don't see why it wont) I can stop him from using my work ...

Does YouTube's "Content ID" system mean the roles are reversed ? : that disputed content cannot be used on YouTube unless the matter has been settled by a court ? , ( i.e. Kyle would have to initiate legal action to use disputed content ).

https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2797454

Oh, little mischief Kyle, no again.

If I see that someone is stealing my song or video I will sue him or her. I will hire a lawyer from here http://solicitors.guru/ and will get the compensation. It's unpleasant to see how someone is stealing smth that you created.