A week ago, DJ media seemed ready to celebrate based on one interview. SoundCloud’s founder went on record and promised that all DJ mixes were safe on the platform, and that takedowns would cease. But Soundcloud’s official blog has finally responded with a bit of backpedaling.
DJ Mixes Safe on Soundcloud – Too Strong a Promise?
Soundcloud’s latest blog post makes it clear that the platform isn’t taking a stand against hyper-aggressive copyright laws. Instead, they’re just trying to allow DJ mixes while also allowing “creators” to issue takedown notifications:
“Today, through a number of agreements with labels, publishers and other partners, there are far fewer takedowns of various forms of content – including DJ sets – shared on SoundCloud. It’s clear from our conversations and agreements with the industry and creative community as a whole, that enabling a place for all forms of creativity to live is important, and that SoundCloud can be that place.
With that, it’s important to note takedowns are at the request of creators. While the agreements we have in place across the industry have greatly lessened the likelihood of takedowns, as a creator driven platform, we respect all creators, and therefore we respect the rights of all creators who request to have their content removed.”
SoundCloud, if you’re reading this, there are a few questions that DJs still deserve the answers to (we’ve emailed questions to your press email multiple times and no response):
- What will happen to old DJ mixes that were taken down at the request of distributors (not independent creators or labels)? Can DJs reupload without fear of getting strikes on their account?
- What specifically has changed in Soundcloud’s content policy that now allows DJ mixes to be uploaded?
- What are the specifics of the “agreements we have set in place across the industry” you mention in your blog post? Don’t users, who are subject to those agreements, deserve to know?
- Are DJs not also “creators”? Curation is also an art, so don’t mixes deserve equal protection?
We’re still running a test of DJ mixes that were previously taken down – all 11 still are up after a few days. But with this latest post from the company, we’re not so sure how it will shake down. Instead:
