Bad news on the piracy front. According to a new report from MUSO, stream ripping from sites like YouTube and Soundcloud has lead to a surge in music piracy.
In the first nine months of this year – that’s January 1 to September 30 – there were 7.2bn visits to copyright-infringing stream-ripping sites around the globe. That is a 60% rise over the same period in 2015.
The websites responsible for allowing such rampant piracy to be carried out are numerous, but none are more well known than YouTube-mp3.org. The owner of that site was actually sued by all three major labels last month. This has not caused the site’s competitors to run and hide however, which is disappointing.
There is good news. Well, good news for those of you who use Haulix to promote your new and unreleased music.
Haulix uses a custom system for injecting watermarks that extends to streams hosted on our service. If someone rips the audio from a Haulix stream, or from a YouTube video using a watermarked track taken from Haulix, our system can pull the watermarks from those rips and identify the person responsible for the leak. Pirates can try to transcode and re-upload files they originally received from Haulix, but the watermarks will still remain.
We wish we could say we had a solution to ending rip services like YouTube-mp3, but until that time our watermarks can help identify music pirates and ensure they are never allowed access to music again.
Hello, everyone! Welcome to the latest edition of our long-running Journalism Tips series. We started this column as a way to help aspiring writers get their start in music, but over the couple months we have been evolving into a place writers come to have their questions about life in the business answered. This entry was created in regards to a question we found on a journalism forum earlier this week, and we think the solution could very well keep many young writers from inadvertently becoming the source of a future music leak.
This blog exists to promote the future of the music industry, and to do that we need input from people like you and your music-loving friends. If you have any questions about the content in this article, or if you have an artist you would like to see featured on this blog, please contact james@haulix.com. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.
As we mentioned above, this specific column came to life after a forum post was brought to our attention earlier this week. The message read:
“Okay…. I just want to make sure I’m not making some rookie mistake. When I get haulix invites or private links, I forward it to my writer depending on their tastes, yeah? Obviously, you’re not supposed to share the invite, and my writers sign a disclaimer about not sharing music and if they do it’s on them, but surely they don’t mean "do not forward this to a writer?” I just ask because I got Finch’s album from razor and tie and she asked me to please not share it. I would never do that outside of sharing it with ONE writer that is writing the review.”
This is not an uncommon question, and to be honest we are kind of glad someone brought this post to our attention as it provides the perfect opportunity to address this concern on a large scale.
To put it the simplest terms possible: You should never share a Haulix promo. There is messaging included with every promo sent out that informs recipients their promos are not to be shared, but there are many who do not follow this request. By sharing Haulix promos you are not only breaking the trust of the label/publicist who sent you that material, but you are also putting yourself in a position to face severe legal repercussions should that material find its way onto the internet.
Most promos sent from Haulix are injected with numerous watermarks that not only identify the original recipient, but also the geo-locations of every person who accesses the respective promo. You should check each promo you receive to know whether or not that particular advance has a watermark. If you share your watermarked promo with someone, and that person later leaks the material online, our tools will point to you as the person responsible for the piracy. You may not have leaked the album yourself, but because the record was entrusted to you it is your responsibility to ensure it is not made available for public consumption. Should that occur, any legal action taken to recoup lost profits will be made against you and not the friend who you allowed to enjoy your advance.
To better explain what happens when an album leaks, we asked Rey Roldan of Another Reybee Production to share some of his experience with piracy:
“A blogger who is part of this site once sent a download of a band I was working with to two writers. One of his writers leaked the album (it was a very highly coveted advance). When we traced it back, we found his watermark. Label, management, band and I were thisclose to taking this a step further in the legal direction. While the writer was responsible for the leak, said "blogger” was ultimately responsible because he breached the contract (I often tick off the “watermark warning” with writers who I am unsure of, just as an extra warning). We got very close to making it legal but we opted to re-strategize and move forward.
I know some editors pass round links designated for them and it sucks. I usually often tell editors that if they are assigning a writer, give me their email address so I can get them their own watermarked music. To be honest, do YOU trust your writers to NOT leak music? If they did leak it, do you want to be legally and professionally responsible for that because YOUR watermark is on that music? God forbid, you pass your streak or download to a writer who inadvertently leaks it, do you want to become that industry pariah?
The music industry is really pretty tiny… Make the wrong move and it can follow you… Be smart about this… Request a link for anyone who is reviewing it for you. Don’t take the fall for anyone because it can happen a LOT easier than you think.”
Some sites may believe an easy solution to this problem is to have one email dedicated to receiving promos that every contributor can access. This may work at first, but should any member of your staff leave the site it is of the utmost importance you change both your email password, as well as your 4-digit Haulix passcode. That way, if they have a promo link and/or access to a promo, they can’t get to ***all**** promos, because they won’t know the passcode.
Likewise, if you allow writers to reach out to publicists on their own and one of your writers decides to leave your site, make sure you inform all publicists the writer has left and is no longer a part of your writing team. If not, that person may continue to receive advances that are linked to your site. Should something happen to those files, it may come back to you.
The best thing you can do to protect yourself and the reputation of your site is to first do a good job vetting your writing staff. Make sure you trust everyone you send releases to not only as writers, but as professionals in the industry. If you would not trust a writer to contact a label directly you might not want them handling advance releases.
Haulix has no say in what happens to individuals caught sharing watermarked materials. We are simply a middle man between journalists and labels. It’s up to our customers to handle the situation how they see fit.
Additionally, you should ALWAYS request additional promos if someone other than you will be reviewing material you have been sent. It may seem like this complicates or otherwise draws out the assignment process, but publicists would rather know who is in possession of their music than have less work to do. For example, let’s say I send you, a blog owner, a copy of my client’s album for your site. You receive the promo, pass it off to a writers, and several days later send me a link to a review of my client’s album written by someone who is not you. Who is this third party? How did they get the watermarked music I sent you? Are they someone I can trust? I have a million questions about this anonymous person. In fact, I may not want to send you another advance if I think you’re going to pass it off to more people I do not know.
It’s easy to understand why forwarding promos seems like a quick solution to the issue of how to get advances from one person to another, but actually taking part in such efforts puts you, your reputation, the livelihood of your site, and possibly even the reputations of your contributors at risk. It takes less than a minute to request additional promos, and doing so keeps you out of trouble.
Don’t risk a leak just to save time. It’s just not worth it.
Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for taking a some time out of your day to spend with us. We try our hardest not to take too much time away from our educational efforts for self-promotion, but when considering the updates and developments that have taken place in recent months we thought it might be a good time to remind the world why we’re so good at what we do.
This blog exists to promote the future of the music industry, and to do that we need input from people like you and your music-loving friends. If you have any questions about the content in this article, or if you have an artist you would like to see featured on this blog, please contact james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.
The music industry has changed a lot over the last fifteen years, and that evolution has largely been guided by technology. When Napster went live, everything we knew about the business and how it functioned up to that point was no longer relevant. A new age had dawned, and it was on those in power to react – fast. We could go on and on about things that should or should not have happened at that point in time, but the hard truth is that almost fifteen years later we are still trying to find solutions for the problems that plagued us just after Y2K fears began to subside. There is no end to digital piracy in sight, but we wholeheartedly believe that through Haulix record labels and independent artists alike have a fighting chance against music pirates. Here’s why:
SECURITY
First and foremost, Haulix offers one of, if not the most secure platform for digital distribution available today. Through a combination of advanced watermarking technology, permissions, encryption, and secure traffic techniques we are able securely host, distribute, and track your media while you focus on promoting the material itself.
What is a watermark? Good question. Watermarks contain user specific information that allows us to identify which contact specifically downloaded or streamed a file through Haulix. On average, each track will contain 15-20 watermarks which can survive most attacks such as re-encoding and conversion. Additionally, you have fine grained control over how many times they can stream or download a promo. All traffic in and out of Haulix is SSL encrypted (like bank websites). Haulix automatically prepares your tracks for watermarking and when a contact downloads or streams an album, the injection process is performed in seconds.
AUTOMATED PIRACY/LEAK TAKEDOWNS
This feature only launched in the last couple months, but it has quickly become one of our most popular tools in the battle against leaks. Our ‘Piracy Takedown’ tool, when activated, crawls the web seeking unwanted files and links to files featuring watermarked content from Haulix clients. When that content is located, our system automatically distributes takedown notices and tracks the results so clients will know when their content copyrighted has been taken down.
This process does not happen once or twice, but repeatedly for as long as a client is a member of Haulix. For more information on this tool and how it can help your efforts to battle leaks, click here.
CUSTOMIZATION
There are more bands, labels, and pr outlets in existence today than ever before, which means the amount of pitches and messaging being thrown at writers is also at an all-time high. Haulix recognizes this, and through our state of the art messaging system we have created tools that allow our clients to present their upcoming release(s) however they see fit. We love to focus on the backend of things so that publicists, labels, and bands can put their efforts into promotion. We know that in order to do that to the best of their abilities our clients need to be in control of how their content is no only dispersed, but presented. From the “promo” pages where your music securely lives online, to the email you will send when inviting press to experience your material, there are dozens of ways our product can be customized to fit your needs. Want to use a color theme or still image as the background to your “promo” page and/or emails? No problem! Want to limit the number of times an album can be streamed or downloaded by any particular individual? We can do that too.
ORGANIZATION & ANALYTICS
Expanding on an aspect of our service mentioned in the previous points, Haulix also helps distribute content. Through our one-of-a-kind email system our clients are able to create contact lists ( or upload their existing contacts), organize them into groups however they see fit, send personalized messages, and access analytics on their contacts engagement with various promos with ease. You’ll know who read your message, which ones accessed the material, and how they engaged with it once on the promo page. We also track downloads.
JOURNALIST APPROVED
All of these tools would mean nothing if journalists did not like our product. After all, at the end of the day it is the writers who are on Haulix the most, and it is through Haulix that writers engage with unreleased music. If their user experience was bad it could have a negative impact on their view of the record. Worse, it could impact how they view a particular label/pr firm as a whole.
Haulix has been receiving the praise of journalists worldwide since launching in the mid-2000s. We listen to their opinions on everything from our site design to the functionality of our product and work with them to better our efforts over time. We don’t want to pat ourselves on the back too much, so I’ll let the writers who engage with Haulix on a regular basis speak for themselves:
“I’ve been using Haulix for the past three years and most of the websites that I have written for use Haulix too. It is efficient and of course, highly recommended.” – Lav Nandlall, Heavy Metal Duchess
"I always get a little extra excited when I see I have new music through Haulix because I know I can jam it in mere seconds with no hassles.” – Jameson Ketchum, Substream Music Press
“I’ve been using Haulix for the past 3 years and a half and that’s still where I enjoy receiving promo music. Aside from the fact that I can download my music on it, it keeps things organized by expeditor, due dates are visible and it’s all simple and clear.” – Mariam Bouabid(Plug-In)
“Haulix takes all of the hassle out of receiving new music. It simply combines everything on one page and provides you with promo pictures, bios, videos and whatever else. Since most of the publicists we work with tend to use it, it’s nice to be able to quick switch back to your full catalog of promos you’ve received.” – Drew Maroon, MindEqualBlown.net
“I prefer a watermarked (to keep be accountable of course) zip download with high quality mp3s. Now I don’t always get that, so I roll with what I get. Haulix is cool because you can download and stream and it has the capability of supplying high quality stuff if the label/PR people provide it.” – Drew Beringer, Absolutepunk.net
“I want tracks I can stream, and preferably download too — I’m a New Yorker and do a lot of my listening on the subway, where streaming isn’t an option. Haulix is straightforward and intuitive.” – Jesse Richman, PropertyOfZack.com
INDUSTRY APPROVED
Journalists are not the only ones who enjoy Haulix. Many of our clients have been with us for years, and they are not shy about sharing their satisfaction with our product:
“We have always been looking for a great place to allow us to share our music with those that need it early, but in a safe way. Haulix was that answer for us, and we will be lifelong customers of theirs.” – Chris Hansen, No Sleep Records
"I love the security aspect as well as the ability to truly track what people are doing with the promos. It takes the guessing game out of, “…well I spent a bunch of money to send a ton of packages out that I hope made it to their final destination… and I’m hoping these folks answer their emails and phone calls when I reach out to check on the packages.” You can see what’s going on, you can reference whether someone got their email, opened it, even listened to it or downloaded it, etc. And my favorite – the ability to create reports to follow up with people based on what they’ve done with the promo.” – Natalie Cammillo, Adrenaline PR
"Leaks aren’t 100% preventable but there are ways to insuring you stop leaks from coming from you. I’m a big user and supporter of Hauled. 90% of the writing world is familiar with Haulix and how it’s watermarked with each writer’s info. So that’s a good preventative.” – Rey Roldan, Another Reybee Production
