I’m working on a bootleg remix (i.e. a remix without permission from the rights holder) right now, which is something that I haven’t really done before. Not trying to monetize it, I don’t have a large following anyway and I haven’t even come up with an artist name I actually like using (I’m not going to call myself DJ Rumschlumpel, but TBH that one would actually be better than the ones I’ve used before).

Anyone knowledgable about where to post it without getting in trouble? Obviously a bootleg remix is by definition illegal, but lots of producers are posting them anyway on various sites like Soundcloud. How do I minimize the risk of getting into trouble? Also I kinda don’t want to post to Soundcloud, it’s enshittyfying.

TBH my best experience with posting my tracks in general was on the Ardour forum, but I currently use Bitwig and AFAIK they don’t really have a standard forum.

For what it’s worth, I live in Germany.

  • catharsoEnglish
    3·
    4 days ago

    A while ago i made electro/metal Billy Idol - Rebel Yell remake.

    I sampled the original vocals but besides that it’s a complete remake.

    https://youtu.be/kRaJVyl7oJ4

    It’s on every platform (yt, spotify, …) except soundcloud, because soundcloud insisted on me having a master licence id.

    I purchased a mechanical license for like 20$ so that i was allowed to cover the song legally.

    But i would have needed to purchase a master license because i used samples from the original. Master licenses are difficult to get, very expensive and they decide on a case to case basis.

    Impossible for tiny artists. 99% just risk it.

    So i’m not really legal here. If the rights holder ever finds out i will probably at least have to split or give them all the revenue. Maybe even pay a fine.

    But they rarely bother with tiny artists. My remake is years old and i still only have around 300 views on yt. So i’m basically invisible.

    Also i found out that Billy Idol likes that their music gets covered, so they won’t actively hunt for tiny bands/artists.

    If one somehow gets huge this might change of course.

    Other rights holders might actively hunt for you though.

    I’m in germany too. I used Bitwig & Reaper for this one. Blender for the video/visualizer.

    • rumschlumpel@feddit.orgOP
      2·
      4 days ago

      Damn, I wouldn’t have thought that Soundcloud was the platform that checks for proper licensing nowadays, rather than YouTube or Spotify. At least your yt-video is nearly two years old and you haven’t been taken down or sued yet.

      Seems like I’ll have to pick up some basic video editing skills, YouTube seems like the best platform out of the ones you use that has some discoverability (but still very little).