An Important PSA

IMPORTANT UPDATE: DO NOT, under any circumstances, send hate to the users below. I do not condone hate. I am merely trying to spread awareness and, with luck, get in touch with the users below. Letting them know we do not want our tracks reposted is fine, but please think about how you word it. I do not want people to get death threats or hurtful comments.



You may find the original PSA down below.



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Sigh. I really did not want to have to resort to this, but this has been a problem in the fandom overall for far too long. What is this problem? Music theft.



Some of you may know that I have repeatedly asked people NOT to upload my songs to youtube, yet despite this, it is a recurring problem, and I am not alone. My fellow composers LucasPucas, Jimmythebassist, Jamangar, ZacharyChang, among others, repeatedly have their songs taken without consent by Youtubers such as Yeah, TylerNess, Horse Burgers YT, CrazyArtPhoenix, ThatCrazyAU, and more. I will add to this list as needed.



Allow me to make one thing clear: None of us are okay with this. I speak with these composers on a regular basis, both in the IF and Storyshift Discords, and we are all sick of this.



You may think it is harmless. You may even think this is exposure for our work, but here’s the thing: these people are getting traffic and subscribers for content they did not create, and sometimes they don’t even credit.



While potentially well-meaning, in my case, I make it clear that I do not want my stuff reposted, such as on my sound cloud:

“**IMPORTANT**: People have been uploading my songs to their youtube accounts without my permission. Please do not do this. I know a lot of my stuff isn’t up there yet, but I do plan to bring it over in time. If you want to use my songs for any reason, I’d like credit, and asking permission is preferred.“



Never mind all the descriptions where I also reiterate that I do not want reuploads. Because the fact of the matter is, reuploads take traffic away from the original creator, and when people don’t link back or hide the credit under lengthy descriptions, it leads people to believe that the uploader is the composer, when all they did was lazily take someone else’s work and slap it into a video editor.



I will take a moment to note that Umbra Extensions is actually one of the few music channels on Youtube that not only asks permission, but does his best to give credit where due. If more people were like Umbra Extensions, I would not be making this post.



EDIT: I have spoken with BC Gaming and Azzy Extensions. Oka C has been removed from the list, as it seems most of the offending content has since been removed. TheYazzer has also removed my stolen works. I will leave the original message below just as an example that this is a problem, and with many channels still taking our work, this issue is far from solved. However, we would much rather solve this peacefully, so if you are one of the channels involved, please contact us. We may be unhappy, but I swear we don’t bite.



EDIT 2: I have spoken to Outershift Chara as well, and things seem to be going smoothly. I am grateful for all parties responding politely and with understanding. :D The DVLPR has also contacted me.



EDIT 3: Spoke to Autocats as well! Unfortunately, Herobrine TV refuses to remove his stolen content, claiming we don’t own it. This is not an excuse to send hate. This is merely an update on the situation.



EDIT 4: Herobrine TV has agreed to remove the stolen content. Yay!



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Below is an example of a recent theft. It has since been resolved. However, I am keeping it here to outline a very real problem with many of these videos.







And for a while, it seemed like he did… only for him to put it back up behind my back. Others have noticed this, and commented accordingly. Some friends have provided screencaps here and here, in case the uploader decides to “hide the evidence,” as it were. I would link the video itself, but since this chap decided he could make money off of my work, I don’t want to give him more fodder.



I have submitted a copyright claim, and I will continue to do this for any videos that take my content without consent. However, the fact that I even have to go this far represents a huge problem in the Undertale music community. Musicians are not being treated with the respect they deserve.People assume that they can just snatch music, slap it together as a video compilation, and reap the spoils.



This has to stop. I doubt it will, but if spreading this message can make even the slightest difference, then I am sure as hell gonna try. So please, if you enjoy our music, please reblog. It will help us all out tremendously.



Thank you for your time. Your regularly scheduled IF content will return shortly



PS. I am still okay with use of my music in fandubs if credit is given. It is the shameless stealing that I do not allow.

