{"id":8502,"date":"2026-10-10T19:29:45","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T19:29:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=8502"},"modified":"2026-10-10T19:29:45","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T19:29:45","slug":"distrokid-take-down-songs-umg-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=8502","title":{"rendered":"DistroKid has been quietly taking down songs in response to UMG lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1044qizi _18mzr4b1 _18mzr4b0 _19wv7tc1\">Artists are <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/shinobistalin\/status\/2108324834664907207?s=20\">taking<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.threads.com\/@stilldono\/post\/DeRcOJoIB0A\">social media<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/poetofbabylon\/status\/2108210502862262499?s=20\">complain<\/a> that DistroKid has <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/Jy_IZ9afe40\">unceremoniously removed<\/a> their work without notice. Now DistroKid has confirmed to <em>The Verge<\/em> that the takedowns are a direct response to claims made by UMG. The label filed a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/entertainment\/995842\/umg-is-suing-distrokid-for-alleged-deceptive-trade-practices-and-blatant-copyright-infringement\">lawsuit<\/a> in September claiming that DistroKid has created an \u201cAI-slop pipeline.\u201d Artists are saying that their non-AI works are being caught up in the purge, however.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1044qizi _18mzr4b1 _18mzr4b0 _19wv7tc1\">Musician and self-described \u201cVideo Game boy\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/artist\/411VUMJLq5DVLoU7OaBwk7?si=_8km8XUZTius5dQ0hvuNeg\">McGwire<\/a> reported that six of his songs had been removed from streaming. As has been the case with others, McGwire says that there was no communication from DistroKid before or after the removals, and that he had to contact the company for an explanation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1044qizi _18mzr4b1 _18mzr4b0 _19wv7tc1\">DistroKid also makes it exceedingly difficult to contact them. McGwire first had to have a \u201clengthy circular conversation\u201d with a bot before getting hold of a live agent. One of the songs removed was a cover of Stevie Wonder\u2019s \u201cIsn\u2019t She Lovely,\u201d which he claims to have had a proper license for. Another track used a beat he purchased through a marketplace, which others had also licensed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1044qizi _18mzr4b1 _18mzr4b0 _19wv7tc1\">Most infuriating for McGwire was a song removed for an uncleared sample. The song he allegedly sampled was released <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/McGwireMusic\/status\/2108316592606159248?s=20\">two years <em>after<\/em><\/a> his track.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1044qizi _18mzr4b1 _18mzr4b0 _19wv7tc1\">Much of the frustration from artists stems from the lack of communication and recourse. Nerdcore rapper Insane Ian <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/insaneianb\/status\/2108271050765353203?s=20\">posted<\/a> that he \u201chad an original song taken down with no warning, and they wouldn\u2019t tell me why either.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1044qizi _18mzr4b1 _18mzr4b0 _19wv7tc1\">Rapper <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@kingchaseofficial\">King Chase<\/a> also struggled to get through to a person at DistroKid. He told <em>The Verge<\/em> that an entire album for an artist he had been working with was removed with no communication or explanation. \u201cThe album had been up for 3-4 years without incident,\u201d he said, and that there had been \u201cno copyright strikes or anything either.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1044qizi _18mzr4b1 _18mzr4b0 _19wv7tc1\">Amanda Ferri, DistroKid\u2019s VP of Artist Services, told <em>The Verge<\/em> that \u201cA very small number of recordings distributed through DistroKid have been removed in response to claims made by UMG. We strongly dispute the allegations underlying UMG\u2019s lawsuit and regret the disruption to affected artists. We are working to minimize that disruption while protecting artists\u2019 ability to release their music.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/entertainment\/1009309\/distrokid-take-down-songs-umg-lawsuit\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Artists are taking to social media to complain that DistroKid has unceremoniously removed their work without notice. Now DistroKid has confirmed to The Verge that the takedowns are a direct response to claims made by UMG. The label filed a lawsuit in September claiming that DistroKid has created an \u201cAI-slop pipeline.\u201d Artists are saying that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[31,925,64,193,322,46,74],"class_list":["post-8502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-gadgets","tag-ai","tag-copyright","tag-entertainment","tag-law","tag-music","tag-news","tag-policy"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>DistroKid has been quietly taking down songs in response to UMG lawsuit - Silvybrand Lifestyle Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Artists are frustrated with the lack of transparency around DistroKid taking down their songs in response to the UMG lawsuit.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=8502\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"DistroKid has been quietly taking down songs in response to UMG lawsuit - 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