SoundCloud is continuing its purge of material it believes is violating copyright laws and is not properly licensed for upload. DJ Jackmaster's solution to the recent removal of many of his tracks was to give them away to listeners in a free download.
Major music labels Universal Music Group and Sony Music Group still have not come to an agreement with SoundCloud. This constant pressure is compelling the streaming company to pursue an aggressive purge of material it deems not properly licensed for upload by artists.
This has aroused the ire of many artists and DJ's who rely on the service as their primary outlet to reach fans with their latest tracks and mixes. Many are complaining that SoundCloud is improperly removing tunes that are fully licensed and owned by the artist.
The latest victim is world famous DJ Jackmaster. The Scottish DJ is one of the most popular UK DJ's worldwide, and owns several of his own music labels, most notably the Numbers imprint. The DJ recently tweeted that SoundCloud had removed all of his DJ mixes from the platform. Jackmaster's mixes contain numerous tracks by artists other than him, and therefore most likely included various tracks that were not licensed to be legally streamed on the service.
"SoundCloud recently removed all of your favourite Jackmaster mixes from the internets. The Tweak-A-Holic's, the Mastermixes and even my beloved Essential mix. It's a travesty... a crime against music!" his Facebook post laments. The DJ then promised a simple solution to the issue; he has provided fans with a WeTransfer zip file containing all of his mixes, which they can then download and presumably own forever.
"House parties across the land have been left in disarray as a result, and this can not continue". Jackmaster asserts. "So here's everything you need all in the one zip. Party on troops, for your weekend is saved."
The legality of uploading the mixes for free download is questionable, given the copyright issues which can inevitably spur. However, it's an interesting and novel approach which could catch on with other DJ's who have their material removed from SoundCloud as its purge continues.
