How strikes work with us.

Artificial streams

Stores and our distribution partner let us know when they see artificial streams on a track. You can see every report in your portal under Quality & rights → Cases, and you'll get an email about it. A report is not a strike in itself.

If you spot suspicious streams that don't come from you, for example from a playlist you don't know, report them in your portal before a store does. Store reports about that track that come in afterwards, covering streams from the date you give onwards, won't lead to a strike. This applies up to 90 days after your report.

You can report streams going back at most 60 days, and the same track once a year. If it continues after that, respond to the stores' reports: then too, whoever is considering a strike reads your response first.

If a store beat you to it, tell us in the report why the streams don't come from you. Whoever is considering a strike reads your response first.

A strike is based on the stores' reports about one track and on a description of what the store saw. Your own report doesn't count as evidence. A strike applies for one year; while it counts, that track won't go to the stores again, not even on another release. The strike itself doesn't remove anything from the stores.

You can appeal against a strike once, in your portal. Someone other than the person who issued the strike decides on it, and you can read the reasoning in your portal. If your appeal is granted, the strike no longer counts. Strikes for artificial streams don't count towards your copyright strikes.

Copyright

A copyright strike only follows a final decision in a rights case that finds the claim well-founded. Someone other than the person who took that decision confirms the strike.

A copyright strike applies for one year and then expires automatically, to the second. With two strikes, your new releases get an extra check; with three, new distribution stops until one expires, and a staff member reviews your account. A strike itself doesn't remove anything from the stores, and royalties you've earned don't lapse.

In your portal, under Copyright strikes, you can see which track it concerns, who the claim comes from and how long each strike still counts. That's also where you appeal; a different staff member decides on it.