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For the smart and cool kids who were asking for options to since that weird verbiage was discovered inside the new contracts. @mirlo is an option I want you to follow and get into.

@ErickaSimone @mirlo
Forgive me, I guess I missed a beat: What's the weird verbiage in the Bandcamp contracts? I haven’t heard about this!

Ericka Simone

@inthehands @mirlo I gotta scroll back a bit, but one of the music besties pointed out verbiage that reads like “if you do not have a proper PRO or publishing company in place, we’re taking your publishing cuts” and now we’re all looking for legal fedi. lol.

@ErickaSimone @inthehands @mirlo

That is not how I read it. Their verbiage seems to say (essentially) - “if you upload somebody else’s work and we discover it is covered by a proper PRO, we’ll take money and pay them.”

I could be wrong on this, but that essential language has been part of Bandcamp’s TOS since the beginning, iirc.

@ErickaSimone @icastico @mirlo My read is that the language is trying to solve this problem:
- My student friend Ericka writes a song for me
- She has no PRO; it was just for fun on the weekend
- I release it on Bancamp and tell them she has no PRO
- Then Ericka gets serious, goes ASCAP, hits it big
- But I don't update my Bandcamp data because I have a life
→ Bandcamp can say, “Hey, Ericka should get paid for this now!” without having to harangue me about it

That makes sense.

I see nothing in that language that lets •Bandcamp• grab the PRO cut for themselves as the OP suggested — only pass it on to the songwriter.

Reading the language with a suspicious eye, it does seem like Bandcamp •could• have latitude to do the crap all these services do where they just scrub alleged rights abuses without proper review, and it's a headache for musicians.

CAVEAT: I am not a lawyer (and it is a sad world where musicians have to try to be one for even 2 seconds).

@ErickaSimone @inthehands @mirlo

If you upload music written by a songwriter that is (a) affiliated with a performing rights organization (“PRO”); and / or (b) affiliated with a mechanical rights organization (“MRO”) or other collective management organization (“CMO”), Bandcamp shall be permitted to deduct and accrue a share of the revenue from Digital Transactions (the “Publishing Share”) which shall be calculated on your gross revenue from Digital Transactions in accordance with the rate set forth at bandcamp.com/pricing. For the avoidance of doubt, Digital Transactions include Transactions where Digital Content is included with non-music Merchandise….

Bandcamp shall seek to remit such Publishing Share to the appropriate collecting society or entity authorized to collect for the territory in which the applicable Digital Transaction(s) took place, subject to the terms of any agreement Bandcamp may have with such collecting society or other authorized entity.

Edit- here is the TOS

bandcamp.com/terms_of_use?from

bandcamp.comTerms of use | Bandcamp

@ErickaSimone @inthehands @mirlo

Some more….”You agree to allow Bandcamp to recover any amounts representing the Publishing Share not retained by Bandcamp at the time of sale as a result of you supplying incorrect writer or publisher information or otherwise not updating such information. In such circumstances, Bandcamp may debit your account. If there are insufficient funds to cover your liability, you agree to reimburse Bandcamp through other means.”