[Playlists] Solution to false/abusive reporting

[CloudlightRec]

Whenever someone reports a playlist - the title and cover art are removed immediately. This is often abused to hurt record labels and playlist curators. After contacting support - the account of someone who abused this system gets taken down. This person then creates another email and free Spotify account and repeats the process. 

There is a simple solution to the problem - enable reporting feature only after 10 hours of music/podcasts were streamed using the account. It won't change the experience for a normal user but makes copyright abuse impractical. It's cheap and easy to implement and would stop 95% of false claims.

Thank you for your consideration. 

[user-removed]

Yes, I know what a playlist is and I know that you can make one using keywords and images you don't have the rights to, hence the necessity of a reporting tool. Do you know what copyright infringement is?

Look, if you manage playlists that earn $25k a month, then what you have is a business and you need to operate like a business. If your playlists are unique to you, register your trademarks and be ready to defend them. And if someone falsely reports your playlists, then fire up the attorneys, obtain user information, and take the offenders to court.

But if you're hoping that Spotify will magically come to your defense and be the playlist nanny, then I don't really know what to tell you. Maybe don't stake your income on this kind of platform?

[CloudlightRec]

Also - if you have music on Spotify right now and someone decides to report it - it will go down and you will have to prove the ownership of your music do your distributor. And if it will be reported repeatedly - your distributor will shut down your account. How is this allright? And how is having such a broken reporting tool helps, anyone? 

[CloudlightRec]

I repeatedly said that playlists we own don't infringe copyright and claims are false. Why are you even siding with people who abuse the environment you exist in? This puts your own work in danger. I don't see the valid reason. 

[user-removed]

I don't understand why you're complaining about a tool used to protect intellectual property from being abused? Handicapping the reporting tool is like saying, "I'm ok with IP holders enduring some abuse from the community as long as I get to keep my playlist going." I guess I can't endorse "two wrongs make a right" thinking.

[CloudlightRec]

Because it is abuse. And it is against Spotify's terms of service.

[user-removed]

Look, put it this way. If there were no way to stop copyright infringement on Spotify, and if I were a scammer, the first thing I would do is rip and re-upload every Taylor Swift track, make playlists, and monetize. Who cares if the major artists all walk away from Spotify? I made my quick buck, and I'll just do the same thing on the next platform. How long did YouTube go through this nightmare?

Given the choice between having popular artists on my platform and protecting their work, and playing referee between some indie kids fighting over playlists ... welp.

[user-removed]

Now, let's say we could build you a better reporting tool? How do you prevent that from being abused right back? Do you seriously want Spotify to have some sort of "I was here first" registry to protect you? OK, I'll just come in and mass create playlists with popular keywords. Then, I'm always here first. It's a never ending cycle of escalating tactics.

I can fully understand why Spotify created a basic tool and left it at that. Building the tool out any further is just throwing gas on a fire.

[CloudlightRec]

I understand your point. I don't say we need to change the reporting tool. We need to validate the accounts aka don't allow bots to platform. If the account is created - it should be validated before it gets access to the tool. All the rights holders already are on the platform and they do have Artist or Label accs. It just shouldn't be accessible that easily. 

[user-removed]

I really don't know that you want to handicap the reporting feature in any way. If I've never been on Spotify before, but someone uploaded my music there, should I really have to jump through a series of anti-bot hoops to get permission to protect my rights? Boy, if I were a business or trade group, I wouldn't be able to make a lawsuit out of that hurdle fast enough!

The root issue here isn't Spotify or their reporting tool. The real problem is trying to cope with an analog intellectual property legal system in a digital world. It doesn't matter if the attack comes from bots, clever scammers, or predatory competitors. If the only way for me to claim and prove my rights is to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on procedures and legalities outside of a platform, then is it really worth it for the platform to inject themselves in that process?

Besides, in this entire scheme, how does Spotify really know that you're the rightful owner of a particular playlist? Maybe I took your idea from another platform and I put it on Spotify before you could. Am I within my rights to do so because I got here first? Or, as the owner of the idea, regardless of the platform, do you have rights everywhere?

If I'm the Spotify lawyers, I'm like "nope. We're not playing this game. Build a tool, and that's it."

[user-removed]

Now, before you feel totally dejected over this, imagine a system that automated the process of proving ownership?

Seriously, the USPTO and WIPO need to expand and update their APIs so that they can serve as a clearinghouse for basic IP arbitration. Imagine setting up an account then uploading your property to be stored as proof of ownership. Then, Spotify hooks into the API to do clearinghouse on all music uploaded, playlists created, etc. Is your trademarked name TommyTopTracks and a million people know that name? Just trademark it. Then, via the USPTO system, Spotify will stop anyone else from using TommyTopTracks as a username, a playlist name, OCR-able text in images, spoken audio, whatever.

Now this is just a sketch of an idea, but you get the picture. Playlist abusers are a serious problem -- both for the victims of IP trolling, and the victims of IP theft. A homegrown tool by Spotify will never be good enough. Even the best tool will only result in a rise of customer service contacts as IP owners and scammers continue to do battle. If you move the battle to a legally enforceable arena with the backing of government, you can achieve a much higher degree of protection for every good actor on Spotify ... and any other platform that the bad guys might run to.