UPDATED: Independent artists need to be on lookout for iTunes scam

by PegNews wire

UPDATE: After running this story on our site, I received an email from a member of The Farstar to clear up some of the facts that came to light recently. It turns out that the second copy of Back to Life was uploaded by CDBaby, unbeknownst to the band at the time. A miscommunication that has been cleared up with their iTunes account. So, in this case, it's not a scam by some thief. Independent artists should probably still be careful, however.

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So you thought stealing songs from artists was bad enough. Well, maybe you didn't, but how about stealing the songs and then selling them on iTunes? Apparently it's not that difficult.

From lead singer Shannon Barrett's blog.

Local band, The Farstar, figured that one out the hard way. Their latest effort, the Back to Life EP was uploaded to iTunes for sale recently. However, this wasn't the copy that the band uploaded. There aren't currently two copies of the EP on iTunes, but only the sales from one gets back to the band. Some random person who uploaded the second copy is not pocketing money on The Farstar's product.

Apparently, iTunes doesn't have a very good system in place for verifying whether an independent artist's record is being uploaded for sale by them or by some opportunistic thief (eh, who knows). The Farstar are currently talking with the iTunes legal department to get the issue sorted out. In the meantime, however, if you plan on buying one of their albums, make sure to purchase the one labeled "iTunes Plus." That's the band's copy. On a slight side note: You should definitely buy that album. It's fantastic. Below is a small preview of what you'll hear.

The Farstar - “Getaway Face” at PegNews Showcase

Posted by Erin

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Pikahsso allen Poe, says:

wow thats messed up im bout to pass this info on man thanks for this

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1 year, 8 months ago
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Michael Schaefer, says:

That doesn't surprise me much. Most of these OMDs have grown so fast. A lot of little details like this got overlooked. We had similar problems over on GarageBand.com.

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1 year, 8 months ago
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sbarrett00, says:

The fact still remains that there were two versions of the Farstar EP up on iTunes clearly indicating a lack of oversight on their part.

And even after the band contacted iTunes to find out what was going on there is a 5 day waiting period before iTunes takes any sort of action.

All of this points back to reality that there is no easy way for indie artists to get their music on itunes.

-shannon the Farstar

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1 year, 8 months ago
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farstar, says:

I would say concern is justified when you discover two of your band's albums (with different art and bit rates, etc.) on Itunes. Especially when your conflicting content providers are somewhat hazy on what happened and when, and no money trail can be found leading anywhere.

Here is the lesson to be learned: Musicians are always promoting, and bands often sign up their music at multiple sites with no regard to the small print or what they sign off on. Well, like Morrissey said, “such a little thing makes a big difference”, and turns into big headaches. Also, even after talking to a company’s help/support, don’t be afraid to do additional research and legwork yourself, you may find they (or you) overlooked something major. finally, follow the money, but watch out for slow accountants.

Regardless, the independent band generally needs a third party to get music on Itunes, and when too many cooks get into one big kitchen; crazy things happen (intentional or not). Luckily, all the parties involved in this case (Itunes Legal, Tunecore and CDBaby) took it somewhat seriously, and thankfully didn't treat us like a third rate band.

At least The Farstar’s situation was resolvable, no swashbuckling Internet pirates were involved (yet), and the band is back to rocking your bar mitzvah or nightclub.