Tunecore’s CEO Responds To Widget Controversy
Last week Hypebot reported on some major upgrades that Tunecore had made to the widget it offers its users. One useful feature captured information from fans.
"TUNECORE MAY USE PERSONAL INFORMATION and other non-personal information about you for the following general purposes: to fulfill your requests for products and services; improve our services; CONTACT YOU; customize advertising and content you see; conduct research; and provide anonymous reporting for internal and external clients.
TuneCore may provide your Personal Information directly to the artists that you select. You acknowledge and agree that any such artists that receive such Personal Information (a) may contact you directly from time to time and (b) MAY NOT TREAT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION WITH THE SAME LEVEL OF CONFIDENTIALITY AS THE TERMS OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY."
A rather heated debate followed and Tunecore CEO and founder Jeff Price responded:
"We wanted to make a media player that artists could make at their discretion that showed videos, band photos, tour dates, twitter feeds, band bio, external link and allowed people to become "fans" of the band.
When someone wanted to become a fan of the band…
we wanted to allow the fan to provide information the band could use, therefore we created an optional "Become a Fan of This Band" link in the Menu of the Media player. When this link is clicked, a person can choose at their discretion to enter any, all, or none of the following: birthday, age, name, hometown zip code.
Sensing there were things I did not know in regards to collecting info on the net, I called our lawyer and filled him in on what we wanted to do. Said lawyer told me that based on state and federal laws, we were required to use the specific legal language he provided.
And that is the reason for the language in the Terms & Conditions that you see on the TuneCore widget
That, and our nefarious plot to take over the world (and arm sharks with freakin' lazers)
On more serious note, its optional, not required, and if the Terms make you uncomfortable then do not provide your info.I would rather have that language there and have fewer people sign up then not have the language and somehow have someone feel something happened that should not have."
Concern over privacy is adorable. Of all the moral panics you can get sweaty about in 2009, your imaginary “right to privacy” is absolutely the cutest.
I love this widget – probably one of the best I’ve used to date. The ease of setup and use is admirable.
Also, allowing the fan contact info to go directly to the Artist instead of being scooped up ( My Space? Facebook?…)is a major major major plus.
Tunecore – by far the best Indie Artist service on the net $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Tunecore Rules
@tricky said
“…allowing the fan contact info to go directly to the Artist instead of being scooped up ( My Space? Facebook?…)is a major major major plus.”
Dude, did you even read the article and criticism?
Your fan email addresses ARE BEING SCOOPED UP – BY TUNECORE! You are even knowingly giving them the right to send Tunecore emails to YOUR fans!
Sheesh, doesn’t anyone even read anymore before they blindly tout their friends?
There is NOTHING wrong with the Tunecore Terms of Use. This doesn’t scratch the surface at overly restrictive.
Above all, OPT-OUT if you still have a problem.
I’m surprised by this ‘backlash’
Privacy on the net – since WHEN?WHERE??? – Long gone
DATA mining – we’re all doing it including Tunecore
LaLA, Myspace, Facebook, Last.fm, Youtube, Reverbnation etc………………………….. have tons of my fans data and REFUSE’S to share it with MOI – the artist. Tunecore shares the data ( what ever my fan wants to enter – their choice) with MOI. I Like.
MOI………………happy data miner
Pretty much any ToS you read will include something that would make George Orwell vomit with rage. I tend to go by the reputation of the company, and until I hear Tunecore is spamming people that become fans via the widget, I’m not going to worry about it…
Am I reading this right?
Artists are actually defending anti-privacy language under the veil of ‘that’s how the net works’ and ‘Its okay, we do it too’ and ‘privacy is cute, but not important’.
Does everyone realize that these privacy rules are applying to the FAN who gives the email address and data, not to the Artist who gets the data? The Artist is simply applying their stamp of approval on the privacy policy when they put this widget in front of their fans. It isn’t going to affect the artist one bit – their privacy isn’t being compromised. I suppose that’s why its so convenient for artists to blow it off as no big deal.
@Neil, if you hear that TC is spamming your fans, you are too late. You realize that don’t you? You are giving them and those that may buy their company the right to contact your fans now and forever. I’m not suggesting that TC or their heirs will do anything of the sort, but they will have permission to do it if they choose.
All of that said, this seems like something that TC could address in about 2 seconds. Just fix the language and all of this gnashing of teeth will go away I bet. TC, what are you waiting for? Your policy has not been designed to respect the rights of the fan. Just fix it and live up to the good reputation you have built for yourself so far.
Something I put in another blog as a response about good vs. evil, but it’s appropriate here:
We started TuneCore because we were horrified by the evil direction we felt digital distribution was going. We never take anyone’s rights, masters, trademarks, copyright, and so on, because evil is done when you gain control like that. We give all the earnings to the artists, because they earn it, and we don’t deserve a cut of their hard-earned success: to do otherwise is evil.
I hope that gives us a serious track record of NON-EVIL. We never will do evil, and our widget is designed only to help. Jeff already outlined what and why we had to put that language in, I can confirm the the spirit is all about keeping information, control and power in the hands of the ARTISTS.
Thanks.
–Peter
peter@tunecore.com
@Peter,
I can’t believe you are letting this go as long as it has. This has become the poster child of how NOT to handle a situation like this if you are the business being criticized.
Jeff’s reason for the language was essentially “because our lawyer said so.”
Anyone who has been in business knows that you don’t have to take what your lawyers say without questioning it or at least helping them understand the business issues at play.
Just take out the offending language about TC being allowed to send emails to the Artist’s fans and be done with this fiasco. Please.
Seriously, its driving me crazy to watch you guys mishandle this. Just deal with the problem and move on. Then Hypebot can get back to covering more interesting stuff.
It’s definitely getting closer to decision making time isn’t it kids?
*…and then, one day, they stopped posting comments and made some critical and fundamental changes…they still read hypebot from time to time but the whole sharing of ideas thing, well…*
I just checked the privacy policies of Constant Contact and iContact, 2 leading providers, and neither of them require the right to contact the fans or email contacts of their customers, unless it is required by court order.
TC’s lawyers are out of touch with the law, and TC’s management doesn’t have the courage or interest in questioning them or making their own decisions about their business.
Par for the course with music folks that wannabe to be tech folks if you ask me. MySpace anyone???
I would avoid walking your fans into this if I were an Artist (I manage). I must admit their distribution product is decent, however.
okay bye.
Considering Guitar Center owns Tunecore (which Tunecore manages whenever possible to massage or blank out of their resume, with the odd assistance of sites like this), I am not even the least surprised that people are worried. Who could be a worse possible company to have your private information than Guitar Center?
Guys, these are normal terms and conditions. And Guitar Center does not own us, they’re a partner. We continue to own ourselves, the investors and management of TuneCore.
I’m glad people are reading the T&C, everyone should. If there’s something you don’t like, if your level of comfort is exceeded, okay, don’t work with any company who’s terms and conditions upset you. That’s fine.
Besides, we’ve reduced our Department of Evil budget down to $5, so the most they could do is buy you an evil burrito. 😉
–Peter
peter@tunecore.com