6 Comments

1. ARTISTS AND FANS BEWARE OF THIS WIDGET.
   Fans who join ‘your’ mailing list via this widget are FORCED to simultaneously join the TuneCore mailing list. In addition, fans who join mailing lists via this widget have no privacy policy protecting them and risk the sale of their personal info on the open market.
   Here is an example (I’ve capitalized the interesting parts for emphasis):
   “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.”
   In other words, fans who think they are signing up for the Artist’s mailing list are actually signing up to Tunecore’s mailing list and may be contacted by Tunecore at any time and for any reason.
   In addition, your email address will be forwarded to ‘the artist’ (or whoever controls their Tunecore account like a label), and NO PRIVACY POLICY WILL APPLY. That label or Artist could sell, rent, or give away your email address, birthdate, gender, and home town, and NOT BE BREAKING THE LAW BECAUSE YOU HAVE AGREED TO THIS POLICY WHEN YOU PUT IN YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS.
   Artists, please do not put your fans into such a precarious position. Do not use this widget.
   Tunecore, remove the email collection function until you have your arms around how this part of marketing actually works (its an exchange between band/fan, NOT band/fan/Tunecore). Not only are you taking advantage of the fan/band relationship for your own purposes by making every fan who joins an Artist’s mailing list also join the Tunecore mailing list, but you are creating huge risk/exposure for music fans everywhere.
   The fact that Tunecore decided to try and take advantage of the fan/band relationship for their own gain is appalling.

2. Relax! Take a deep breath… count to ten slowly…
   After reading your post carefully, I agree entirely that there is a cause for concern and caution. Certainly Tunecore should get in front of these concerns and clarify their position, if not remove the offending terms. But…
   There is nothing whatsoever to suggest that Tunecore has “decided to try and take advantage of the fan/band relationship for their own gain” as you claim. There’s a big difference between claiming the right to do something in the future and actually doing that something, now or later.
   Your claim suggests they’ve actually done something wrong. In fact, they’re simply claiming a right to possibly do something later. More to the point, you’ve gone far beyond their actions and deep into your imagination to find fault with the company. You’re nearly hyperventilating with worries over something that hasn’t happened, may never happen, and quite likely inserted prophylactically by lawyers to avoid potential problems that could crop up from poor coding on the client side (it would be quite easy for someone to mistype a URL and wind up with someone elses data, or accidentally un-protect protected addresses.
   Companies like MailChimp exist entirely to protect companies against such liabilities, and they have some similarly whacky terms of service. In cases where a company is acting as a middleman, there are many liabilities, including having to pay artists when your servers get raided for free music or pillaged for email addys. The terms above seem mostly aimed at protecting TuneCore from those liabilities.
   Obviously Tunecore themselves really can’t do much with Band X’s fan list. They don’t market to fans, they market to bands and labels. So a very real concern would be whether Tunecore made your mail list available to competing bands and labels, reselling it. The terms above might support such a misuse, which brings me back to where we agree… So why am I not freaking out, you may wonder?
   If Tunecore offered up fan-lists, in the manner Google sells AdWords (highest bidder), your freak out would be warranted. But common sense argues against this happening in the real world because:
   – Tunecore would be $hitting their own bed, and killing the golden goose to do that; they’d be viewed as scum, and no one would use their real services. Do some research: Tunecore’s NOT that dumb!
   – There are strict federal laws (see:MailChimp) that prevent such uses, regardless of any click-through agreements you might make. The opt-in/out belongs to the fan, not the band.
   – In fact some of the terms you object to may be there simply to indemnify TuneCore against YOUR misuse of that data! By tethering it to their service, they can enforce compliance with the aforementioned privacy laws. Since these laws change when rulings are made, this is a very serious issue anyone working that street must attend, or face the risk of a mistake putting you out of business.
   So, while I understand the concern, you overstate the risks and are conflating future possibilities with current policies and actions. If what you fear is going on, please post examples or evidence, and I’ll join your bandwagon. If it’s not, relax, and consider the big picture.
   The frenzied nature of your post, along with the “Very Concerned Person” handle makes me wonder whether you work for CD Baby/Discmakers or IODA or some other Tunecore competitor.

3. @ Dave Davis said…
   “After reading your post carefully, I agree entirely that there is a cause for concern and caution. Certainly Tunecore should get in front of these concerns and clarify their position, if not remove the offending terms.”
   I’m glad we are in lockstep on this.
   wrg to your approach that requesting the right to do something and actually doing something are two different matters – I think you are being a bit naive. Anyone who gives this right to Tunecore will be subject to the scruples and ethics of the current management team, future management team, future owners, investors, etc. I don’t know these people from Adam.
   If YOU feel comfortable telling your fans to join your mailing list through this widget, and secretly (but legally) adding them to the Tunecore mailing list at the same time, by all means do it. I wouldn’t do that to my family, my friends, and certainly not to the fans who pay my bills. It just isn’t right.
   At the very least they should disclose to the Artists that this is how it works before they embed the thing.
   NO, I do not work for some other company. TC has been a good site to use for distribution. But I am a privacy freak (had my identity stolen twice in the last 3 years). I read ALL terms of service before I do anything these days. Admittedly, I probably overreacted a bit, but I have baggage.

4. Peter or Jeff from Tunecore,
   Just read this. You guys usually pounce on criticisms of your services. Your silence is disconcerting. Please answer them here asap.
   Continued silence would be, well, even more disconcerting to your users. What gives here? The terms do say what they say….
   I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, but I’d like to hear from you.

5. Jeff Price from TuneCore here. Since you asked, here’s the answer.
   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
   Jeff

6. Wow. Someone is really bent out of shape about this.
   That said, it does seem unnecessary to require that Tunecore have the right to ‘contact’ anyone (and for any reason) that joins an Artist’s mailing list via their widget.
   I think a little clarifying language here like ‘contact, but not for commercial/promotional purposes’ might do the trick. Whatever valid legal reasons that TC may have to require this right, it would put everyone at ease if they stated clearly that they don’t intend to exploit this right for their own gain.
   Doesn’t seem like anything underhanded is going on here, just slipped through the cracks I’d say.
   Jeff, are you going to address these concerns in the terms and conditions? Your response made it seem like you didn’t really acknowledge them as being valid.

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