Why is this happening now? Many reasons, but the most important: Around February 1, 2015, Yahoo changed Tumblr audio posts to add download functionality (a “get” button), which would turn Tumblr into a pirated-music-hub unless Yahoo gives the music industry free rein to search and destroy — and Yahoo has.
Tumblr support staff is not involved in the account terminations. They are down to the music industry (especially the IFPI) and their bots, which continually search Tumblr audio and video posts for song metadata, including song titles and song lyrics. Using the data gathered by the bots, music industry companies automatically generate Tumblr takedown notices (DMCAs), which at Tumblr automatically generates content removal, content removal notifications, and account terminations. The entire process is automated.
Are there errors? Hell yes. See the IFPI and Jeremy Banks tags for the latest sadness.
The music industry bots search content going way back; people have had their accounts terminated for stuff posted more than two years ago, so you need to delete all of your old copyrighted music posts to evade the bots. Why? Tumblr accounts are terminated after three copyright violations within 18 months, which doesn’t sound so bad — but the 18 month time period does not apply to when you uploaded the content, but to the dates of the takedown notices. If you upload only one song a year for three years in a row, but the bots issue takedowns on them within an 18 month period, you have just qualified for immediate and automatic account termination.
I cannot stress enough that Tumblr support staff is not involved. Yahoo is not devoting Tumblr staff to reviewing bot-generated account terminations, because there are millions of audio posts on Tumblr, and personal reviews would cost Yahoo more money than Yahoo would like to spend, which is zero.
Yahoo takes the music industry bot’s “word” as proof of copyright violation because that is the cheapest thing to do. Sad emails to Tumblr about your post content being fair use will be ignored. The only way to get your account or content restored is through a DMCA Counter-Notification.
For years, Tumblr allowed us to upload music (up to five audio posts a day) because it substantially increased Tumblr’s user base and user “activity,” therefore increasing Tumblr’s value to its eventual buyer, Yahoo, and to the advertisers Yahoo is so eager to court. Now Yahoo/Tumblr is letting us take the DMCA fall for it, reminding us yet again that we aren’t the customers, but the product being sold to advertisers.
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