Do Not Use PayPlay.fm
Copyright Infringement
Please do not purchase my music -- or the music of any other artist -- on the site PayPlay.fm. It is my understanding that the original owners of the site sold the content and web site to owners in the sovereign state of Georgia (Russia). This organization does not have the rights to sell my content, but the content remains on their site. They are charging a very small amount (less than .33 a song) of which I receive no compensation.
My original connection came from CDBaby.com. I am a huge advocate of this service. They do many great things for independent musicians. There had been an agreement between CDBaby.com and the original PayPlay.fm ownership to offer their artists' catalogs for digital sales. The artist would receive compensation -- as we do with iTunes, Amazon.com, and many other online merchants. When PayPlay.fm was sold, the arrangement was severed. PayPlay.fm has not contracted with me to provide my intellectual property.
As a matter of interest, they also appear to be selling the content of The Beatles. I'm quite certain that there is no online sales arrangement through this band's publishing company for PayPlay.fm to sell this content. iTunes only recently accomplished this feat.
CDBaby's Role
A representative from CDBaby has advised me:
PayPlay is no longer a partner of ours and we're actually moving forward on litigation against them. They are willfully infringing on the copyrights of our artists and not ceasing distribution when demanded.
They have been served notice as a digital retailer and we're moving forward as a representative of distribution on behalf of CD Baby and artists.To force them to take the content down you will need to notify them directly. It could actually add a lot of leverage to our legal pursuit against them if you were to lodge a DMCA copyright infringement towards PayPlay directly. We aren't the copyright holder of your content, so we can't lodge a federal action against them on top of their breach of contract, but you can. At the bottom of their terms of service - http://payplay.fm/tos - are instructions of how to lodge the dispute with them.We are moving forward against them aggressively and I'm keeping your email address on file to make sure you're sent updates as they come in.
Making Contact
I have followed the instructions as provided in the above email. Unfortunately, I don't know that it will result in much change. The address that we are advised to send correspondence is:
PayPlay Media Group S.A.
244 Madison Avenue, Suite 357
New York, NY 10016
If you would like report any other known copyright infringements, you can also attempt to complain.
