Artificially manipulating your stream counts and/or earnings for a recording is against our Terms & Conditions, is against the terms of DSPs, and is grossly unfair on artists and rightsholders trying to make an honest living from their music.
It is your responsibility to know what marketing activities are happening for your recording(s), and if any involve abnormal, artificial or dishonest activity then you will be responsible for the consequences of this. This can include:
-
1) Warnings / Strikes applied to your EmuBands account
2) Takedowns of any affected recordings from any DSPs
3) Takedowns of all of your recordings from all DSPs
4) Temporary blocks on you receiving royalty payouts
5) Permanent blocks on you receiving royalty payouts
6) Forfeiture of royalties – past, present and/or future
7) Fines being applied to you by EmuBands (including fines applied to EmuBands by DSPs which will be passed on to you)
8) Reporting your details to law enforcement, tax or other agencies
EmuBands receive reports from DSPs that give us details of artificial activity on a recording-by-recording basis. We use these reports to determine the level of artificial activity on your recording(s) and they are accepted as irrefutable evidence of any such activity.
EmuBands uses both threshold-based (percentage of your overall streams that are defined as artificial by a DSP) and volume-based (overall number of your artificial streams) calculations to determine any action that will be taken.
Three Strikes Policy
Starting January 2024, EmuBands will introduce a three-strikes policy.
If you are given one strike then you will be blocked temporarily from receiving royalty payouts for a minimum of six months and until we are confident that you have ceased the activity.
If you are given three strikes, or reach a combined three strikes, then all of your recordings will be removed from all DSPs, you will be blocked permanently from receiving royalty payouts, any and all of your royalties will be forfeited, you will receive a fine of £100 from EmuBands, plus you may also receive (or have already received) any other sanctions as indicated above, such as fines from DSPs and/or being reported to law enforcement agencies.
Excessive Artificial Streaming
If any of your recordings in any periodical report from any DSP reach a threshold whereby your artificial activity is 50% or more of your total activity from that DSP in that period, then this will be deemed as Excessive Artificial Streaming and you will receive a strike.
If all of your recordings in any periodical report from any DSP reach a combined volume threshold considered by EmuBands to be excessive for that particular DSP, then this will be deemed as Excessive Artificial Streaming and you will receive a strike.
Flagrant Artificial Streaming
If any of your recordings in any periodical report from any DSP reach a threshold whereby your artificial activity is 80% or more of your total activity from that DSP in that period, then, regardless of any strikes already applied to your account, this will be deemed as Flagrant Artificial Streaming and you will receive three strikes.
Abnormal Earning Patterns
We may also analyse your wider activity across single or multiple platforms for any abnormal earning patterns, for example higher than usual earnings on some platforms or lower than usual earnings on others. This can be an indicator of abnormal or artificial activity and will be investigated as such. If upon investigation of such activity we, in our sole discretion, determine that your earnings are abnormal then we will apply a strike to your account.
Dishonest Behaviour
If we discover any other type of behaviour on any platform that we, in our sole discretion, consider to be dishonest or against the spirit and intention of our music distribution service, we will apply a strike to your account. Some examples of this may include but are not limited to using artificial or automated or other bad faith means to generate either content or royalty-bearing activity on any social or user-generated-content platform, or using other third-party copyrights or deceptive means to promote your recording(s) on social or user-generated-content platforms.
Patterns Across Multiple User Accounts
If we, in our sole discretion, suspect that you are using multiple EmuBands accounts for dishonest purposes then we will apply a strike to all of these accounts.
Pre-Emptive Strikes
If you add a new release to your account that we, in our sole discretion, suspect the intent of which is to partake in any of the behaviour detailed herein, then you will receive a strike.
For the purposes of clarification:
-
• For the purposes of the three-strikes policy, strikes received for different types of activity are combined into one total count of strikes.
• Copyright infringement or attempted copyright infringement or any illegal activity or attempted illegal activity will result in an immediate three-strikes and permanent payout block. This approach has not changed as a result of this policy.
Appeals Process
When you receive an e-mail notification from us about any strike(s) being applied to your account then you have 14 days from the date of that e-mail to provide us with evidence to prove that the activity that resulted in the strike was in fact genuine.
It is very important that during this process you behave in a professional and courteous manner, and bear in mind our policy regarding abusive and offensive behaviour as detailed in Clause 10.5 of our Terms & Conditions which in itself can lead to your recording(s) being removed from all DSPs without refund.
We will consider any evidence you supply in a reasonable manner and will let you know the outcome of your appeal as soon as is reasonably possible, and our decision will be final.
If we decide in your favour, then that strike will be rescinded but your account may still be subject to a temporary royalty payout block if we consider there still to be any risk to EmuBands or our DSP partners from lifting the temporary block.
For clarification, any occurrence of Flagrant Artificial Streaming as detailed above is not subject to appeal since the evidence supplied by DSPs through their artificial streaming reports is considered to be absolute and indisputable.
EmuBands have been combatting artificial, abnormal, and dishonest activity for many years and have considerable experience in identifying this behaviour. We hope you understand the need for these policies to help us fight unfair practices that adversely affect the vast majority of artists who act honestly and in good faith to build a genuine career in an already difficult industry. Artists who avoid bad actors and unfair practices, and who follow best practices to generate organic streams will not be subject to any potential penalties for artificial streaming. For those genuine artists, as always, we remain at your service to help you make the most of your career.