What they are saying in that comment about third parties is that they do not have to pay a third party (i.e. someone OTHER than you, the person who posted it) anything to have the right to have it on their site. They are a contest site. They need to be able to say "here's the songs and where they ranked in each contest." That's part of the interest in the site is to go and hear the songs from various months that did well. And it's also informative to hear the songs that tanked as well if you want to enter and get a feel for what people like and don't like. If they didn't have that language on the site, people who are morons would be looking for any reason they could find to sue them because that is what people do.

If they let anyone remove their work after the contest, what happens if everyone who didn't win removes their songs? There's hardly any indication of what happened. It would be like NFL teams removing all mention of their season records when the playoffs started. How could anyone compare the successful ones to the ones that didn't do as well? That's all part of their sites value and interest to the non artist community. In addition, if there are later claims that something was posted illegally that didn't belong and litigation was involved, they need proof of what was posted. If they let others delete on their own, they'd really be screwed. They have good reason for tight control over that aspect. But in the end, after a request and a little time they will usually (as far as I am aware to this point) remove something you want removed.

I recently had an idiot threaten me and JPF because one of you posted a note which was 100% factually correct about his company (even he admitted it was 100% factually correct) on an unrelated post here. But because it exposed something about his company he didn't want exposed, he demanded I remove it. I told him no. He said his lawyer would be contacting me and he'd force me in court to remove it and pay him damages. I asked him how could the truth damage him? He said it would and he wouldn't tolerate it. (Oh, and he called me at 3:00 AM on my cell and I answered because we have a relative in the hospital so we're always nervous about late phone calls and he was calling from Japan where it was daytime). All this to say that idiots around the world will threaten lawsuits for the most bogus and stupid reason in the world. A company with employees and assets HAS to make sure they are protected. So they have a release/agreement that covers their butts from idiots so that at least if they DO get sued, there's no chance of losing based on the law.

You will find even worse agreements on most other sites where they host music. (Read the one for YouTube or MySpace). When we were considering partnering with Ourstage, I personally felt their agreement was one of the most reasonable I'd seen on the net.

I think before you get worried about what they might do with you your music, it's more relevant to try and improve your work to the point that there would be value in doing something with it in the first place. Most folks don't have that problem. And those who DO have that problem (like Andrew for example) don't get freaked out about this stuff in the first place. If you want to pursue commercial success, you have to realize you'd dealing in the business world and user agreements are going to be part of that.

Brian


Brian Austin Whitney
Founder
Just Plain Folks
jpfolkspro@gmail.com
Skype: Brian Austin Whitney
Facebook: www.facebook.com/justplainfolks

"Don't sit around and wait for success to come to you... it doesn't know the way." -Brian Austin Whitney

"It's easier to be the bigger man when you actually are..." -Brian Austin Whitney

"Sometimes all you have to do to inspire humans to greatness is to give them a reason and opportunity to do something great." -Brian Austin Whitney