Beware of Stolen Sound Effects Packs
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- čas přidán 11. 01. 2023
- I've discovered what I believe to be the sale of stolen sound effects on itch.io and other platforms, opening the purchaser up to potential legal liability.
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Hey, Potion Audio here.
I’m terribly sorry for what happened, for all the confusion, all the anger you may feel…
I want to explain all the situation:
I hired a sound designer to create the beast / animals packs. We signed a contract, I paid him 500$ and 750$ for the packs creation. He was saying to me that he was recording the stuff… I feel incredibly stupid for this.
When I found out this sounds were stolen (watching the YT video from filmcow) I disabled everything, I was very nervous, and very frustated for all that was happening.
I will re-activate all the SFX packs made by me and my music packs, I know that those are 100% clear. I’m talking with past collaborators to check if what they did is 100% clear.
I thought that if you hire someone and you pay them they would record the stuff by themselves… I’m too much innocent, sorry.
I’m talking with the websites I’ve worked in clarifying the issue.
I’m renaming the brand since it’s reputation has been affected. I plan to keep doing audio assets but without collaborators.
Again, I feel very bad for what happened and I know the damage is already done.
Finally, I want to thanks FilmCow for doing the video.
Have a nice week.
This is the list of the packs made by me, without collaborators (after this, I'm still checking with them if everything is 100% clear)
Goblin Voice Pack
Orc Voice Pack
Pirate Voice Pack
Cute Cartoon Voice
Footsteps Volume 02
Magic Sci-Fi Sword Sounds
Female Healer Voice Pack
Dragon SFX
Zombie SFX
Big Monster Sounds
Sword Hits & Impacts
RPG/Fantasy Music Pack Vol 1
Elevator and Waiting Room Music Loops
Western Music Loops
Aquatic Music Loops
Alien Music Loops
Egypt Music Loops
Visual Novel Anime Music
Horror Music Atmospheres
Orchestral Fanfares
RPG Battle Themes Music
RPG/Fantasy Music Pack Vol 2
Forest Background Music
Cave Background Music
Choir Background Music
Tavern Music
JRPG Music
Premium Music Collection
Percussion Music Pack
Trailer Music For Games
Village Music RPG
Sci-fi / Urban Music
Children Game Music
Cute Game Sounds
RPG/Fantasy Game - Interface Sounds
Forest Ambiences
Cute Magic Spells
Healing Spells
Wizard Voice Pack
Dwarf Voice Pack
Knight Voice Pack
Character Voices Bundle
Magic Spells Sounds - Volume 02
@@potionaudio Thank you for your response and transparency!
For anyone reading this who purchased Potion Audio packs: I have not personally recognized or been able to match any sounds from other libraries in the packs Potion Audio lists above. It’s impossible for anyone other than Potion Audio to know the legitimacy of those packs for certain, but I have no reason to doubt their authenticity (outside of their proximity to the packs I did find matches in.)
you paid a man 1250$ for a bunch of animal sounds and you thought it was legit? surely someone in your company could have told you he was full of it.
"sorry we got caught, please but these instead"
@@lasarousi Yknow, I'm well aware that in this day and age, people like to be cynical about literally every single thing they can find something to be cynical about, as well as assuming corporate greed on all levels of the industry, but did the notion that it actually *was* a genuine mistake ever come to mind? If this was a video about game developers or video creators using sound effects they purchased from these packs, would them coming to the comments and explaining that they were scammed warrant your same response? Do you perhaps have some sort of notion that *only* end-users can be scammed? To that end, what qualifies someone as an end-user? If this video was about a youtube channel using illegal sounds, and they apologized, would you have also responded to *their* apology with "sorry we got caught" as well? Your overbearing cynicism is childish.
Giving us free sounds AND warning us against scam sound companies? Truly a hero
Not the hero we wanted, but the one we needed.
Just wait until the sounds he gives you result in a dmca.
*and cow never was heard from again*
@@tangytoucan9832 And the cow goes “Shaazooooey” (Family Guy joke)
The company wasn't at fault, by the way, it was the person they hired.
Never thought I'd get a weirdly useful PSA from this channel, but I'm here for it.
this isn't useful to me in any way but i'm glad i watched it
@@ContaminatedBeef never know! this information may become useful in the future O:
kinda weird comparison. Ive used googlereverse image searching many times for personal use. but that came in handy when one of my cashiers called in sick with covid. the picture of the positive covid test was strange. so I reverse image searched it and found it on a tweet from a year earlier. the store manager (i'm just an assistant manager) told them to go to the doctor. take another test. if it's + she can take the few days. if it's - then she's to return back to work. needless to say she ghosted us after that and no longer works there.
I still rewatch his fine bros rant! That was kind of a PSA
the fact that Filmcow can find a specific mosquito sound and which lib it came from is pretty crazy :)
Our Jason is a very talented man
He's basically Batman, and as we all know "Hell yeah Batman."
I can understand this dedication. Figure out one thing, continue the puzzle to figure out more and eventually you decipher the Divinci Code on the back of the Declaration of Independence. Or show the waveforms side by side to prove someone is stealing the assets.
Not to take away from the feat, but if you do a lot of sound design with the same libraries you tend to be able to recognise the ones you use in different contexts. Or, more accurately, you get terrifying war flashbacks during an ad break.
@@AliLightfoot You get the same when you review things like the ZeroG Datafiles
Aaaaah shit, I'm using Sidearm Studios stuff in my game. Gonna have to do some cleaning now, for sure. Thanks for this video, love your work.
A conscientious dev ready to not go for the cheapest, dirtiest option? Just for that I took a look at your game, looks pretty fun actually. I'll be following you and recommending this to my friends. And I better not hear those stolen sound effects ;)
@@GiantMoth comments like these always make me check too. thank you for this comment.
Make sure to bill those hours and replacements to Sidearm Studios.
I too now follow ur game's progress cuz u seem like a good game dev
It feels really weird getting such helpful advice from Vulo the Face-borrower that doesn't deal with the CIA
Overthrowing a Latin American country, illegally selling someone else's audio tracks. Just different forms of evil.
I would have loved if he was at the corner of the screen
@@josephhoward9631 Damn that Kissinger. Even though he's trapped in a Myst book, he's still doing War Crimes™(French). But seriously, RIP 9/11 victims. Kabonka bonka bonka. TIddy boom.
@@Haunting_Hyena *They
Vulo has no sex... only the OTM and the Pony God who lives in a hole.
...and Christine. (She's fine.)
Who do you think released the fraudulent audio packs?
FilmCow joins Itch IO, discovers a wretched hive of scum and villainy.
FilmCow out here doing investigative journalism... Not where I thought this channel was heading, but I'll take it!
I'm fuxkin HERE FOR IT
*looks at camera, throws script out.* "I can't OUT-ABSURD reality so lets talk about it."
The "Coffeezilla" of the "Royalty Free" realm.
CZcams needs more heroes like them.
Oh hey Czex, fancy seeing you here
@@TheMostEpicest You rang?
Well this has me concerned now. Humble Bundle has included Potion Audio packs in their bundles before. An example being in the "SFX and Music for Your Games" bundle. I would hope that Humble wouldn't include them without screening them first but who knows
Humble Bundle is weird. They have some bundles with stuff that's definitely legitimate, like codes that activate on the genuine Paizo website, but then they also have a lot of bundles of questionable quality.
They've had sound libraries from both
Potion audio responded and said that he hired out the animal sound pack to a third party, who lied about the origins of the sounds, and he's disabled it. He said he is going to be more careful in the future, and the music packs are all his own design, so are fine.
@@KaylaJoyGunn does anyone know if Humble had a robot modulated voice pack? (Because I thought I bought it on UE market. But cant find it. Thus maybe I got it off Humble, but cant find my history link. Please assist. Ty.)
I thought this was titled "Beware of Stolen Six Packs" and was very confused for the first 20 seconds.
Like it was an animation about a creature stealing the six packs of various people and things. The buff tree now has no abs, who could have done this?
Thanks, Jason. This is a problem that needs to be addressed.
a Public Safety Announcement? Or just Jason flexing his incredible sound effect knowledge? You decide!
Seriously though, thanks for bringing this to people's attention!
I'll be very interested to know if Itch gives you the refund you requested, and further, whether they'll take down the infringing content.
I actually purchased the Potion Audio stuff on Groupees as that was the cheapest current price. I did end up also purchasing the Sidearm Studios animal pack on itch though, just so that I could be 100% certain the sounds from other sources were still included in the pack before I posted the video.
Doubt that Itch will do anything on that area, since a lot of exploits that have been brought to them for over 4 years have not been dealt with. It is just not profitable enough for them to care.
As an update - I actually got an automatic refund from itch.io just as Sidearm's store page went down. Not sure if that refund was from Sidearm or itch. I still haven't heard back on my Potion Audio request from Groupees, and they are currently the only storefront selling Potion Audio stuff (the rest of Potion Audio's stores are down, possibly taken down by Potion Audio themselves.)
@@filmcow They have a massive presence on Unity's Asset Store. Unity does not care if assets are stolen and they aren't fans of refunds, they virtually never happen. Hopefully this echoes further.
@@CarmenXero Yes, Unity just cares for the commission fee. No controls in place to check what gets uploaded to their store front. That would limit the profit margin and reduce stock price. Riccitiello does not approve of that.
Why is it so weird to hear FilmCow's normal voice, like you know he's not doing any character in particular he's just talking normally, but it still feels like he still has VA mode on and exaggerates his voice for narration and general talking purposes
I know what you mean
Carl from llamas with hats voice
I clicked on this expecting some kind of humorous follow up to the sound pack being released. Instead I got an excellent piece of independent journalism. Well done.
How dare they! Why would they want to steal your SFX when they can have a nice Grand Slamwichhhhhhhhh.
It's really populaaaaaaaar!
the grand soundwich!
Eewww I got maple spread on my mp3's
You sure you wouldn't rather have a nice juicy laaaaamb chop???
Did you even watch the video? He wasn't even talking about people stealing his sound effects. When you make a reference, at least watch the video first.
This is really great for both reminding people to look into what they’re considering using, even for a project, and the importance of preserving the work and credit of these sound fxs
An underrated Internet good guy.
I was so ready for this to be a joke video about people using the film cow free sounds but thanks for the warning too.
I personally choose to believe that you just knew the production code for "Lion Roar. Slight Roar With Heavy Snarl And Growl. Close Perspective." off the top of your head
Dear god, This Filmcow got me to watch a full 5 minute video of the dangers of various animal noises and im all for it
Yo not only did you drop your pack JUST as I get into sounds, but now you’re also providing genuine guidance. I love you so much.
Thank you man. This kind of stuff destroys the market for smaller sound guys like my self since their pricing is so insane with the stolen sounds, it's basically impossible to compete. And the thing is, most of the customers are clueless. Just look at how many reviews the Sidearm Studio pack has on asset store. (He also copied stuff from Sound Morph Intervention too.)
Link to your stuff?
The Sidearm Studios Ultimate Sounds FX pack was in the Humble Holiday Bundle. This is huge.
this is by far the best video without jokes on this channel that I can remember off the top of my head, bravo mr cow
Thanks a lot!! Looked through my dev library just to make sure I'm squeaky clean, and it seems like I am, but I think this is an incredible thing you've done here. You rule.
As someone who appreciates your content and the fact you made a collection that will help US make content, I also appreciate you calling out stolen assets that you shouldn't use lest you make videos with them thinking they're safe. Thank you.
Thank you for spreading awareness about this issue!
Was not expecting serious business scam debunking from this channel but I am HERE for it. Thank you; I'd never have thought about any of this! And thanks a million for releasing your own sounds!
This stuff is everywhere. It's so common I'm fairly certain that some of my audio productions have stolen sounds, simply by odds. At minimum, I buy packs from places with a history, and who will indemnify me, so at least they're putting their ass on the line if I get in trouble, but this abuse of creator's work is a nightmare
Filmcow never disappoints.
Where else do you recommend getting sound effects that can guarantee us to not get in trouble and also any other tricks to determine if a sound effect is stolen
"A Sound Effect" is generally a good site, even if they do currently host the pack I had a problem with from Potion Audio. Instead of buying cheap bulk packs, I would recommend getting smaller sets from sound engineers with a history. Or if you can't afford that, Zapsplat is a great free resource that I trust.
@@filmcow Thanks for this. I had been using Sidearm studios for my games sound effects, but I had been looking at ZapSplat for some time. Just so I can reduce the odds of having to do this again, why do you trust ZapSplat? Is it simply a better known name? I for one like that they have a way clearer licence than just saying "Royalty free lol"
Ultimate Sound FX Bundle has been "deprecated" on the Unity Asset Store now, but it's still downloadable for anyone who purchased it (or got it in the Humble Bundle awhile ago like me). Sidearm Studios is still a publisher with other assets available (none of which I trust at this point). It looks like Potion Audio (publisher name Audios_19) has been entirely removed with their publisher page showing a 404, and all of their assets were "deprecated" but still downloadable as well.
As an indie dev, thank you so much for brining this to my attention and helping keep our community safe from legal troubles!
Jason, this is very awesome of you to let everybody know about this.
Giving free sounds and educating about creation processes. Honestly, i love how you deal with things. You really inspire to create!
Thank you for helping others attempt to navigate the headache inducing labyrinth that is sound and music licensing and distribution.
The real copyright should rightfully belong to the Lion that did the amazing voice acting imo.
Thank you so much for the warning. I'm a Unity developer and I'm fairly certain I have some of those sound packs going to have to go look to make sure but kind of saved my butt there so I appreciate it
I've been off sick from work due to depression issues and so not listened to Video Game Valley for a while. I was already behind! But it's good to hear your voice again.
Thanks for doing this video, it's good of you to warn others!
Funnily enough, this video brought me back to this channel. I had no idea you still made videos.
And wow, those videos have gotten quite good.
Such good detective work, thank you for this.
_"Oh, you're a sound editor?_ *_Name every sound."_*
Bruh everyone tryin to take from the best. Even when you're already literally giving it away.
Thanks for the PSA and the generosity! Much love
Been subscribed for nearly a decade… Gotta say, I massively respect and appreciate this PSA
Recognizing those sounds and knowing the exact ones is like a musician picking out that specific chord or instrument playing in a song that is fully orchestrated.
Impressive! I wouldn't be surprised if it's used a ton in media and you can pick out the ones you use often.
I can see how it could be a serious issue with it comes to copyright infringement. Always have to take the side of caution.
Reminds me of the whole issue with the whole Roblox OOF sound.
CZcams recommends me some random stuff sometimes.
Thanks for making this video. It's definitely a lot more difficult to identify sounds vs music when things like this happen but is something all types of content creators should be aware of.
As a small time game dev with sole programming skills I cannot thank you enough for the effort you put in. Your efforts literally help my dream projects come into fruition. Thank you and other creators, sound and 3D art, so much. My projects would be impossible to achieve without your help, even if it means paying you instead of getting dinner at a restaurant this month.
This is very well done and informative and, as someone aspiring to create their own short films and other media projects, I'm glad to know this
Good looking out for the community!
Very different than your normal videos, but a cool behind the scenes, and very useful warning to those who might just be getting started
I remember hearing that some of the stuff uploaded to sites that supposedly host public domain content, are sometimes actually stuff that's under someone else's copyright.
Which has made me a bit more selective where I find stuff
This was very informative and well put. Thank you for shining a spotlight on this.
NOW! THAT'S WHAT I CALL SOUND EFFECTS
Huh, had no clue this was a thing. Thank you for informing us. Will definitely take a lot more care in the future when trying to get sounds.
I have never even dared to look into free sound packs. Yours was the only one I trusted and got straight into.
can I also say that I hate that you have to buy sounds. I hate that we have commercialized art to this point.
This is why I love this channel.
Never really thought about this. Thank you for spreading awareness!
Thanks mate. I am developing a game right now, you might saved me before I could know I was in potential danger.
Nice break down, sir! Takes me back to the days I used to roll with a few Digital Jungle editors who let me search through their audio library
Appreciate this a lot, though im not surprised in the slightest. As the years go by, the respect for artists seems to find a new low.
Thanks for warning folks against these scammers!
This is a very informative vid. I know it's stuff I am still learning, so thanks bud.
Dang, boy doing the world a solid right here out of the goodness of his own heart! You love to see it.
This is some good detective work, Jason.
You have no idea how much this content means to me, I really appreciate it. We have been using their sound libraries extensively in our upcoming game project and with this knowledge we are making the decision to gut all of their assets and make our own. It won't be easy, but it will be legal. Thank you for this kind of investigative work.
Man it really pays to be a SFX/foley nerd. Thanks so much for warning us about all this. This is the kind of thing I never would've thought to look out for. I hope the rights owners can get around to suing these scammers.
Thanks detective FilmCow!
Man that Animal Trax library is pretty much legendary status at this point.
So many games and movies use their sound effects it's unreal.
Doing amazing work Jason!
You are doing amazing work for humanity.
Copyright infringement on animal sounds? That's indeed a wild scenario.
These websites need to be better about this. Absolutely sickening
Thank you so much for this video, I had so many packs from Potion Audio / Audio Alchemist and the pack from Sidearm. Just avoided a potential landmine.
Ty filmcow. You're a true hero
FilmCow the guardian angel we didn't know we needed! I will make sure to stay clear of these guys when looking for game audio! much appreciated!
Thanks for shining light on this issue
I had never contemplated audio file copyright before, having had no reason to, this is wild
You went in and were able to identify and hunt down the exact file that was stolen, and I think that's insane (in a cool way)
thanks for making this!
Damn okay I've edited probably.... 4? videos in my life. But hell man thanks for putting this out there!
Yup. That's exactly the type of content I need today. I'm bewared now
never heard of this channel before but from the start hearing about that huge pack you released for free i could tell how generous you are. do i have any reason to use anything from the pack? no. am i still grateful for it? yes
Thank you for sharing this !
And all this without using Merlin, fish and wizard?
But seriously, as the IT dude for an indie game studio this is now making me worry about the sound libraries being used. And I may have to do a bit of investigation
This is really troubling, I actually had purchased the majority of Potion Audio's packs over the last year or so, hope I am able to find replacements given how I was heavily relying on them in my project >_<
Thanks for bringing this issue to light though! Who knows how far this might've gotten
People are the worst part of life. And the best. Thank you for being one of the good ones
i love you, FilmCow.
I instantly recognized that lion roar.
Thanks for the psa and sound tracks oh great filmcow
Thank you detective mittens, you’ve done it again
The pitch shifting is the creepiest thing about this.
Now... I'm not sure what's more painful?
Having to remove the Sidearm Studios sounds from my projects.
or...
Having to find which of the audio files in my carefully-archived set of dozens of folders are Sidearm Studios sounds or not.
I mean... every sound libraries you can buy around uses their own hierarchy so I took a few days a year ago to create an archiving that would allow me to easily find the sounds effects I needed and, of course, the Sidearm Studios' library of sounds is in it.
Some people might tell something like "You would never find such a huge selection for that price", but the thing is that I had the package from an Humble Bundle when it had around 2200 SFX a couple of years ago and its regular price was marked at around 120$ CAD (which included a license for 1 seat) on the Humble Bundle page back then. Hence, it's not everyone could have known that the pack would end up being a scam.
At least, I was able to confirm that my other packs were truly made/recorded by whoever I bought them from.
The hero we never knew we needed
I definitely have some of these: this is pain, the last thing I want is to check every audio sample I use for the foreseeable future.
thank you for this video!
Thanks for the heads up!. Like you I try to usually go for recording my own but like you said some sounds are just too hard to produce from my bedroom lol
Does your SFX collection contain any sound clips of true quality? Perhaps....sound clips of a certain cursed-to-wander Bearnicorn in its natural habitat, doing things like taking crazy Frasier-on-DVD-sized dumps all over the place? Or revealing embarrassing bird secrets to unsuspecting travelers of the forest? 🤔
This can even be an issue within sound ideas and the hollywood edge themselves. I've noticed overlaps on a few occasions, and the Soundelux library (the studios legendary collection now sold by sound ideas) straight up contains full Hollywood Edge tracks. Granted they're all being sold by the same distributor anyway so the money still goes to the right places, but still it's weird to think about.
Oh wow, the fact that buying and using them could unknowingly get people in big trouble, yikes!
I can’t imagine having the disregard to blatantly copyright steal, and even resell it all on marketplaces like unity store. Wtf. Psychopath levels of confidence with these bootleggs. Thank you so much for sharing your audio library by the way.
This is very useful thank you!