I WAS ROBBED | DistroKid Steals Money From Musicians
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- čas přidán 20. 05. 2020
- In this video I tell my unfortunate experience with having music earnings forcefully apprehended by distributor DistroKid and I expose the company`s dishonest practices towards its musician clients.
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Thank s to you, Distrokid has returned all my money! Video with details soon!
*EDIT:* There you go -> czcams.com/video/DJ37xsNd9X4/video.html
JUSTICEEEEEE! But now we have to make this video go viral for every other musician out there! The world must know!
Dan, please check your e-mail - I'm a professional and certified tax preparer in the US and I am able and willing to provide free tax advice and assist in preventing these issues in the future for you with any American company through whom you may collect royalties or income.
So glad you got your money back! You deserve every penny!
That's wonderful! I just watched the video and was about to compliment you for your bravery and candor. It is hard work to confront a conglomerate, I am so pleased they returned the money.
That's great news! Hopefully they will now end the shady practice. Keep up the good work and good ethics. Seems your parents did a good job. Best of luck with all your future endeavors.
I know I'm seeing this video three years later, but you are a remarkable, intelligent and articulate young man Dan!
I’ve always thought n tell everyone the same thing about Dan. I so loved how Dan went about this 😊Well done.
Indeed! Which is obvious from the first sentence - making clear that it's not click bait. Which is what I thought it was. I too am only watching now.
Your command of the English language is phenomenal. Well done for taking on this company in such an intelligent and exceptional way.
Dan Vasc, thank you for having the stones to stand up to corrupt distributors that were stealing your money. What you had to do was not easy and you did it with dedication and good communication skills. You helped other artists to stand up to corruption which is unfortunately rampant in governments and companies providing services. Your character is admirable and you should be very proud of the amazing person that you are. I have mad respect for you as a a human being and because I truly believe that you are the best singer/artist/performer on CZcams and on the planet.
Toss a coin to your musician
Oh taxes o'plenty,
Oh taxes o'plenty.
Toss a coin to your musician, a friend of humanity!
I'm sorry, but it should have been "A friend of accountants!"
Bro...I caught myself singing that out loud! Ha!
Now this needs to be put in a Dan Vasc song..
@@johan.ohgren 😂😂
Can’t get this out of my head now... would love @danvasc to put it in a satire version!!
You are a beautiful soul. Thank you for standing up for the small musicians who cannot stand up for themselves. Your mother must be very proud.
He must be the best son in the world. He is such a sweetheart
Aside from this entire exceptional exchange on your part, what I wanted to comment on was one line, "my parents taught me absolute truth, always" You are are beautiful credit to them, and they are a beautiful credit to God in your upbringing. New to your channel, (don't follow any musician), Amazing Grace hit me profoundly. Loved it immediately and listened over and over. I see I am not the only one. You are blessed with talent, and now are a blessing to others in your charitable donation. In your victory you think of sick children. I salute you, Dan, as a good son and a wonderful human being. God bless you always. Truth is God's hallmark. From there comes your courage and eventual victory. Admirable! ❤
The entire situation is beyond redemption. I am sympathetic. You are not only a fantastic singer, you are also very intelligent and funny too. ❤❤❤
ASK AN ACCOUNTANT
Sorry you had to go through this ridiculous situation.
Ask an ADVOCATE!!!!
Call them and say you're going to a tax lawyer. And that if that doesn't work...tell them you're going to hire Chuck Norris. :)
This is just awful, can't do stuff like that to people
Did they send you a tax form with the amount they withheld? If not, calling a tax lawyer is a good idea...
Hey Dan, Thanks for having the hues to stand up to the distributer - Blessings with all your music
So glad you received your due money!! To call them and their tactics shady is a massive understatement! Congratulations on finally getting what was rightfully yours to begin with!!
You did a great service to a lot of people by telling this . I thank you
If they took the money for taxes... wouldn't they need to supply you with a tax document?
Bingo!
yes, a 1099 form, I believe
1099-misc
Key Master they paid him back already which I find weird too
@@foeloko Oh, I see. Well thank you very mu.......
LMAO! I'm sorry, I can't keep a strait face while trying to have a normal conversation with someone named "Asshole Push"!
Glad you got everything sorted out. I just wanted to make a couple points. I find it hilarious that you made this video and still had humor about what was going on with your transactions. I also appreciated that you edited the video as well. I mean, you could have just done the 'talking head' video with a few cutaways to illustrate what you were talking about to make your point, but you injected humor into the edits which help lighten the mood to such a shitty situation. Hat's off to your dedication!
Dan, you are a good guy. Only the truth count in this world. Your parents did a super job with you. Good kisses from Montréal, Canada. ❤
This is just one of many, many reasons I love this guy. So incredibly smart, well spoken, determined and funny.
Dang, I also had a third of my payouts magically missing last month, but I just thought I had confused the numbers. Thanks for bringing awareness to this!
Endigo me to smh 🤦🏻♂️
That sucks! Are you in America or a different country?
America
@@theofficialkaliboizpage3212 Wow. I guess I won't be using that company!!
I think everyone should come together and sue them
This video has to go viral!
Juggled Lotus I did. I just want to motivate others to do it.
Juggled Lotus this is only if ur not from the US, this doesn’t happen to me😂
yes it should!!!!
Absofuckinlutely!
I appreciate the kindness to the staff you displayed! Not enough people do it... even friends who work simular jobs!
Let's hope June saw the error of the company's ways and parted with them for a new job
I found your channel after wanting to find out if there were any customer complaints with Distrokid. I must say thank you for the info it is much appreciated. I am glad you got your money back . I subscribed to your channel because I find you very funny, witty and down to earth.
Its 2020, the year where independent artists beat up industries.
LÜM
LETSSSGOOOOOOO
Everyone is making it known
Wow. Even a rant video is entertaining. Damn. Dude Godbless on this and to hell with this corporate shenanigans. More power to you and your channel.
You are a real light warrior, Sir. Thank you for exposing the dishonesty that is rampant these days, and how others try to stop smaller businesses and entertainers etc from being successful with dishonesty and censorship. You are only one person that is being cheated out of their hard earned money, and I can only imagine how much cash is being filtered away from honest people by criminals that stuff their pockets with theft. It needs to be brought into the light and held accountable.
$4000. Is a lot of money in the US too. Especially NOW.
Distrokid: Keep 70% or less of your earnings!
and get a $20 refund!
Ayy party in the backyard
🤦🏽♂️
Tbh I was planning to get distrokid services
Distro kid do be sketchy.
They do take downs if you don't pay no more. Better getting signed to a label these days
what makes me angry is that a lot of music youtubers are sponsored by that company!!
I'm lifting you up in prayers. 🙏🙏🙏✝️✝️✝️ You work so hard for every dollar. It is THEFT!!!
Good on you for fighting them, and letting other people know about this kind of theft. Your music is fantastic. Thank you Dan.
Thanks for this, Dan. I've never seen your channel before, but your "detective work" well and truly gets you a sub. Thanks for the warning about this organisation's practices...
07:55 i felt that. Musicians need to rise up and organise and fight for our rights.
So sorry this happened to you, and others. It's hard to find honest people 😢
Who else is already signed up with distrokid and very scared?
Meeeeeee
I was gonna, pretty unsure now.
I would be if I had more than 10 dollars of streaming revenue lmao
@@willbirckmusic lol I have like 3 dollars
Me too!!!
At the moment there is this writing on Distrokid's website: "Upload as much as you want, keep 100% of your earnings (after PayPal fees or any taxes or whatnot)."
Wtf?
So it does. How ridiculous
Bruh rly
PayPal takes a cut on anything you make. And we all gotta pay taxes so technically distrokid isn’t
@@KeenApollo that's not quite true. The artist pays the distributor a fee, an annual flat rate in this case I believe, that is how distrokid makes their money, technically. And that is what they should be paying taxes on. The artist's earnings are supposed to go to the artist in full, and it's for them to sort out PayPal fees and taxes, not for distrokid. Although, it appears they have now changed their policy with that unprofessional statement "taxes and whatnot".
@@niveusnimbus Distrokid seems to be *withholding* taxes, like any "regular" employer. Even some stockbrokers withhold taxes from your stock earnings and forward them on your behalf to the IRS. Theoretically, at least, this guy should be seeing that his taxes in his home country have already been paid by Distrokid for these earnings. Look to any famous Hollywood that has been in tax trouble (Michael Jackson, etc) and see that this is actually beneficial to those that fail to save 30% of their earnings so they can pay their tax bill at the end of the year.
Is the correspondence acceptable? No, it seems like they don't charge enough to afford more than basic customer service regarding the platform.
Anyway, it "makes no sense" to this guy, but I've been working in the U.S. for nearly two decades and this is pretty standard. They'll likely send him a form at the end of the year showing his gross, net, and taxes already paid.
This is awful. Criminal, even.
I am so sorry this happened to you.
This is so infuriating.
Not withholding tax is actually what is criminal. Not informing your clients that you are withholding tax is negligent and potentially breach of contract, but not illegal.
Thank you so much for making this video. Distrokid is being stealing from me for quite sometime. I have friends who have bought my music and I have not received any earnings. Now I can’t even see my withdrawals when I go to the bank tab. I am frustrated as hell. We all victims should sue this company. I have a family It ain’t right.
Well spoken, you spoke the truth, and it was blatent theft.
One "loophole" you can use.. NEVER withdraw more than $9,999.00 in a 31 day period. ANYTHING over $10k will disclosed to the IRS.. and usually cause a situation like this
@STARSLAV Buddy just got his first song that had some traction, the $500 he was excited for was cut in almost half... he's gotten 0 response from customer service since last Monday
I think it really depends on the country you live in. I don’t think they do that in America.
@@bjamminsincebirth3494 Unfortunately my friend who was robbed is American /:
Paradisio Wow that’s terrible!
@@bjamminsincebirth3494 Hopefully the word on Distrokid gets around and tanks their company
thats just disgusting, i hope they get a serious lawsuit and learn from their mistakes
This is the law! Dan is just doing a bit of a drama here
@@liquifymusic1 Sue a big company, see how it goes... Do you even have the money for that?
@@felpaprod4943 No need to sue anyone, check the US government website and you will see that Distrokid is doing exactly what they need to do by law. They asked him to ask an accountant because an accountant knows what to do and how to fix these tax issues.
No need to stick to this narrative of the evil company and the small victim, there is a regulation in the US and Distrokid are just doing what the law tells them to do.
If Dan would just hire an accountant the whole problem could be addressed. But an angry youtube video with a catchy title is better no?
@@liquifymusic1 nowhere is legal to hide information from the client. If they want to outsmart clients they usually put with small letters a warning but they didnt. They said you keep 100% of your earnings. Maybe it is legal to steal the 30% of them but they didnt mention anything about it. So if he wants to lawsuit them he can do it.
I admire your humor during such a frustrating event.
How nice that you help take care of your Mum. And see her often. Family is important. You are kind and good.😊
As a last recourse, collect what information you have, confirming payments, agreements, etc. Then file formal complaints with PayPal and appropriate US Federal authorities (guessing IRS Criminal Division). The complaint, if verifiable, involves potentially millions of dollars in fraud, if you scale the underpayments across a large amount of artists. You might not get the money you believe is due to you, but you will put them in the trick bag. Another trick I've seen employed in situations like this is to file a Form 1099 with the IRS, showing that amount withheld, and the entity that benefited (Distrokid). The goal is to show THEY had income for which there may be taxes due -- and may not be reporting to the IRS.
Thanks for sharing this with the world Dan! Now I'm considering other options for distribution.
Distrokid banned my account and gave no context as to why
no way, what do you use now Snow?
They didn't like that u signed with amuse 😂
Really??
Shan probably turned Informer 😒
@Joey Diaz Really? Geez!
hahaha you must have gotten to them. Now the website says, "Upload as much as you want, keep 100% of your earnings (after PayPal fees or any taxes or whatnot)."
They always have claimed that
Lol
We are all having this unfortunate experience with Distrokid but we are just keeping quiet while Distrokid is kinda holding us by our balls, at least that is what I'm feeling now.
Dan BALLS OF STEEL Vasc
We were users of Distrokid for the past 5 years. Yesterday (5/8/2021) they removed ALL our tracks from ALL platforms. No prior notice or heads up. After we contacted them, they replied that it happened “due to limitations under US sanction laws" and "DistroKid is unable to provide any services, payments, or refunds” and that we need to “try another distributor”.
We are legal residents of the US. We pay the same taxes as US citizens and follow all rules and regulations. The discrimination level is outrageous. Having your voice cut for no reason is a nightmare for an artist. #bandistrokid
Really great Video! Thanks for the information! When you said you were brazilian I couldn't believe it haha I wasn't sure what accent you had but it's nice!
"I'm so sorry Dan. You want 20 bucks?" Some serious BS here. I hope this goes viral and settles it for you Dan. Can't believe they even got Johnathan Young.
Big balls, Dan. Congrats. Vai com fé que as coisas se resolvem.
boto fé
Praying you get that money back. 🙏 May the Lord be on your side!
Oh, I see He's already answered! Praising God! 🎉
Glad you were able to get your money back!! 🎉🎉
I love how you can see the day go by in the background form like noon to evening.
This is an eye opener for me, I recently joint the DistroKid family at a recommendation from a friend. Thank you for your testimony. Please keep us posted
You're an amazing individual. Thank you for sharing this experience, despite the subject matter. You did it in a humorous way. But with lots of logic and common Sense. I'm glad you got it sorted out. I'm about to watch the other video. Cheers.
Good luck your truthful enquiries helps many more musicians xx❤
I'm so sorry this happened to you. It's so good to see a Brazilian musician thrive
Thanks for fighting for the musicians!
Well done, Dan. We need more people like you who speak the truth and don’t accept lies and theft. Respect.
Thank you sooooo much for your video. Unfortunately, You're not the only one who has been having this problem. I also understand, from the comments below, that you have recently received the missing money. Too little too late! There are too many complaints about this thieving company that I will be staying as far away from them as possible. Also, because of you detailing your experience and helping the rest of the music community, I feel compelled to, not only subscribed to your channel, but to search for your music on Spotify. Thanks again, much love from Canada!!!! Glenn
Damn Dan, I'm sorry this happened to you. I would check that page with the 30% thing in the wayback machine, it could show you the original page if they archived it. Then you would have stronger ground on false advertisement. I hope you get this all sorted out, best of luck man.
You have my full support! Thank you for sparing the rest of us artists from falling into the same trap. We need more people like you in the world.
As a support employee I always, ALWAYS, treat the costumer by their name and always put their interests ahead of the company. My job is to support the costumer, make the costumer happy within company policy obviously, but always make sure to be truthful and let the costumer know that they're a human being, that I am a human being and that we are on the same side. When you said Dan, that you called the person "June", and the little "I know this isn't your fault" thing, it made me tear up a bit. Support is a very underrated, hard job and people like you make our day. THANK YOU!
Thank you, Dan. A very informative and well thought-out public service announcement.
Carai Dan, o assunto é sério e fiquei putasso com o que aconteceu, mas ao mesmo tempo rachei o bico com o vídeo! Só uma pessoa sábia em paz consegue fazer os outros rirem mesmo tendo sido roubado! O que é seu ninguém tira!! Abraços man!
You handled this really well man. Not many people are this patient and persistent.
You were very kind in your correspondence.
Thank you for this. You've worked very hard and given GREAT help
I was considering singing up to these guys, glad I watched this. Thanks for sharing - great video too, and songs! :D I have found people like yourself has been extremely helpful while trying to sort the BS from the real and honest. Regards
Spotify is also stealing from you my friend
Zackk knight in the housee i thought this was fake acc😂😂
Spotify is a disgrace. They spend your money on their bonuses and lavish offices.
Distrokid was bought by spotify
Distrokid has partnered with Spotify within the last year I believe.
Yes. Here's the solution. m.facebook.com/notes/mark-n-hopgood/brokenrecord-halfcent-halfacent/10158241488486405/?anchor_composer=false&ref=bookmarks
I think you should call more people together to take this shit company to court
Dan Vasc, you have our utmost respect! Thank you for exposing this dishonest company. The world needs more TRUTH. Continue what you are doing, because you are making a difference. Love your music and look forward to more. Regards
Whew thanks man. I'll consider another platform.
Btw the way you speak. Astonishing. Variety of vocabulary and flow of speech is amazing. Idk what uve done to develop it, but it definitely worked out.
Much love!
Olá Dan! Sou um fã de suas músicas e advogado em direito digital e autoral e tenho alguma experiência na área. Realmente, distribuidoras e mesmo alguma associações de músicos cobram um valor abusivo ou praticam atos obscuros ou plenamente ilegais, seja nos EUA ou Brasil. Na sua breve explicação do caso, acredito que você tem base para discutir a questão na justiça brasileira ou, até mesmo, entrar com ação coletiva. A legislação brasileira te dá algumas vantagens processuais e têm uma enfase muito grande na questão da oferta, ou seja, como seu contrato ou parceria foi apresentado. Podemos onversar mais sobre isso e ver o que posso te ajudar, sem falar de trabalho aqui, é mais uma ajuda de fã hahahaha No minimo, acho que posso te indicar algumas pessoas especializadas no caso
Pior que já vi isso com muitos canais que assim que começam a crescer entram na mira destes estelionatários, caso dele foi nas músicas, outros é nas Thumbs ou qualquer motivo (até ter apresentado conteúdo antes, então pessoa copiou). Da forma que eles agem, quando vc aciona a justiça eles começam a dar strikes no canal por contas secundárias e começam pedir muito dinheiro ou derrubam seu canal. Teve um canal de react, acho que eguinorante que após este estelionato ele preferiu apagar canal e começar de novo do que dar dinheiro para esses caras.
Vitor, aconteceu algo muito pior comigo com a Distrokid. Eles bloquearam minha conta do nada, tiraram todas minhas músicas do ar (mais de 120 músicas), e sumiram com meu dinheiro. Fora todo o prejuízo e trabalho de anos jogado no lixo, já que minhas músicas vinham crescendo em algoritmos, e entrando em playlists. Isso aconteceu há 8 ou 9 dias. Sei que você é fã do Dan, e nem me conhece, mas pode me ajudar?
I’m think I will leave Distrokid. A lot of bad reviews. Smh
But where else do you go? So far in my music circle everyone tells me distrokid is the best..
I heard AWAL is good
@@EATBONES ive heard that CD baby claims any YT vid with music on it from independent artists they work with even from the artist themselves
i've been reading more and more bad things about distrokid too. it worries me.
@@buzzwolf6990 amuse could be a think. it's free and you get 100%. but i dont know the downsides yet
KUDOS for fighting against these greedy companies! you are SUPER talented & very brave. keep fighting & keep creating!
This is very accurate information! Taxation forms popped up recently on the platform. but the way you put the video had me cracking up, never mind how serious the topic is.
kudos on the content!
Hey Dan! Thank you for that!
I'm gappy you've got a result and your money was returned!
So excited to see the details of that story!
Can we get updates on this situation. I would like to know how you resolve it.
It’s great that you speak about it out loud. Such companies should be punished. Right now, I consider selling my music digitally, but I surely won’t hire Distrokid. Thanks for the warning.
"DISTROKID ASK AN ACCOUNTANT" that's the part that had me rolling on the floor LMAOOOO
you are a talented musician Dan, please take care, and make them suffer for this fraud, fight for your income, you deserved it by hard work
You and the other musicians should take them to a court of law.
That is your money, you earned it.no matter how small the amount is.
I’m so happy you did this podcast! 🙏🏽 Thank U!
Your saving money to buy your mom an apartment, how sweet a son are you. Sounds like you have wonderful parents who raised you right.
Thank you for this video. I am very curious about what happened next and how did you solve this problem. Because I am also a distrokid user from Turkey and I am earning my whole life from it and I had the same problem.
kralll seviliyorsun
1) you should find out if your country has a tax treaty with US (IRS) as the starting point.
2) Then depending on the answer you receive.
a) Refer to Distrokid' own words about the with-holding not being neccesary.
b) Write to the IRS and make your claim for a refund though them, you have the paperwork to show that there is a claim of with-holding for IRS tax purposes, maybe you wouldn't even lose 30% legally.
I am sure the IRS would be very interested in someone claiming collecting taxes on their behalf but not forwarding the monies collected on to them.
3) Sue them anyway for Fraud, Fraudulent Misrepresentation, False Advertising.
@@thekoolbreeze seriously why no one sue them already
Kral nedensiz şekilde distrokid hesabımı engellediler. Mail'de saçma sapan şeyler yazıyorlar komedi gibi. Şuan tüm parçalara erişimim var fakat yıl sonunda tüm parçaları başka distribitöre aktarmayı düşünüyorum. Bence yol yakınken dön bir gün durduk yere parça paylaşamayabilirsin.. Yardımcı olmaya çalışırım.
The evidence is piling up against DistroKid. Musicians beware.
I’m having the same issue with TuneCore
@@HusseinAlNabulsi This is not an issue!! this is the law, you should really ask an accountant about those things don't be cheap, an accountant will save you way more on taxes than what you will pay him.
yep artist should go elsewhere man ..
@@HusseinAlNabulsi That settles it, we should rather go with well known distributors. Clearly the smaller ones don't know what they're doing
@@heinrichsmit2 these are the well known ones...
I am so impressed with your written English as well as your spoken. I wish my second language was as fluent! Respect.
Wow that really sucked. I'm very proud of you for standing up for yourself. Aldo proud of your fans. Glad you you got your money.
Until now, I respected for your talent, your music and your hard work you put into it.
Now, seriously, I respect you even more. For your honest words and your bravery.
The tax withholding is a requirement put on Distrokid by the IRS in America. In fact, it's been a legal requirement for years, so if they're suddenly doing it now, they've been in violation of US regulations for a long time. They should have known for years it was required of them, and they should have notified their customers/clients/victims (delete as appropriate) well in advance of starting withholding so everyone had time to set up their W8-BEN forms correctly.
The most sensible websites paying royalties just have a check box for you to verify that you are a non-resident, as well as small field for you to say what country you are a citizen of for tax purposes (yes, the IRS also confusingly mix up "citizen" with "resident", but that is another story), as well as your TAX ID, and that's it. Others have you fill in a proper form where you have to also fill in the bits that really the website should have done for you.
Normally, once tax withholding has been paid to the IRS, the only way to get your money back is get a US tax ID and file an American tax return, which is just ridiculous when you think about it, even if you are technically making money in America. If you've never lived somewhere, there is no good reason you'd have to fill in a tax return. I don't think any other countries do this.
Distrokid is clearly violating their duty of notification on this, in addition to also have been in violation of IRS rules for years. I was thinking of perhaps going with Distrokid some day, but this and a few other videos I've seen mentioning them is making me think again.
feliz por você ter atingido este patamar
voa Dan! Abraços.
Thank you for sharing this! I've got a good friend in the music business, an amazing indie artist like you, and this made me contact him about who he distributes his music through. He has worked with DistroKid, but not for about three years now. Keep fighting for what's right, Dan! 😎
DistroKid: You want us to feel shame, ask an accountant
Man, this is bad. I thought Distrokid is good. 😭
same :(
I'm so sorry you are having such problems. I hope you can recover your money!
Thx for this vid good sir. I was actually looking in to this platform!
Just happened to me. I'm gonna press charges. Hope you do the same. 🙏
- Good luck bro.
Dude... Me and my family follow you from Spain, my two kids (5 and 3 years old) love listening to you!
I really hope you get your money back. For sure you are keeping your dignity! Hang in there!
P.S: Did you ask an accountant?
Thank you so much Dan .You are truly a great singer and intertainer.
17:12 Love that mailman reference you made. Respect bro. Keep exposing these shits.