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[Dekuboy]

Does she have twitter or something like that? Man I want to praise her for the music.

 

[alfredofroylan]

Does she have twitter or something like that? Man I want to praise her for the music.

According to Reddit, she delete everything before doing this.

 

[Dekuboy]

According to Reddit, she delete everything before doing this.

Thanks! That´s sad. I couldn´t find the game "Overdrive", where she composed the stuff. But damn the sound is good.

 

[Vyse24]

I wouldn't be surprised if this becomes the Digital Homicide/Brash Games-esque story for Jim over the Summer. She seems crazy enough to have this drag out for a long time.

BTW, for anyone that had a chance with it, how was Starr Gazer DSP?

 

[Kinyou]

Jim Sterling take on the situation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wysJGmxrfjk

It's odd how polite she is in those emails. She just doesn't give a fuck about anyone who gets hurt by this.

 

[Nick_C]

I don't know much about copyright/contract law, so I can't say either way whether or not she owns any right to the music in any of the content that she's been DMCA'ing. However, by her own admission, she's never worked for Imagos as an employee and wasn't a co-founder like she'd claimed to be, both on her site and in an interview.

Joe E. Allen: Where do you see yourself headed next?

Alex Mauer: I think I’ll be doing a lot more game soundtracks, especially since I co-founded the game company Imagos Softworks for the production of Starr Mazer.

I’m also the in-house composer for Imagos Films, doing a lot of work on commercials for Adult Swim Games. I’ve been working with Brave Wave on that secret project as well. I really want to start working on Vegavox 3, when I have some free time.

I've found a post from what very much seems to be her, but I'm not sure if I should link it because she shares some personal info that I'm certain some people (not GAF) will latch onto in their crusade to destroy her. I'll quote the most relevant info:

I was at one time referred to as "co-founder" of Imagos Softworks, but don't let this misnomer imply that I actually had any ownership of the company. I was employed as a freelance contractor, never paid a salary, never offered employee benefits, and I was responsible for paying my own Social Security taxes. I never signed any written agreement indicating being an internal employee of Imagos Softworks or Imagos Films, and no written agreement was ever offered for me to be hired as an internal employee.

It would seem that there is at least one instance of her misrepresenting herself in public if the co-founder part is true. As stated earlier, I can't tell either way whether or not she owns the rights to the music produced, and I will be checking a look at Leonard French's livestream in an hour and a half to see what an actual copyright attorney has to say on the matter.

One thing I do know for certain is that DMCA'ing videos created by people that have no dog in her fight is bullshit. Some of these channels are one strike away form being shut down, and for what? She wants to turn an angry internet mob on former 'co-workers'?

 

[BigDes]

This is the thing, I think totalbiscuit brought it up, you have to be clean to get full compensation, Alex Maur doing all this is only going to hurt her case in court, she may get compensated if it turns out she does legally own the music but she'll likely not get the full package because she's being a dick to unrelated people.

And she's taken the immediate conversation away from the core issue of wether she has the rights to the music anymore, that side of things is irrelevant at this point and she doesn't seem to grasp that if the Jim Sterling video is any indication.

Yep and there silliest thing about this is that if what she alleges is true she could have raised awareness to this in a way that would have had literally everyone on her side.

But the path she took where she decided to effectively hold innocent unrelated Youtubers hostage means no one gives a shit about her argument with Imago at all.

 

[Kthulhu]

This lady seems nuts.

Also, no music is worth $1000. We're the instruments made out of solid gold?

Edit: And good luck with suing Turner lady.

It's odd how polite she is in those emails. She just doesn't give a fuck about anyone who gets hurt by this.

She said in she doesn't see making YouTube videos as a real job (as some on this site unfortunately do). So she doesn't see it as hurting anyone I suppose.

 

[Falk]

It would seem that there is at least one instance of her misrepresenting herself in public if the co-founder part is true. As stated earlier, I can't tell either way whether or not she owns the rights to the music produced, and I will be checking a look at Leonard French's livestream in an hour and a half to see what an actual copyright attorney has to say on the matter.

Again, the topic very much is about two different things here. I don't think anyone in their right mind would condone the collateral damage from the fallout directly resulting of her actions with regards to the issue here.

At the same time, I *am* rather curious to what contracts/documentation exist, which then leads to the question of "Who owns the rights to the music of Starr Mazer: DSP?"

Just as a bit of background, Alex and Don have been working together for some time prior to Starr Mazer. Alex holds a bit of a distinction as the first person to use chiptune in a feature length film (Don/Imagos Films' "Motivational Growth", 2013). It's probably (and I may be wrong about this) where the Work-for-Hire agreement picture being shown in a few places comes from, and why it references "Picture", instead of "Video Game" which would have been expected for the work on Starr Mazer and Starr Mazer: DSP.

I want to assume that the work-for-hire arrangement was grandfathered into Imagos' next undertakings, under Imagos Softworks, which essentially is the development of Starr Mazer, and its relevant Kickstarter. We do also have Don and Imagos's account on the Kickstarter here that says "Imagos had an ongoing work for hire agreement with Alex, rendering her paid for work the property of Imagos"

That being said, we do not know if any supplemental contract or verbal agreement was formed between Alex and Imagos over this subsequent collaboration, which would then supercede what's in the previous contract. And, of course, if such a supplemental agreement DOES exist, validating that Alex does indeed own the rights to the music specifically for Starr Mazer DSP, then the onus is on her to present that proof, as it is opposite to Imagos' own testimony above. edit: Let me reword some things to clearly state that despite my curiosity, this is probably something that is best left to the relevant parties to work out between themselves - it doesn't need to be a soap opera with the Internet with an audience.

p.s. It probably bears mentioning that Imagos Softworks and their Kickstarter was for Starr Mazer, and somewhere along the way for several reasons I do not fully comprehend (hence I won't comment on), a spin-off game, "Starr Mazer: DSP" was made and released in Early Access. Hence, the situation was quite a bit of an unforeseen set of moving goalposts to begin with, which I feel may be where the point of contention comes from as far as Alex's disagreement with Imagos is concerned.

And all that being said, no, obviously it still wouldn't justify the shitstorm we've ended up with right now.

 

[Nick_C]

Again, the topic very much is about two different things here. I don't think anyone in their right mind would condone the collateral damage from the fallout directly resulting of her actions with regards to the issue here.

At the same time, I *am* rather curious to what contracts/documentation exist, which then leads to the question of "Who owns the rights to the music of Starr Mazer: DSP?"

Just as a bit of background, Alex and Don have been working together for some time prior to Starr Mazer. Alex holds a bit of a distinction as the first person to use chiptune in a feature length film (Don/Imagos Films' "Motivational Growth", 2013). It's probably (and I may be wrong about this) where the Work-for-Hire agreement picture being shown in a few places comes from, and why it references "Picture", instead of "Video Game" which would have been expected for the work on Starr Mazer and Starr Mazer: DSP.

I want to assume that the work-for-hire arrangement was grandfathered into Imagos' next undertakings, under Imagos Softworks, which essentially is the development of Starr Mazer, and its relevant Kickstarter. We do also have Don and Imagos's account on the Kickstarter here that says "Imagos had an ongoing work for hire agreement with Alex, rendering her paid for work the property of Imagos"

That being said, we do not know if any supplemental contract or verbal agreement was formed between Alex and Imagos over this subsequent collaboration, which would then supercede what's in the previous contract. And, of course, if such a supplemental agreement DOES exist, validating that Alex does indeed own the rights to the music specifically for Starr Mazer DSP, then the onus is on her to present that proof, as it is opposite to Imagos' own testimony above. (At the time of this posting, I don't believe she has?)

p.s. It probably bears mentioning that Imagos Softworks and their Kickstarter was for Starr Mazer, and somewhere along the way for several reasons I do not fully comprehend (hence I won't comment on), a spin-off game, "Starr Mazer: DSP" was made and released in Early Access. Hence, the situation was quite a bit of an unforeseen set of moving goalposts to begin with, which I feel may be where the point of contention comes from as far as Alex's disagreement with Imagos is concerned.

And all that being said, no, obviously it still wouldn't justify the shitstorm we've ended up with right now.

I agree with all of this. I brought up the falsifcation of her co-founder status as a point of data which details that she has misrepresented herself with regards to her business with Imagos previously. It is in no way meant to paint her in an even more negative light. I also bought it up as a counterpoint to what was posted earlier, where she was said to have been one of the founding members of the company.

If anything, this makes it a little easier in determining whether or not she has any claim over the music insofar as she has no stake in the company that claims ownership. Unless I am totally ignorant to how this works, which I may be, her DMCA takedowns hinge solely on what the contreact has to say, and whether it covers all work that she has done for Imagos or only part of it.

All of that being said, if the contract covers everything she has produced for them then she has falsified her takedown strikes. Whether it be thorough ignorance or malice is not for me to decide, but, in the very least, YouTube should be watching this and return all channels affected to good standing. They should also build some sort of mechanism to protect content creators from things like this in the future, but that probably won't happen if history is anything to go by.

Edit to comment on your edit: We seem to be in agreement here as well. The only thing that the internet stands to gain from this whole debacle is that it has the potential to set a precedent if her claims are false. This has been gaining more and more traction since at least March of this year, with it blowing up now. I know Jim Sterling has an almost blanket protection from a lot of copyright strikes, but maybe it's time for YT to adopt the 'innocent until proven guilty' aspect of US law and start to hold the strikers responsible for producing proof of ownership for the content that they claim.

 

[Uhyve]

Yes because people claim to be cofounder's of studio's all the time. I ain't excusing her shit just asking if you could get a statement on that. She is pulling some extreme shit but there is clearly something else going on here. I understand you are pissed since she attacked your channel but maybe chill out on attacking me.

Ok dude can you post a copy of the contract here. The one in your video is for contracted film work. The term of the contract is even for the "run of the show" how does that apply here?

Link to exact part of video. The contract in your video even talks about screen credits. I don't think they can use that for any work she did on their video game.



The contract that is in his video is for film work not video game work unless there is another contract.

Firstly, the contract specifically says "Contractor's employment hereunder shall not be for a run of the show or for any guaranteed period of employment". Also, this isn't talking about contract term length, but employment length, further going to specify that the employment is "work for hire".

In the work for hire section, the contract says that all works resulting from their commission will be owned in full by the production company. This is repeated in the ownership section, saying "there shall be no ownership of control on the part of the contractor".

Under the "term" section they did seem to make a mistake by saying "Film" instead of "works", but that section is just listing reasons that the company can use to terminate employment, that one obviously isn't usable. It obviously wouldn't nullify an entire contract.

 

[hotcyder]

Nobody tell gamergate

 

[Falk]

I agree with all of this. I brought up the falsifcation of her co-founder status as a point of data which details that she has misrepresented herself with regards to her business with Imagos previously. It is in no way meant to paint her in an even more negative light. I also bought it up as a counterpoint to what was posted earlier, where she was said to have been one of the founding members of the company.

Honestly, I see the whole co-founder thing as something of a verbal agreement that hand no legal basis and was more for public image (on both her part and Imagos) than anything else.

I feel it's very much possible to, as a result of a discussion along the lines of 'hey, lets do ____ together!' to consider yourself a founding member of an undertaking or organization in concept if not in practice. From personal experience this does often stem from when certain parties pledge their effort vs the parties who are both pledging their effort and their finances (and thus bear most of the risk) into a startup, for example.

Obviously, that self-proclaimed status would essentially not be able to have any merit in any legal discussion.

Under the "term" section they did seem to make a mistake by saying "Film" instead of "works"

I'd posit that the agreement is likely specifically in reference to a prior project. Read my post above.

 

[Nick_C]

Honestly, I see the whole co-founder thing as something of a verbal agreement that hand no legal basis and was more for public image (on both her part and Imagos) than anything else.

I feel it's very much possible to, as a result of a discussion along the lines of 'hey, lets do ____ together!' to consider yourself a founding member of an undertaking or organization in concept if not in practice. From personal experience this does often stem from when certain parties pledge their effort vs the parties who are both pledging their effort and their finances (and thus bear most of the risk) into a startup, for example.

Obviously, that self-proclaimed status would essentially not be able to have any merit in any legal discussion.



I'd posit that the agreement is likely specifically in reference to a prior project. Read my post above.

Yup yup. It was more to address the posters going back and forth about it. Basically to set the record straight on if she held any type of founder status with the company she is in dispute with.

 

[The Scollard]

Leonard French's livestream on the issue just started.

EDIT: Ended.

 

[autoduelist]

Again, the topic very much is about two different things here. I don't think anyone in their right mind would condone the collateral damage from the fallout directly resulting of her actions with regards to the issue here.

At the same time, I *am* rather curious to what contracts/documentation exist, which then leads to the question of "Who owns the rights to the music of Starr Mazer: DSP?"

Just as a bit of background, Alex and Don have been working together for some time prior to Starr Mazer. Alex holds a bit of a distinction as the first person to use chiptune in a feature length film (Don/Imagos Films' "Motivational Growth", 2013). It's probably (and I may be wrong about this) where the Work-for-Hire agreement picture being shown in a few places comes from, and why it references "Picture", instead of "Video Game" which would have been expected for the work on Starr Mazer and Starr Mazer: DSP.

I want to assume that the work-for-hire arrangement was grandfathered into Imagos' next undertakings, under Imagos Softworks, which essentially is the development of Starr Mazer, and its relevant Kickstarter. We do also have Don and Imagos's account on the Kickstarter here that says "Imagos had an ongoing work for hire agreement with Alex, rendering her paid for work the property of Imagos"

That being said, we do not know if any supplemental contract or verbal agreement was formed between Alex and Imagos over this subsequent collaboration, which would then supercede what's in the previous contract. And, of course, if such a supplemental agreement DOES exist, validating that Alex does indeed own the rights to the music specifically for Starr Mazer DSP, then the onus is on her to present that proof, as it is opposite to Imagos' own testimony above. edit: Let me reword some things to clearly state that despite my curiosity, this is probably something that is best left to the relevant parties to work out between themselves - it doesn't need to be a soap opera with the Internet with an audience.

p.s. It probably bears mentioning that Imagos Softworks and their Kickstarter was for Starr Mazer, and somewhere along the way for several reasons I do not fully comprehend (hence I won't comment on), a spin-off game, "Starr Mazer: DSP" was made and released in Early Access. Hence, the situation was quite a bit of an unforeseen set of moving goalposts to begin with, which I feel may be where the point of contention comes from as far as Alex's disagreement with Imagos is concerned.

And all that being said, no, obviously it still wouldn't justify the shitstorm we've ended up with right now.

While i pretty much agree with everything above, one should note that the existence of this contract implies they work under a contractual, work for hire basis. That lessens the chance significantly that the work for -this- game wasn't under contract, and wasn't work-for-hire. General industry practice also suggests the same, that the company owns the music. Her being paid a significant amount and her previous arguments that she was owed a bit more money -also- suggest contractual work-for-hire.

 

[Falk]

Personal experience and the experience of many colleagues around me suggest the opposite also does happen. While obviously another set of anecdotes, I can recount quite a few cases where the relationship, terms and remuneration methods, between a contractor and a client changes between consecutive projects.

This is especially true of the startup level and newer collaborations as trust is being built between parties, practicalities of an agreement are being scoped out in hindsight, etc.

 

[Plumpbiscuit]

I will lose even more faith in humanity than I already have if she doesn't get sued at the end of this. Shit like this absolutely should not be allowed to happen.

Edit: Okay just found out Leonard French MIGHT be suing her.

 

[Savitar]

Jim Sterling take on the situation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wysJGmxrfjk

Jim says it very well.

A pity about all this, she could have went about the matter in a different way and had people on her side, but she's just burned people here.

 

[Patchy]

Yep and the contract Taptap has in his video is for film work for hire. If that is the contract they refer to in their kickstarter response they think that applies to all work she does for them.



Look at the video link I posted. If that is the contract they are trying to use then I think they don't have a claim to the music.

Let it go.

 

[Wereroku]

Let it go.

Ok did you not notice the date on that? We are basically just on standby for this story unless someone takes her to court for her takedowns.

I will lose even more faith in humanity than I already have if she doesn't get sued at the end of this. Shit like this absolutely should not be allowed to happen.

Edit: Okay just found out Leonard French MIGHT be suing her.

She is basically in his area so he offered to take the case for anyone affected. Don't know if anyone is willing to put the money up for it though.

 

[TomatoJuice]

The Leonard French steam was very interesting.

It seems that Alex really doesn't have much of a leg to stand on.
Not only is it very unlikely she has the rights.
But even if she has the DMCA take downs would be probably not legal.

Interestingly he even said that if she had accepted the offer of the Star Mazer devs to take the rights back. She would still not have the right to retroactively forbid the use of the music in Videos released beforehand.

That's why I love L.Frenches content. It's way more interesting to hear what a actual copyright say about this.
Still it's sad because you can say what you want about Alex Mauer. She does know how to make a good video game soundtrack.

 

[SodiumBenzoate]

Leonard French's livestream on the issue just started.

EDIT: Ended.

Jim Sterling take on the situation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wysJGmxrfjk

Maybe put these in the OP, should reduce the TB shitposts.

 

[Infinite Justice]

Jim Sterling take on the situation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wysJGmxrfjk

Man Jim is fucking ready LOL

Also if this was handled in a better way say GETTING A FUCKING LAWYER and dealing with the developer this shitstorm might not have blown up the way it did.

 

[Plumpbiscuit]

Ugh...

Apparently 70+ videos have been taken down and 3 channels either got 3 strikes or are about to get 3 strikes.

 

[Azure Dream]

It's pretty cool how one person with no or little established takedown history can just decide to do this suddenly, and there's nothing in YouTube's system that doesn't automatically throw up a "Hang on, let's review this before going further" flag.

 

[Falk]

This is extremely self-destructive behavior. I hope she gets useful counsel about this, because this isn't in her best interest. At all.

 

[Tecnniqe]

I mean this is purgery right? Fake DMCA claims?

YouTube need to shut this thing down ffs

 

[Protome]

Even if she doesn't get sued into oblivion, her career is well and truly over.

 

[1upsuper]

I was wondering what was going on with this game since it was sitting in my Steam wishlist and I finally wanted to buy it, only to find it unavailable.

 

[DodgerSan]

Jim Sterling take on the situation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wysJGmxrfjk

Hmmm. Has Jims video been taken down? Not showing for me. Could someone recap?

 

[Phamit]

Hmmm. Has Jims video been taken down? Not showing for me. Could someone recap?

He took it down, because People harassed the devs thinking it was the composer. He will reupload an edited version

 

[Dynasty]

TB made this statement.

As Alex Mauer continues to publicly post bizarre things and send strange emails to people I am genuinely concerned that this is a serious cry for help from somebody who may be in danger of harming themselves. I can't process the idea that somebody would so publicly and persistently self destruct their career and credibility without doing so on purpose, out of some deep-seated problem. It excuses nothing but ultimately the well-being of a person is and always should be the priority. If anybody knows her IRL, please try and make contact, check on her. These posts of hers that she made just a few hours ago on the steam forums are so utterly bizarre, the contradictions in them, the utterly delusional nature of what's being said, I can't helped but be worried for this persons safety. I just can't rationalize the notion that somebody would keep saying these things without there being some severe underlying cause for it. Is that naive? Better to be thought naive than miss a cry for help from another human being. Her Despicable actions are not in dispute, but I hope somebody is able to make sure she is ok before something unthinkable happens. I really hope I'm wrong about this.

 

[DodgerSan]

He took it down, because People harassed the devs thinking it was the composer. He will reupload an edited version

Ah ok.

 

[BY2K]

He took it down, because People harassed the devs thinking it was the composer. He will reupload an edited version

Yeah maybe putting an email in the middle of the screen without much context wasn't a smart move...

 

[Revolutionary]

He took it down, because People harassed the devs thinking it was the composer. He will reupload an edited version

lmao
Some of the people that follow these YT personalities are the most mindless and ignorant people I've ever encountered, so I'm not surprised they misconstrue something like that unless Jim makes it VERY FUCKING CLEAR.

 

[Savitar]

He took it down, because People harassed the devs thinking it was the composer. He will reupload an edited version

Did...........did they listen at all?!

 

[jett]

lmao
Some of the people that follow these YT personalities are the most mindless and ignorant people I've ever encountered, so I'm not surprised they misconstrue something like that unless Jim makes it VERY FUCKING CLEAR.

This must be the most interesting time in history for sociologists.

 

[Froli]

TB made this statement.

This doesn't look good.

 

[LiK]

She basically destroyed her own career by doing this. What is she thinking? Who wants to work with someone who does this?

 

[CambriaRising]

She basically destroyed her own career by doing this. What is she thinking? Who wants to work with someone who does this?

No one will. There is no shortage of good composers out there these days. She's done.

 

[creatchee]

If, ****IF****, she totally thinks she's in the right and owns the music, then the DMCA strikes make perfect sense. While you don't have to actively pursue all copyright violations to retain copyright (if you actually have it), you stand to lose value on any potential legal damages if you choose to take somebody to court, as the market value for your copyrighted material is considered lower if it is readily available and unchallenged.

Basically I think she's probably planning to sue and is covering her bases to get the highest amount if she wins. Or she's crazy.

 

[Peroroncino]

Hmmm. Has Jims video been taken down? Not showing for me. Could someone recap?

Here's the updated vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHWlK21sdHs

And here's why he removed to og vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qHIfb8vphM

 

[Falk]

I'm with TB on this one. This isn't anything like Romine v. Jim other than superficially.

The city she's in has a very strong indie and musician community. I'm sure they're aware of what's going on already.

 

[bobbychalkers]

After catching up on what happened, all this controversy led me to actually boot the game up for the first time since getting a backer code a while back. Its pretty actually pretty fun shame about what's going down.

 

[Falk]

So, since we just closed a thread w.r.t. Jim's apology video with a link here, let's clarify here for all the traffic that might potentially be coming over from that:

The story was originally ran by a YouTube channel, SidAlpha, which showed the e-mail address on screen with "DO NOT USE UNLESS YOU HAVE RECEIVED A DMCA!". SidAlpha explains that this address was provided by a rep from Imagos (the devs) for people to contact should they have been hit with a DMCA, in order to obtain a copy of the contract w.r.t. getting their DMCA strike cleared.

Jim Sterling's original video, meant as a signal boost, also provided the same information and address.

The internet being the internet, started sending a bunch of garbage to the e-mail address.

My take regarding the context here is that his frame of mind was simply to signal boost SidAlpha's message. Should he have known better? Probably. Especially with the amount of idiots on the net who A) have trouble with comprehension, B) hate Jim and did it just to be contrary or C) 'for the lulz'.

He apologized, re-edited and re-uploaded the video without the contact information.

And here we are now.

 

[R_thanatos]

I really doesn't understand why the legal action was not taken before going this route.
Did alex talk to no one before acting ? any advice would or should have said that this route would only lead to a bad end.

 

[The Scollard]

Another update from SidAlpha

It seems that Mauer has no idea how to use Google, as she made a claim that he was able to refute in 37 seconds.

In good news, it seems that some of the DMCA are being counterclaimed immediately (SidAlpha believes Youtube Gaming was involved) and Leonard French is going represent Imagos in a suit against Mauer.

 

[R_thanatos]

Another update from SidAlpha

It seems that Mauer has no idea how to use Google, as she made a claim that he was able to refute in 37 seconds.

In good news, it seems that some of the DMCA are being counterclaimed immediately (SidAlpha believes Youtube Gaming was involved) and Leonard French is going represent Youtube in a suit against Mauer.

Youtube ? i was under the impression that L French was involved ( is going to represent ) with the company that made the game not youtube on that case

 

[The Scollard]

Youtube ? i was under the impression that L French was involved ( is going to represent ) with the company that made the game not youtube on that case

My mistake. You were right; it's Imagos he's representing. I accidently wrote Youtube instead because I mentioned it earlier in the sentence.

I edited my previous post to fix the mistake.