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[Tom Nook Sawyer]

The Pokemon Company has shut down the Pokemon Reorchestrated project. According to Kotaku:

Despite getting the approval of the original publishers for Kanto Symphony — a requirement before the music can be listed on services like iTunes, where the album is still available for $16.99 — that didn’t stop someone from The Pokemon Company from filing two takedown notices to have the videos deleted.
[snip]
Fast forward a week to another takedown notice from The Pokemon Company. The strikes had tallied up and, despite Burks saying that the corporation had not issued any reasons or pinpointed what part of the offending material was copyrighted, that was enough for YouTube to take down the channel entirely.
[snip]
The YouTube takedown hasn’t affected the music’s availability on other platforms and he added that the music was “100% legally licensed”. “Not knowing what I did wrong — having my licensed music removed from YouTube without an explanation — left me feeling disheartened and disillusioned by a company that’s currently celebrating the 20th anniversary of the original Pokemon games.”

From the creator's Twitter:

PKMN Reorchestrated @pkmnreorch
So @Kamex_55 raised a good point: that the removal of Kanto Symphony might be part of a larger crackdown on fan content. I really hope not.

PKMN Reorchestrated @pkmnreorch
In all honesty, it's things like this that make me want to never produce video game covers again.

PKMN Reorchestrated @pkmnreorch
At the same time, I love video game music, and Pokémon, far too much to let go of that.

Pretty unfortunate. More here: http://www.kotaku.com.au/2016/02/the-pokemon-company-just-killed-another-great-pokemon-fan-project/

 

[BY2K]

Wait, they had permission to do this but it still got takedown?

Sounds like miscommunication internally at TPC.

 

[Exterminieren]

The Pokémon Company continues to be the worst.

 

[bizzarewars]

Pretty strange that they would take it down if it was licensed.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

These were officially licensed, so it seems there must have been a miscommunication somewhere.

 

[Tom Nook Sawyer]

Pretty strange that they would take it down if it was licensed.

Pretty strange that they CAN take it down if it was licensed.

Spoiler

Okay not really, cuz YouTube

 

[Neoxon]

Seems like a case of miscommunication.

 

[udivision]

Did Kanto Symphony get the OK from the TPC?

...do they need to?

 

[Trojita]

Thread Title is a little weird since the music is available elsewhere legally. Still TPC and Youtube need to get their shit together.

 

[NinjaCoachZ]

Did Kanto Symphony get the OK from the TPC?

...do they need to?

In an AMA he said

Surprisingly easy. It was made even easier once Game Freak and The Pokémon Company decided to upload their original soundtracks to the Pokémon games to iTunes--Joypad Records was able to get into contact with them and license the album, ensuring TPC is paid proper royalties on all sales of Kanto Symphony.

Please check out Joypad's website if you have any more questions about copyright clearance! They're a fantastic, hard-working bunch of geeks such as myself and really helped to make my dream come true without running into copyright issues: http://www.joypadrecords.com/

So wait, would the thing be just that they got royalties from the iTunes sales, but not the Youtube videos?

 

[udivision]

In an AMA he said


So wait, would the thing be just that they got royalties from the iTunes sales, but not the Youtube videos?

It sounds like Kanto Reorchestrated didn't have the rights to allow YouTube uploads then?

 

[Kouriozan]

That's pretty weird since he was allowed to do it.
Sad that TPC had to shut down his channel with their 3 strikes.

 

[NCR Redslayer]

Seems like this is a bigger problem with Youtube's copyright striking.

 

[21XX]

Misleading thread title for maximum fan outrage. The album is still available on iTunes. Probably just some (unfortunate) fine print regarding distribution rights.

 

[NinjaCoachZ]

It sounds like Kanto Reorchestrated didn't have the rights to allow YouTube uploads then?

So I just checked the website of Joypad Recordds (which now redirects to a thing called "Loudr") and this is what I found in their FAQ.

http://help.loudr.fm/knowledgebase/...a-loudr-cover-song-license-allow-me-to-use-th

Does a Loudr cover song license allow me to use the song in a video, such as on YouTube?
← Loudr Licensing (License-Only Service)

[This article applies to the Loudr Licensing service]

No. Loudr’s cover song license only allows you to distribute and sell an audio-only cover of the song you have licensed. The license does not cover use in film, television, advertising, Internet video, or any other type of audio-visual use. These types of uses require what is known as a synchronization license.

A synchronization license (a.k.a. "sync license" or "synch license") is a type of license that authorizes use of a song and/or recording in a video, usually for a specified period of time and set of media. Sync licenses are granted on a case by case basis by the rights holder(s) of the music, and the fees can vary based on a variety of factors, including the use and the song.

Note that the album's release on iTunes and Spotify is not affected.

Looks like, if this is the case, while he did have permission to put the album on those services, he didn't have permission to put them on Youtube. That's why only the Youtube uploads were taken down. He didn't have permission for that usage.

 

[Real Hero]

a wild takedown notice appeared!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Jmty_NiaXc

 

[Tom Nook Sawyer]

Misleading thread title for maximum fan outrage. The album is still available on iTunes. Probably just some (unfortunate) fine print regarding distribution rights.

To be clear, the thread title is based on Kotaku's article

 

[21XX]

To be clear, the thread title is based on Kotaku's article

Huh, fair enough. That's a bad Kotaku headline (but what's new?).

 

[Comet]

I absolutely adore this project. I hate to hear this, hope it can get resolved. Tired of TPC crapping all over its fans.

 

[Tom Nook Sawyer]

Huh, fair enough. That's a bad Kotaku headline (but what's new?).

I agree, and I would have rewrote it if I had realize it was inaccurate (I put it in first, then forgot about it as I wrote the rest of the OP

 

[fernoca]

Misleading title from Kotaku aside, they got permission to release and sell it on iTunes etc, but not on YouTube which is why they got the notice on YouTube only.

They haven't "killed" anything. Not yet at least.

 

[Samaritan]

Smells like another case of the legal department not talking to the rest of the company, as per usual.

 

[21XX]

Smells like another case of the legal department not talking to the rest of the company, as per usual.

Not what it looks like at all. He got the rights to distribute on iTunes and Spotify but not Youtube. Of course the videos are going to be taken down. An unfortunate goof, but it looks like it's on him. Makes his little tantrum about quitting look pretty silly.

 

[Justified]

Smells like another case of the legal department not talking to the rest of the company, as per usual.

Smells like a case of a news outlet jumping the gun, and not doing due diligence

 

[Kyzer]

Wait, they had permission to do this but it still got takedown?

Sounds like miscommunication internally at TPC.

Well you need permission from every single entity that has any stake in any of the productions. Idk what happened here

 

[udivision]

So I just checked the website of Joypad Recordds (which now redirects to a thing called "Loudr") and this is what I found in their FAQ.

http://help.loudr.fm/knowledgebase/...a-loudr-cover-song-license-allow-me-to-use-th



Note that the album's release on iTunes and Spotify is not affected.

Looks like, if this is the case, while he did have permission to put the album on those services, he didn't have permission to put them on Youtube. That's why only the Youtube uploads were taken down. He didn't have permission for that usage.

Congratulations, you've now done more work than whoever wrote that article.

It seems like this is the case, but it is still unfortunate the YouTube account was taken down. Hopefully it can be restored.

 

[Daria Morgendorffer]

Isn't it just being removed from YouTube? "Killing" might be a bit of an overstatement.

 

[Based Calla]

All of the music is still on Spotify, so I think this more or less an issue with Youtube's takedown. Still it's a shame that if TPC had something to do with it.