My song's been ripped by RedBull.com producer:(

[Len911]

Probably the taxi forward,lol!

[VanderBoegh]

Wow Les, that's crazy! Could be the result of that music supe forward... perhaps that person kept a copy of it, knowing it was a great tune, but not what he/she was looking for back then?

What's alarming is that you weren't contacted or compensated.

There's good news here though, once you see the silver lining:

1) Now that the piece has already "aired" on YouTube without your consent or authorization, you're in a great bargaining position. You can probably demand much more sync money because now they're the ones in the tough position.

2) One of your fans was familiar enough with your music to recognize it. That's tremendous, when you think about it.

3) This is a KILLER placement, even if the method for using it is pretty sketchy.

Keep us posted. If I were you, I'd play it cool but know you're in the position of power here.

~~Matt

[cardell]

Be smart about it. Fact is a producer has already put your music in a major commercial!
They are already using your music commercially, so if you play it right, it might turn into a really cool deal for you.

Wise advice!

Stuart

[LamarPecorino]

Hoping that everything turns out in your favor.

[LesSampou]

Thank You Lamar..... me too. It's in my lawyer's hands now and he's chill until he's not. I feel so grateful to have him helping me and he's kind enough to not charge unless we get a payment for use. Can't beat that. L

[eeoo]

If they ripped it from Taxi or Soundcloud it would have to be a compressed file, right? Even if it's from the supe who got it from Taxi it would be an mp3 unless they reached out to you and asked for a full res file.

[andygabrys]

hope it gets worked out Les.

re: compressed file - yeah it was probably ripped off Soundcloud. Anyone can do it with a web browser download plugin. Since the music is back a bit in the video and there is live audio from the skating, you probably don't notice any artifacts in the MP3.

If people are in enough of a hurry, they use whatever they can get (format wise)......especially if they don't pay for it.

[TheElement]

Cool song. Keep us updated on how this happened. I wouldn't mind some of my forwards turning up on tv/film. Just pay me!

[joyfrost]

I'm glad that you have a lawyer who is willing to work on a contingency basis for you. I really hope that this turns into a blessing in disguise for you!!! Good luck!!!

[johnlewitt]

You've already gotten some great advice here.

One question though, is the song registered with a rights organization? I'm a SOCAN member and I believe any play/view/stream like this would get me the writers share, regardless of if it was used with or without my permission. It's worthwhile to check out since it's been played that many times.

As to where they got it, I've heard many times at the rally that music supervisors save MP3's they get for future use in Itunes folders, so maybe someone had an actual 'physical' copy.

Regardless, you obviously have a strong legal case here. I would take the approach of working with them rather than having them remove it. If they compensate you fairly, than no harm done in the end (regardless of how slimy it is to do something like this).

John