Why have tracks of mine been uploaded to my profile by someone else?

With the launch of SoundCloud Go, a lot of content is ingested through the supply chain as opposed to being uploaded directly by creators. 

Ingested content is delivered by a rightsholder, also known as a digital distributor.  Ingested content can also be a manual upload that has been on a creator’s profile for years but is now monetisable and managed by the Rightsholder / Digital Distributor rather than the creator themselves.

What is a Rightsholder / Digital Distributor?

A digital distributor, also known as a rightsholder, is a distributor that delivers content to digital platforms like SoundCloud, typically for monetisation.  Digital distributors may also deliver content to our content ID system for copyright protection.

Most Rightsholders / Digital Distributors deliver this content on behalf of a record label, but some work with artists directly.

They have the ability to designate which profile their ingested content should live on. They manage this content via their specific delivery feed and users are unable to make changes to it. Depending on the Rightsholder / Digital Distributor distributing the content, users may be able to indicate where they want their supply chain content to live.

How can I tell if my track is managed by its rightsholder?

Ingested content will appear in your ‘Tracks’ the same as your manually uploaded content does.

If you would like to hide, delete or make changes to the tracks, you need to reach out to the rightsholder. We can not make any change without the rightsholder’s confirmation. These changes include track name, track artwork, release date, takedown requests, and availability to name a few.

The tracks that are managed by a rightsholder will have the tag shown in the image below.

If you are unaware of your relationship to your digital distributor, you can seek advice through your label or reach out to us and we can provide more information.

Why do we need their confirmation to make changes?

There are a variety of reasons. As they are a digital distributor, they may have the exclusive rights to distribute the content on digital platforms. Therefore, we prefer to have the digital distributor involved in the conversation. Adding them to the conversation also helps because they have the tools to avoid content blocks on future manual uploads.

Why are there tracks on my profile that belong to another artist?

Sometimes tracks are uploaded to the wrong profile as part of our SoundCloud Go subscription service. This is known as misingested content. This happens when labels and rightholders send SoundCloud the content via the supply chain feed, and our system mistakenly attributes it to the wrong profile.

How do I report tracks on my profile that belong to another artist?

If you have found tracks on your profile that belong to another artist, please fill out this form.

Why are my tracks on the wrong profile?

This can happen for numerous reasons, such as: Common artist names, signs and symbols in the artist name, multiple rightsholders delivering the same content or the designated artist profile has been deleted. 

In some cases, when our system is unable to find an appropriate profile to map to, a new profile with your delivered Artist Name will be created. This is known as an auto-generated profile.

In cases where a rightsholder or user gets in touch letting us know that content has been misingested, we are able to move content over to the correct, indicated profile. Unfortunately, due to current limitations, this means that all track metrics are lost. This includes play counts, comments, and likes.

Although the play counts and social signals do not carry across when moving content, rest assured that content does perform far better on artists' personal and correct profiles than on auto-generated or incorrect profiles, and moving content is beneficial to both creators and fans.

How do I report my tracks on the wrong profile?

Please get in touch with your Rightsholder / Digital Distributor and request that the tracks be migrated or the profiles to be merged. SoundCloud requires written confirmation from the rightsholder for the content to be moved to another profile. If you're unaware of your relationship to this rightsholder, then please contact your label who will be able to help.

I found a profile using my artist name and posting my music that I didn't create - what's going on? 

Does the profile look quite anonymous (as in it’s lacking photos and any information other than your artist name)? This is most likely an auto-generated profile. In other words: a profile created by SoundCloud when our system is unable to find the correct profile to host content delivered by a rightsholder.

A rightsholder, also known as a digital distributor, distributes content to digital platforms like SoundCloud, typically for monetisation. We are legally obliged to host all content delivered to us by digital distributors and this is why we create auto-generated profiles when our system can’t find the correct profile to put content on – because every track needs a home.

I've found an Auto-Generated Profile - what do I do?

You have two options:

• You can file a ‘profile harmonisation’ request with your Rightsholder / Digital distributor

What is a profile harmonisation?

In short: Moving all tracks from an auto-generated profile on to a manual profile and deleting the auto-generated account. Currently when a harmonisation is actioned, all plays and social signals associated with the duplicate profile are lost. To be clear, you retain full control of your own account, its settings and visuals, manually uploaded tracks etc. when we merge profiles, but you will be unable to edit the supply chain content. Supply chain content can only be updated by the rightsholder.

• You can report an auto-generated profile and have a 'takedown request' issued through your Rightsholder / Digital Distributor

What is a takedown request?

A request from a rightsholder asking SoundCloud to remove supply-chain content. If you would like to request that the tracks on the auto-generated profile be removed from the platform altogether, that’s not something SoundCloud can help with directly. In this instance, you'll need to get in touch with the relevant digital distributor (via your label if need be) and get them to send us a takedown request for the content. (You can reach out to us for information on who your digital distributor is.)