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

What is a Rightsholder / Digital Distributor?

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

Why do we need a rightsholder's confirmation to make changes?

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 a rightsholder's 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.