March 25, 2024

Amuse.io holding back royalties is haram!



The shocking and unpleasant experience with my former music distributor Amuse.io was a red flag for me as an indie writer and indie lyricist! 

As an artist we put lots of time, effort, energy and money into our projects knowing that we, and only we are the only copyrighter. Then we share our work with the world and trust distribution companies. I'm writing and publishing books/e-books for a decade and have been releasing songs for two years now.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think that a company would be as CORRUPT as this Swedish music distributor, Amuse.io. 
Not only was I insulted and accused falsely after two years of "partnership", now they are also holding back my royalties!!! Yes, that's how these companies discriminate indie-artists. 

Accusing and insulting someone with false accusations is not nasty, unkind, disrespectful and inhuman enough. They also have the audacity to hold back the royalties! 

In my case I was planing to donate my royalties to the Swiss Charity CBM, the Christoffel Blind Mission, which I wrote and released an awareness song for "My Vision" and for which I'm currently working on a book to bring the founder Mister Ernst Christoffels legacy to life. He was a hero and has done so much in the Orient, especially in Iran, where he is now buried in Isfahan! 

Now Amuse.io is holding back my royalties that were supposed to help blind children. This action is not only unlawful and criminal but most importantly it is HARAM! Amuses company policy is not amusing at all. It is disgusting to say the least when you know you haven't done anything wrong and all you want is to help people in need!

I have lost my trust in these companies and have unpublished over 60 books of mine last week to make sure this doesn't happen to my books as well. These days, with BOTS and AI, you can easily become a target and lose money. 

Author & Artists, protect your work. Don't trust these distribution companies, who only exist thanks to our hard work. If authors & artists stopped writing, publishing and releasing their work, these global distribution companies would be screwed! 

The truth is, they are NOTHING and NO ONE without our work. They certainly won't leave a legacy like we do. That's why we have to demand more respect and STOP their unlawful, criminal and HARAM actions! 

Like I say in my song BOWLING: 

Mighty hungry fortune hunters
Breaking News: Surprise, surprise, No one lives forever
No money in this world is gone last forever
You’re born with no moral values in your bones
No flame in the world will unfreeze your heart that is made of stone
 
Filling your bank accounts with filthy money
only creates misery for your soul destiny
The aftermath: Black Karma will hunt you for eternity
Not only you but your legacy for decades over centuries
Not only you but your legacy for decades over centuries
Centuries, centuries



March 21, 2024

Amuse.io - The ridiculous "APOLOGY" after A MONTH!


Related post


Received 18. March 2024 from support@amuse.io

Harriet from amuse

Hi Lily,

Thanks for your email, and apologies for the delay in getting back to you.

Your releases were taken down as there are clear signs of streamfarming - please be careful about the companies you use when promoting your releases.

As part of the deactivation process, your releases should have been taken down. Unfortunately there was a technical error and this didn't happen.

Thank you very much for bringing this to our attention, as we've now rectified the issue and your releases have been taken down.

Thanks,

Team Amuse



My open letter to Harriet from Amuse.io and the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer Roshi Motman 


Harriet, interestingly but not surprisingly, you only "apologize" for not taking down my tracks on time, but NO words about amuses awful, nasty and totally unfair and wrong treatment to an innocent artist and partner after two years! 


Who are you kidding? Streamfarming? Technical error? If I hadn't posted my open-letter to your Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of your company Amuse.io AB, Miss Roshanak Lina Motman, my tracks wouldn't been taken down at all! That's how companies like yours toy with indie-artists. 


Making accusations and insulting artists in a time, when ANYONE and I literally mean ANYONE from ANYWHERE can hack accounts, use BOTS and AI to cause damage on the internet, is the most ridiculous action and accusation this company could have done to me as a serious writer, blogger and lyricist! 

  • Why on earth, would I want BOTS when every single track of mine has a message about kindness, honesty, respect, support and humanity! Why? 
  • Why, on earth, would I want fake streamings with the high quality of production and vocal. I'm blessed to be working with the most gifted artist on the planet. I don't need this BS! We don't need this BS!  

How dare your company accuses and insults me when you don't know anything about me and my story? As opposite to fame and fortune hunters, my motto and motivation is and has been for a decade as an indie-writer, blogger and lyricist: 

"If I inspire one single person with my books and music, I'm happy and satisfied!"


Most indie-artists motivation is genuine. They put all their time, energy, love and passion into their work to make a statement and leave a legacy. It is shameful, unlawful and disrespectful to accuse indie-artists!!!!! 


You would never ever allow yourself to treat a signed artist like this, never! Why? Not because you are kind, but because of the legal actions the management and record company would take!  


All I know is that I promote my music like every other signed and indie-artist and when this happened I was running a promotion campaign for my song Ping Pong & Puzzle. Is amuse.io now also accusing a company as huge as GROOVER for offering fake services? What have they done, when and where? Is everyone now in the industry a criminal in your eyes except your fraud company with questionable Terms & Policy? 


Well, with this open letter, I give amuse.io and your Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer Miss Roshanak Lina Motman the chance to apologize for your insults, false and disgusting accusations, nasty and disrespectful treatment. Also, it is your duty as a registered distribution company to transfer two years of my royalty before I'm forced to take legal actions! 


I'm very sorry, but I don't accept and tolerate unlawful actions, inhumanity and injustice! If you had listened to my tracks that you were holding hostage, you would have known WHO you are accusing! I may be an indie-artist without a record company and legal team behind me, but my lawyer is GOD! You should be ashamed for your unkind and rude behaviour with indie-artists! I don't even want to know how many other indie-artists your company is insulting, discriminating, closing accounts and keeping their royalties! 


I'm not making your inhuman, unlawful and unprofessional discrimination public just for myself, but for all the innocent indie-artists out there that are being treated badly and discriminated and used! 


I expect your apology and payment until end of March 2024! If I don't hear back, I will take legal action and make this story public in the Swiss, Germany, Austria, UK and Swedish media! 


Regards,

Lily Amis 

(proud indie-writer, blogger and lyricist, represented by my lawyer GOD)


#stopdiscrimination #respectindieartists 






Dealing with music stores as the copyright holder!



Related post: 

Artists, are you aware that even as the Copyright holder of your work, you don’t have much to say when it comes to the music stores and your artist profile?

When amuse.io deactivated my account, my first thought was I have to find a way to make my music accessible ASAP for everyone until this mess is over. A music journalist advised me to upload my tracks on Bandcamp.com, which I immediately did before I searched for a new distributor.

Once decided, I had a chat with Spotify Artist Support, and they calmed me down and said, I shouldn’t be worried. Once my tracks were released through a new distributor, a Track-linking based on the MetaData would automatically happen, when I upload the same cover and track. And they assured me that I wouldn’t lose my statistics because the system would recognize that it is the same track!

Wishful thinking!!!! In reality, after the release on March 13th, 2024 the ONLY STORE in which the track-linking actually worked was Spotify and Instagram. In all other stores, my tracks were duplicate content on my artist page. I could see the release through amuse.io and my new distributor, Tunecore, which is absolute none-sense.

Dozens of emails back and forth, and I kept receiving the same "standard answer" from the stores. I'm sharing some of them here at the end of this post.

This got me thinking and questioning online stores in general. As an indie writer, I have published several books and e-books in different languages. So I decided to unpublish and even delete some of my book titles. And to my surprise, I had no problem at all. I had full control over my books/my babies, which artists in the field of music don’t have as they should! 

These answers from Tidal, Deezer, and Apple Store show you what I mean! For them, what matters are labels and distributors and not the artists, the copyright holder! 

Isn’t this shocking and mind-blowing? The whole distribution and streaming business is such a fraud and should be changed! This is absolute none-sense! 

By the way contacting YouTube and Amazon Music Support was the worst experience of all. You don’t go anywhere! A total nightmare!  It is mind-blowing how dysfunctional the artist support is by these global names/brands are! One really has to wonder!  

Artists, at the end of this post, I have a helpful list for you if you ever end up in the same situation as I have! 


Artists Attention! Protect your work!


Related post

This post is a reminder: Protect your work. Don’t forget, you, and only you, are the full copyright holder of your music. Not your distribution company and surely not the music stores!

And yet, my 13 tracks that I released from 2022 to 2024, were held HOSTAGE for over a month by my previous distributor, amuse.io!

After I was falsely accused with baseless accusations of buying streaming/Bots, they deactivated my account, sent an email (see my previous post), and didn’t bother to take down my tracks for over an entire month.

Without any logical explanation or proof, the Swedish music distribution company amuse.io deactivated my artist account without informing me in advance and letting me know what had happened where and when. This happened only three days before my song “HomeTown” was supposed to be released. To this date, I still have NO CLUE what exactly happened, when, where and why they closed my artist account and denied me access to my tracks and royalties after two years of "partnership"!

What kind of professional company with decent and kind employees treats its partner like this? What kind of human beings treat other human beings like a criminal? Such awful treatment makes me wonder about the audacity of these distribution companies in general.

  • Who do they think they are?
  • What gives them the right to insult, humiliate, and accuse people?
  • What gives them the right to use their CORRUPT “Terms & Policy” as an excuse to end a partnership without further notice and explanation, deny access to your account & work and steal your money?
  • What gives them the right to be disrespectful and NASTY?

Is this even legal? In my opinion, this is criminal. This is corrupt. They obviously forget that they would be NOTHING AND NOBODY without artists, especially independent artists. If every single indie artist would stop making music and publishing through these companies, ALL these distribution and music stores would be screwed. THIS IS A FACT! SO THEY BETTER TREAT ARTISTS WITH RESPECT!

Independent Artists: Be aware! Corrupt companies like amuse.io take advantage of you for being an indie-artist without a record company, management and legal team behind you.

So be careful and protect your work by choosing a professional and serious distribution partner. Make sure all your work is correctly registered and listed in the music stores. Keep a record of every single song registration number (ISRC/UPC). You have to control everything like a professional record company. Be your own lawyer and don’t allow anyone to screw you! Remember, the best lawyer of all is God, and God is always watching these godless creatures and thieves!

Distributors: Ladies and gentlemen, for the love of God, don’t belittle and destory artists. Don’t insult artists. Treat independent artists like you treat signed artists! We are not stupid, and we don’t allow you to treat us like shit!

Because of a corrupt, disrespectful and nasty company, I had to put my writing projects aside and deal with this BS in the previous four weeks. I sent several emails and nothing happened. They ignored my messages completely until I posted my open letter here on my blog (see my previous blog post) on Saturday!

Surprise! Surprise! Then on Monday I suddenly received an email, which I will share in my next blog post. It took amuse.io only 2 working days to finally take down my tracks and finish the damage that they have caused me for over a month!!!!

Amuse.io has not only insulted me as a serious artist, they also wasted my precious time. I had to find a new distributor and write emails to the music stores back and forth to make sure that the new releases replaced the old releases. This was a nightmare experience itself, about which I will write a separate blog post.

And this was my last email before I posted the open letter here on my blog: 

 

Amuse - My takedown request!

Hi, almost a month is over, and I still haven’t heard back from your team!

You have recently UNFAIRLY decided to deactivate my artist account without informing me in advance. Also, you are not allowing me to withdraw my royalties for 2 Years!! This has caused a lot of extra work and research. To this date, I still have no clue why you made this unkind and unfair decision.

Your awful and unkind client treatment is something that I have never ever experienced before. I’m still speechless and questioning your countries' and companies' humanity.

Never mind, I believe strongly that everything happens for a reason. Maybe your awful and unfair treatment is the BEST thing that could happen to me. Now that I see how you treat hard-working independent artists, I’m glad that our "partnership" has ended. I have no interest in working with a company with a questionable understanding of collaboration and partnership.

Therefore, I’m sending you an IMMEDIATE TAKEDOWN REQUEST for all my 13 tracks released between 2022 and 2024. I’m attaching the ISRC numbers and song titles. I don’t want to be connected in any way with AMUSE on platforms and music stores such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, Deezer, etc.

Also, keeping my royalties is another issue in itself. I will consider taking legal steps. I recommend you send me my money and we end this unpleasant case.

I’m waiting for your reply!

Lily Amis

Use these # in your IG posts/stories and tweets, if you agree!

#stopdiscrimination #respectindieartists 




March 16, 2024

Amuse.io take down my tracks - open letter!


Related post


This is an open letter to the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Swedish Distribution company Amuseio AB, Miss Roshanak Lina Motman  


Amuseio AB 
Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer
Roshanak Lina Motman  (Roshi Motman)
Kammakargatan 48,
111 60 Stockholm, Sweden


Date: 16. March 2024, Switzerland

Miss Roshanak Motman

I’m contacting you today directly because your company has been ignoring my emails for over a month! Amuse.io has deactivated my artist account without any information in advance.

Your BOT Support Chat explained the following: If you've received a notification saying your account has been frozen or deactivated, it means your account has been terminated for breaching our Terms of Use. The majority of the streams on your released material have been flagged as fake by our system. This can happen if you for example use an illegitimate promotion service that guarantees a specific number of streams.

Well, I have absolutely no clue what you are talking about. I ran campaigns on GROOVER for my releases. I contact Playlist curators, Media outlets, radio stations, do social media promotions, etc like EVERY other independent and signed artist on this planet, and as far as I know, this is not criminal and against the law!!!!

WHO is streaming from WHERE and HOW many times my tracks is out of my hand!!!! Also, why on earth would an independent artist/lyricist with this quality of music, whose main reason for writing is raising awareness and spreading messages about humanity, consider buying fake streams/bots? Who are you fooling? This doesn’t even make sense! The entire music distribution and store industry, which is making a fortune, would be screwed without indie artist's work! The lack of support by the stores is one thing, but the lack of respect is mind-blowing!

Deactivating my artist account with false and insulting allegations and stealing my royalties is one thing, BUT not taking down my tracks from stores is corrupt. Your company has NO right to keep my work/my music which I have full copyright!

  • Your company has decided to close my artist count without any further notice: Fine.
  • Your company has decided to keep the income: Fine. Stealing money from hard-working independent artists is corrupt and criminal. But never mind, I strongly believe in Karma! That’s all I have to say.
  • Your company has decided not to take down my tracks from stores even after a month: Not fine!

Not allowing artists to have access to their accounts and releases is wrong. You have no right to keep other people’s property hostage: in this case, the music tracks!

So, with this open letter, I ask your company once again to take down my 13 tracks IMMEDIATELY from all stores. This should have happened a month ago, when you closed my artist account for no reason!

If they don’t take down my 13 tracks from 24 stores (Apple Music, Deezer, Tidal, YouTube Music and Video, Amazon Music, SoundCloud etc.) in 249 countries this week, I will as copyright holder take legal action! 

Regards,

Lily Amis (Independent Lyricist) 







March 15, 2024

Bowling - World War II & the aftermath!


The First World War (WWI) was fought from 1914 to 1918 and the Second World War (WWII) was fought from 1939 to 1945. They were the largest military conflicts in human history. Both wars involved military alliances between different groups of countries.

What I didn't realize for decades, was what happened after the World War II ended and how a new human tragedy that lasted for 28 exhausting years started. 

In most films and documentaries about Hitler, America is praised for ending World War II. What these films don't show though is the mess with the Berlin Wall and how it affected Germany. 

What I'm trying to say is, today we are witnessing several wars in different conflict zones. They are horrible and the reason why the refugee crisis is continuing and getting worse and worse. But what we don't see is the aftermath of these individual human tragedies and their legacy. 

I wish I had the power to put an end to this misery! 


March 14, 2024

Bowling - Songlyrics (German)


BOWLING, LILY AMIS FEAT. THIR13EEN SONG TEXT 

Schlagzeilen, Schlagzeilen überall

Lokal, national, international, 24/7 über das ganze Jahr

Ich kann es wirklich nicht mehr ertragen

Hört auf, meinen Verstand zu verwirren

Hört auf, meine kostbare Zeit zu verschwenden

 

Weltführer genießen es, böse Spiele zu spielen

Erfinden Geschichten, verheimlichen und übertreiben die Realität

Papageien und Pinocchios gesellen sich ihnen und unterhalten uns

Spielen mit Menschen wie mit Puppen, ohne sich zu schämen

durch Gehirnwäsche und Manipulation


Das Bowling rollt und rollt

Zerstört und zerstört, Generation für Generation

Die Kegeln fallen und verblassen in Flammen

Aber Karma wird sie unerwartet zurückschlagen

Das Böse wie einen Bumerang fangen

 

Machthungrige Vermögensjäger

Aktuelle Nachrichten: Überraschung, Überraschung, niemand lebt ewig

Kein Geld dieser Welt bleibt ewig

Du bist ohne moralische Werte in den Knochen geboren

Keine Flamme der Welt wird dein Herz das aus Stein ist auftauen

 

Deine Bankkonten mit schmutzigem Geld zu füllen

schafft nur Elend für dein Seelenschicksal

Die Folgen: Schwarzes Karma wird dich für die Ewigkeit verfolgen

Nicht nur dich, sondern auch dein Vermächtnis über Jahrzehnte und Jahrhunderte hinweg

Nicht nur dich, sondern auch dein Vermächtnis über Jahrzehnte und Jahrhunderte hinweg

Jahrhunderte, Jahrhunderte

 

Das Bowling rollt und rollt

Zerstört und zerstört, Generation für Generation

Die Kegeln fallen und verblassen in Flammen

Aber Karma wird sie unerwartet zurückschlagen

Das Böse wie einen Bumerang fangen

 

Grossvater pflegte zu sagen: Früher als später kann das Böse nicht entkommen

Ruhm- und Reichtums Jäger merken nicht

Dass sie mit ihren Lügen nicht weit kommen

Wäschegeld verschwindet so schnell, wie es auftaucht

Wie Keime und tropfendes Blut an schuldigen Händen

 

Lebe dein Leben mit guten Gedanken, Worten und Taten

Respektiere die Weisheit der Geschichte

Hinterlasse ein Erbe der Menschheit

Für dich und deine ganze Familie

Alles andere ist ein dummes Spiel

mit nichts als Verlierern am Ende

 

Das Bowling rollt und rollt

Zerstört und zerstört, Generation für Generation

Die Kegeln fallen und verblassen in Flammen

Aber Karma wird sie unerwartet zurückschlagen

Das Böse wie einen Bumerang fangen

 

Papageien und Pinocchios, Überraschung, Überraschung

Wir lassen uns nicht länger von euren fiesen Spielchen überraschen

Hört auf, unsere Welt durch Negativität zu destabilisieren

Es wurde genug Blut vergossen

Menschlichkeit wird den langen und schmalen Weg entlangrollen

Punkten, niederschlagen und das Spiel gewinnen

Ja, genau, punkten, niederschlagen und das Spiel gewinnen


March 13, 2024

Bowling - Sonlyrics & Video!


BOWLING, LILY AMIS FEAT. THIR13EEN

Headlines, headlines everywhere

Local, national, international, 24/7 around the year

I really cant take it no more

Stop messing with my mind

Stop wasting my precious time

 

World leaders enjoy playing nasty games

Making up stories, hiding reality and exaggerating

Parrots and Pinocchio’s join them and entertaining

Toy with humans like puppets with no shame

Brainwash and manipulate

 

The bowling is rolling & rolling

Destroying & destroying, Generation after generation

The pins keep falling and fading in flames

But Karma will hit them back unexpectedly

Catch evil like a boomerang intensely

 

Mighty hungry fortune hunters

Breaking News: Surprise, surprise, No one lives forever

No money in this world is gone last forever

You’re born with no moral values in your bones

No flame in the world will unfreeze your heart that is made of stone

 

Filling your bank accounts with filthy money

only creates misery for your soul destiny

The aftermath: Black Karma will hunt you for eternity

Not only you but your legacy for decades over centuries

Not only you but your legacy for decades over centuries

Centuries, centuries

 

The bowling is rolling & rolling

Destroying & destroying, Generation after generation

The pins keep falling and fading in flames

But Karma will hit them back unexpectedly

Catch evil like a boomerang intensely

 

Grandpa use to say: Sooner than later evil can’t escape

Fame and fortune hunters don’t realize

That they won’t go too far with their lies

Laundry money disappears as quickly as it appears

Like germs and dripping blood on guilty hands

 

Live your life with good thoughts, words and deeds

Respect the wisdom of history

Leave a legacy of humanity

For yourself and your entire family

Anything else is a foolish game

with nothing but losers at the end

 

The bowling is rolling & rolling

Destroying & destroying, Generation after generation

The pins keep falling and fading in flames

But Karma will hit them back unexpectedly

Catch evil like a boomerang intensely

 

Parrots and Pinocchio’s, surprise, surprise

We’re no longer blindsided by your nasty games

Stop destabilizing our world with negativity

Enough blood has been shed

Humanity will roll down the long and narrow lane

Score, strike and knock down and win the game!

Yeah, that’s right, knock down and win this game!

 

March 12, 2024

Bowling - The UK post office scandal!


A four-part television drama, Mr Bates vs the Post Office, was broadcast on ITV in January 2024, after which the scandal became a major news story and political issue. The same month, Sunak announced that the government would introduce legislation to exonerate wrongly convicted subpostmasters. 

As of January 2024, most of those wrongly convicted are still waiting to have their convictions overturned, the public inquiry is ongoing, and the Metropolitan Police is investigating individuals from the Post Office and its software provider, Fujitsu. In January 2024, claims emerged that a previous Post Office accounting system known as Capture, used by some post offices in the 1990s, had caused similar problems to Horizon.

However, the victims are hopeful, that justice will win. The ITV Drama is the perfect example of how the media can use its power in a positive way, as opposite to my previous blog post about Richard Allensworth Jewell. 

The British Post Office scandal or Horizon scandal involved faulty accounting software, provided by Fujitsu and known as Horizon, creating false shortfalls in the accounts of thousands of subpostmasters. The prime minister, Rishi Sunak, described it as one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in the history of the United Kingdom. Between 1999 and 2015, over 900 subpostmasters were convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting based on faulty Horizon data, with about 700 of these prosecutions carried out by the Post Office. Other subpostmasters were prosecuted but not convicted, forced to cover Horizon shortfalls with their own money, or had their contracts terminated. The court cases, criminal convictions, imprisonments, loss of livelihoods and homes, debts and bankruptcies, took a heavy toll on the victims and their families, leading to stress, illness, divorce and, in at least four cases, suicide.

Although many subpostmasters had reported problems with the new software, the Post Office had insisted that Horizon was robust and failed to disclose its knowledge of faults in the system while securing convictions. In May 2009, Computer Weekly broke the story about problems with Horizon, and in September 2009 subpostmaster Alan Bates launched the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance (JFSA). In 2012, following pressure from campaigners and a number of Members of Parliament, led by James Arbuthnot, the Post Office appointed forensic accountants from the firm Second Sight to conduct an investigation into Horizon. Second Sight concluded that Horizon contained faults that could result in accounting discrepancies, but the Post Office said that there were no systemic (system wide) problems with the software.

In 2017, 555 subpostmasters led by Bates brought a group action in the High Court against the Post Office. After the judge ruled in 2019 that the subpostmasters' contracts with the Post Office were unfair and that Horizon contained bugs, errors and defects, the case was settled out of court for £58 million, which left the claimants with about £20,000 each after legal costs. The government later agreed to supplement their awards. The judge's rulings in the case paved the way for subpostmasters to challenge their convictions in the courts and led to the prime minister Boris Johnson's announcement in February 2020 that the government would establish an independent inquiry into the scandal. The Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry was set up later that year, and was converted into a statutory public inquiry in June 2021.

Courts began to quash convictions from December 2020. By February 2024, 100 of the subpostmasters' convictions had been overturned in court. In January 2024, plans for a blanket exoneration were announced by the government. Those wrongfully convicted became eligible for compensation from the Post Office, as did more than 2,750 subpostmasters who had been affected by the scandal but had not been convicted. By January 2024, the Post Office had paid out £153 million to claimants, with 64% of all those affected by the scandal having received full and final compensation.