Heads-up to soundware vendors: Soundware sharks preying on newbies.

[Xenos]

I haven't yet understood the purpose of an “elite“ club for sound designers...the OP was trying to find a way to prevent stolen/copied presets to be re-distributed by assholes, he suggested a tedious system which would require each preset to be checked by qualified personnel/sound designers before these presets would get a “pirate-free-soundware“-badge. Now Karten installed a website without such a quality-approval-sytem, which is just a promo website for anyone who wants to join?

I stopped fighting sound pirates a while ago, many of my libraries and soundsets are up on various torrents, if you remove one of them 5 others appear the next day, it's a fight against windmills, let's use our time for something useful like making new creative sounds beyond the ordinary.

I'm more concerned about plagiarism than piracy. Given that, does this club idea make more sense, now?

No, a club does not stop pirates. That's not the point.

[Sampleconstruct]

I'm more concerned about plagiarism than piracy.

I understood that, but in my book these are the same things with a different designation - somebody is stealing intellectual property and makes it available to others without the approval of the author.

[Xenos]

I'm more concerned about plagiarism than piracy.

I understood that, but in my book these are the same things with a different designation - somebody is stealing intellectual property and makes it available to others without the approval of the author.

One way is more likely to be damaging to the artist than the other, though. When someone pirates your work and uses it in their music, that's one thing. If someone plagiarises your files and includes them in "their" soundware products, they are not only stealing the files, but stealing the credit and recognition more deeply than if that file was simply used in a song.

A "club" won't take care of the problem 100%. Nobody is trying to say that. But I think we should not limit ourselves to just "one" mentality when handling the issue. Everybody always thinks "sue, sue, sue, law, law, law", but we also can approach the issue from an entirely different paradigm - "Starving" the sharks of their credibility rather than going to war with them. An elite online organization, if taken seriously and seen as credible, would go a long way in doing that. By trying to come up with a reliable way of separating the wheat from the chaff in the eyes of the buyers, we're doing something about the issue instead of nothing. Looking out for the buyers' interests is key here. They need to know who's giving them the real stuff and who's selling them overpriced knockoffs.

Like someone else pointed out above, a club, IF done right, would result in a lot more sales for its members. Even if you guys don't agree about this idea's effectiveness, wouldn't that reason alone be enough to at least give it a shot?

[Xenos]

One other thing, guys... been giving everything more thought. Voting should be voluntary, not "forced". We should have incentives to encourage people to vote. I'm looking for ideas to make things less tedious for members. Voting on and reviewing submissions IS important, though. We have to make sure people are not trying to submit OUR work. If sharks became members, the whole point of the club would be rendered impotent.

What do people think of this idea: The first phase of membership should be by invitation only, just to make sure we have a solid, starting foundation of truly original, quality artists. I vote to include the following artists on board:

Yemski
Leap Into The Void
TwoLegs Toneworks
BigTone
Kevin Shroeder
Monomo Sound
CFA-Sound
Ed Ten Eck
...and there's more, but that's what I can think of right now.

It's important to have some established names on board with us. Credibility of this organization would be VERY important!

[elassi]

The first phase of membership should be by invitation only

Why not permanently? You'd destroy the label "elite" when you open the doors, imho.

Tough rules. That's also something you could promote: "No bullshit. Just quality."

[Xenos]

The first phase of membership should be by invitation only

Why not permanently? You'd destroy the label "elite" when you open the doors, imho.

Tough rules. That's also something you could promote: "No bullshit. Just quality."

But then that leaves new people with real talent no chance to join lol.

[elassi]

But then that leaves new people with real talent no chance to join lol.

They still can be invited (or seek to become a member by some sort of application).

[Xenos]

But then that leaves new people with real talent no chance to join lol.

They still can be invited (or seek to become a member by some sort of application).

Looks like we're heading in this direction . Some of my ideas were shown to be a bit too tedious and time-consuming to impliment realistically.

Btw, guys, making real headway here . Someone else will definitely be heading the organization, because I dont want to hold an unfair advantage over other members. We're still discussing things, because everything has to be fair, trustworthy, simple and convenient. Your input on this thread helps a lot.

[aMUSEd]

One other thing, guys... been giving everything more thought. Voting should be voluntary, not "forced". We should have incentives to encourage people to vote. I'm looking for ideas to make things less tedious for members. Voting on and reviewing submissions IS important, though. We have to make sure people are not trying to submit OUR work. If sharks became members, the whole point of the club would be rendered impotent.

What do people think of this idea: The first phase of membership should be by invitation only, just to make sure we have a solid, starting foundation of truly original, quality artists. I vote to include the following artists on board:

Yemski
Leap Into The Void
TwoLegs Toneworks
BigTone
Kevin Shroeder
Monomo Sound
CFA-Sound
Ed Ten Eck
...and there's more, but that's what I can think of right now.

It's important to have some established names on board with us. Credibility of this organization would be VERY important!

Simon Stockhausen/Patchpool
Luftrum
Jeremy Janzen/Nucleus Soundworks
Matt Bowdler/The Unfinished
Howard Scarr
Himalaya
Rob Lee
Zensound
John Lemkuhl/Plugin Guru
Laurent Bourgeon/LeLotusBleu
Jomal
Yuroun
Plughugger
SoundsDivine

[Xenos]

One other thing, guys... been giving everything more thought. Voting should be voluntary, not "forced". We should have incentives to encourage people to vote. I'm looking for ideas to make things less tedious for members. Voting on and reviewing submissions IS important, though. We have to make sure people are not trying to submit OUR work. If sharks became members, the whole point of the club would be rendered impotent.

What do people think of this idea: The first phase of membership should be by invitation only, just to make sure we have a solid, starting foundation of truly original, quality artists. I vote to include the following artists on board:

Yemski
Leap Into The Void
TwoLegs Toneworks
BigTone
Kevin Shroeder
Monomo Sound
CFA-Sound
Ed Ten Eck
...and there's more, but that's what I can think of right now.

It's important to have some established names on board with us. Credibility of this organization would be VERY important!

Simon Stockhausen/Patchpool
Luftrum
Jeremy Janzen/Nucleus Soundworks
Matt Bowdler/The Unfinished
Howard Scarr
Himalaya
Rob Lee
Zensound
John Lemkuhl/Plugin Guru
Laurent Bourgeon/LeLotusBleu
Jomal
Yuroun
Plughugger
SoundsDivine

Thanks a lot, man . That's helpful. Definitely recognize a lot of good, trustworthy designers there. We're going to compile a large list and start contacting people once everything is more fleshed out and improved upon.

[highkoo]

Checksums of the preset files.

[Sparky77]

For example, members of the club could be given a banner, which they can put on their site, which reads "Verified Member of (whatever the club's name is).

Not trying to be dismissive but possibly helpful...

So essentially, you would want all these sound designers to supply you with all the presets they release in order to get your "club" approval?

This would include the majority of sound designers who don't sell at other on-line shops?

So let me understand this...

1. The sound designers get your approval.

2. You,(or your on-line group, ie: anyone who wants the job) get every ones presets....

Mmmm...

I guess one solution to theft is for ALL the designers to just give your elite club, all the presets they design.

I understand what you are attempting to do but how would you reimburse any theft that occurred as part of the process.

I am not a sound designer, but I cant imagine this would be a good idea.

There could be some very serious issues, especially since the "elite" staff would essentially be complete, never met strangers.

A very BIG risk for the sound design community.

Just something for the designers to think about before submitting years of hard work.

What kind of secure authentication does that free or low cost hosting offer, not to mention email, storage, uploading, etc.

My guess is the sound designers would have to sign off on any loss that might incur.

A potential recipe for destruction.

Just saying....

The hard questions really need to be asked.

[Xenos]

For example, members of the club could be given a banner, which they can put on their site, which reads "Verified Member of (whatever the club's name is).

Not trying to be dismissive but....

Plans have changed, anyways, so those concerns are no longer relevant.

Reviewing all those submissions would be very time consuming. Instead, the plan is to simply invite people we already know produce original work. No review process necessary. Still discussing things, but so far this looks like how it's going to work.

[SampleScience]

Would it be possible to know who steal the work (those soundware sharks) in order to avoid buying from them?

[Xenos]

Would it be possible to know who steal the work (those soundware sharks) in order to avoid buying from them?

Paul Wise Beats - Sylenth - Black and Blue
Trey Lewis- Massive- OVO Inspired
Trey Lewis- Massive -Urban Waves
Kilomash/UltraSound -Massive - TurnUp Vol. 2

Those I know for sure. But that may well be just the tip of the iceberg.