KVR Audio

daz.diamond · Post by **daz.diamond** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 11:49 am

apologies if this is the wrong forum for this ... here goes anyways

someone signed me up to brothersoft overnight and added 2 of my plugins to their site

I'm now in process of getting them removed as I already have bloody good hosting - not meaning to be ungrateful - would rather maintain at least some control and be able to get a decent overview of the stats ... so ...

... does this sort of thing happen often ?
... anyone else here with experience of brothersoft ?
... are they likely to be helpful when it comes to taking stuff down ?

I don't want to whine, and the plugs put there are freeware, (so no probs there) - just strikes me as a little odd to not even tell me, or for that matter even ask

... sure, places like this don't make money direct from my plugs, but I'm not sure about my stuff being used as vehicle for someone else to make advertising revenue .... or perhaps I'm just wrong about that ? least it ain't a $90 russian warez collection cd that I found my stuff on recently

...

cheers
daz

ZenPunkHippy · Post by **ZenPunkHippy** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 12:09 pm

From what I gather (doing a weekly warez check for Camel Audio) Brother Soft used to be one of those dodgy "Cheap OEM" distributors. A few months ago, someone must have bought the name or the they bowed to legal pressure. Whatever happened, they seem to have stopped offering illegal copies of software and now host demo versions of software. Given that the site now appears to be legitimate, I would see it as free advertising rather than something to worry about.

The account for managing downloads is created automatically, without consent but I would be more concerned about logging in to the account. Besides validating an e-mail address for spam, there is a potential for malware to be installed. Basically, I don't particularly trust them.

Also, are you 100% sure they are hosting your files, or are they linking directly to your site e.g. via the 404-Netork or similar.

Peace,
Andy.

duncanparsons · Post by **duncanparsons** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 12:10 pm

I haven't been listed on brothersoft, but I did find vstplugins hosting some of my items. I asked them to link back to my files to ensure that the discerning downloader always got the latest versions (oh, and I can track it as well

). They were happy to do that.

bsoft looks rather more sewn up, but they should be respectful of your copyright

daz.diamond · Post by **daz.diamond** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 12:16 pm

thanks guys - looks like they are hosting (+ mirror)... I'll see how they reply to my contact ... cheers

Atomsplitter · Post by **Atomsplitter** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 7:40 pm

They put all the software from my site on the website. I do not want my software on that site either. The management area is not helpful and there is no delete buttons or anything. All you have is a support ticket and the reply i got after asking them to remove my listing was basically saying how it benefits me and asking why i wanted to remove them when i said the reasons in the first i sent. Seems they want to make it as hard as possible to remove listings and also in the terms it says something like they can deny your requests to remove or edit software.

In the end i just left it because im guessing i wouldn't get very far if i waste my time trying to do this anyway. I don't mind about the free stuff but it means they will probably have older versions and i can't manage my own content if i wanted to edit them, i even say in my readme i don't want this to happen. All my sample packs are online hosted at other places now in a similar way to that like the sharing sites also, so basically everything has been taken advantage of that i made available for free. It's kind of annoying but i guess if you put things online you have to be aware someone will do something with them you don't want happening at some point no matter if it's commercial or free.

Meffy · Post by **Meffy** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 7:56 pm

Might be worth putting something very explicit about this sort of thing in your license agreements. Would it do any good? Dunno.

Atomsplitter · Post by **Atomsplitter** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 8:03 pm

Meffy wrote:Might be worth putting something very explicit about this sort of thing in your license agreements. Would it do any good? Dunno.

Yeah it's good to have somthing like that, in my license text it even says -

This plugin is free to be used in commercial and non commercial projects however it may not be re-distributed in a package or via another site without permission.

Yet they host the zips on the site still even with the text inside the pack. I remember when i first started making plugins i did look around for a few places to try and increase traffic, i probably added 1 plugin to the listing there maybe but definately not ever single product which they now have as far as i know.

I think theres a load of other sites like this that also list all my stuff and probably host it also but not ones i added them to. Im guessing once they are on one others will list them also because they are on the other sites. I don't care too much about this though and find it annoying but at least hopefully people will try the plugins and maybe visit your website either from the download site or a web search. These types of thing is why it's always a good idea to put a logo on the plugin with maybe a button that visits the website also.

Meffy · Post by **Meffy** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 8:11 pm

Ouch. You've explicitly forbidden them to redistribute, yet they do it. Not good at all.

Rock Hardbuns · Post by **Rock Hardbuns** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 8:38 pm

A quick look suggests the site is hosted on godaddy. Might be worth while to send them a letter.

daz.diamond · Post by **daz.diamond** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 8:47 pm

forrestlu from brothersoft contacted me via pm :

forrestlu wrote:Hello Daz;
Sorry, I'm forrest from brothersoft.I have seen your topic, i think our editor have add your plugins on our site. If you have any request, I will do it.

Looking forward to your reply.
Thanks

a new membership just to message me - how sweet

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/profile.p ... e&u=218741

I'll let you know

Atomsplitter · Post by **Atomsplitter** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 9:09 pm

So it seems someone from the site is reading this forum thread then. If this is the case please would you remove all my listings from the brothersoft website also if possible -

http://www.brothersoft.com/publisher/at ... audio.html

Thanks

Meffy · Post by **Meffy** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 9:14 pm

daz.diamond wrote:a new membership just to message me - how sweet :lol:

If it gets the job done, it's sweet indeed. *thumbs up*

daz.diamond · Post by **daz.diamond** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 9:20 pm

yay - twice in the last month or so I've managed to contact the people I wanted to just by posting .. in neither instance had I any suspicion that it'd work ...

+1 for kvr

daz.diamond · Post by **daz.diamond** » Tue Nov 03, 2009 10:23 am

another 7 files added to their site overnight ...

Ben [Camel Audio] · Post by **Ben [Camel Audio]** » Tue Nov 03, 2009 1:26 pm

I see they have our CamelCrusher freeware effect on their site, plus demos of all our other products (which are out of date). We also forbid distribution without permission so they're breaking our license by doing it.

@forrestlu - please remove all 'Camel Audio' software from your site.

Having said the above, I'm not convinced that chasing after these kinds of sites is worth the effort. For everyone you have your software removed from, you will get another popping up. I do think its morally objectionable that these people ignore the rights of the creators, and seek to profit from the generosity of others. But in general, I don't think its worth the hassle of attempting to stop this kind of thing, as its essentially impossible.