amuse.io music distributor - steer clear

[eassae]

I've used amuse.io for several years now. I had a label account that allowed me to distribute music for an unlimited number of artists. I was recently uploading a new release when a modal window popped up asking me if I would like the ability to upload high-res audio(above 44.1k 16bit) for an extra fee. I decided that I would. What happened was that they completely changed my plan and I was now only allowed to manage 3 artists. There was no indication of this in the modal window. Now if I wan't the same level of service I would have to pay over $900 per year, instead of the $60 per year I was paying. I contacted amuse.io told them what happened and asked to be switched to my previous plan. I explained that the dark patterns they were using in their website were deceptive and completely unethical. They told me they would not hep me.

I will be removing all the releases I've distributed through amuse.io. If I were to cancel my service without taking down the releases then they would collect 25% commission on all royalties, and lose the ability to manage the releases at future dates.

Again, these kind of dark patterns are totally shady, so if anyone is considering using amuse.io I would recommend avoiding them at all cost.

[Zeisner]

Sad to read. But good to know.

[eassae]

It's funny, their AI chat bot told me explicitly that I could switch back to my old plan because I was a previously existing customer. When I was able to talk to an actual person they basically told me to GFM.

[Zeisner]

Looks like they want to get rid of all the older customers with that $60 plan.

[eassae]

Looks like they want to get rid of all the older customers with that $60 plan.

Well they definitely got rid of me. I removed all my releases yesterday, filed a report against them with the Swedish equivalent of the BBB, and disputed the CC charge just for giggles. I don't even care if I get my money back I just wanted to make extra work for them for being so terrible.

[Benedict]

They have a habit of setting one set of expectations, changing their desires -upwards of course- and pushing existing customers out. Poor form seeing normally in such situations, you offer the "new improved" and leave be, or clealy state that option is finishing in x months. Noooo, they simply do things like you noted above.

With amuse.io I never saw a cent (of admittedly low cents) and then something was taken down. Nothing Spotifry related is worth spit to me.

I have had similar issues with a BST Dev or two so it is not just one place but a culture of usery that runs through everything now.

[eassae]

They have a habit of setting one set of expectations, changing their desires -upwards of course- and pushing existing customers out. Poor form seeing normally in such situations, you offer the "new improved" and leave be, or clealy state that option is finishing in x months. Noooo, they simply do things like you noted above.

With amuse.io I never saw a cent (of admittedly low cents) and then something was taken down. Nothing Spotifry related is worth spit to me.

I have had similar issues with a BST Dev or two so it is not just one place but a culture of usery that runs through everything now.

Enshitification at it's finest.

I ended up going back to CD Baby as they just have a single fee per release with no subscription required. I started with them from my first release—the only reason I tried amuse is that I had one release where CD Baby said the distributors wouldn't accept my track titles because they were too similar, so switched and the distributors didn't have any problem with my song titles. Other than that incident, CD Baby has been much better for me.

[Bombadil]

It amazes me, after decades, they still find ways to give musicians the shitty end of the stick.