In a stunning flip of occasions, Swedish musician Ola Englund, identified for his solo paintings and his contributions to steel band The Haunted, just lately came upon his unique track being republished and monetized underneath somebody else’s identify. The infringing artist, WYBIE, has been importing Englund’s songs—and doubtlessly different artists’ track—on main streaming platforms, falsely claiming them as their very own. This unauthorized unencumber affected Englund’s unique observe Cringy AF in addition to Time Will Now not Heal, a track he wrote with The Haunted.
Englund’s first trace of hassle got here when he logged into his YouTube account and located a copyright declare on his video titled This Is Gonna Pi$$ A Lot Of Other people Off. The video featured Cringy AF, however the declare mentioned that the track belonged to WYBIE, underneath the identify 律动乐章(纯音乐). The “content material house owners” indexed have been [Merlin] EWway Track and Tencent Track Leisure Staff—a false attribution, because the track used to be 100% Englund’s paintings. This preliminary infringement brought on a long, irritating struggle with WYBIE and their vendors, who additionally uploaded different track underneath false claims. A few of these tracks may had been AI-generated variations of alternative artists’ paintings, which poses a good larger downside for creatives within the virtual age.
Englund briefly learned the magnitude of the problem, noting that WYBIE wasn’t handiest claiming his track. The individual or entity at the back of WYBIE had allegedly uploaded people’s track as smartly, focused on unsuspecting artists throughout platforms and doubtlessly monetizing stolen track.
With advert earnings at stake, Englund filed a dispute with YouTube. The platform in the end sided with him, liberating the copyright declare on his video. This victory allowed him to reclaim keep an eye on over his YouTube profits from Cringy AF. Whilst he controlled to offer protection to his rights on YouTube, the battle wasn’t over. WYBIE’s track—together with tracks that reflected Englund’s—remained to be had on Spotify and different main streaming products and services.
In reaction, Englund took additional motion. He filed a dispute with Spotify, and, fortunately, the platform acted unexpectedly. The songs in query have been blocked on WYBIE’s album, graying them out to forestall additional monetization. He additionally reached out to Century Media, the file label related to The Haunted, to take away Time Will Now not Heal from WYBIE’s discography.
Regardless of the preliminary successes on YouTube and Spotify, Englund confronted a brand new problem: getting his track got rid of from Eway Track, a Chinese language publishing corporate hooked up to Tencent. After submitting a proper dispute thru their on-line portal, he won no reaction, leaving his track—and doubtlessly that of alternative artists—prone at the platform.
Whilst he stays hopeful about conserving his track safe, he expressed frustration over the time-consuming procedure, emphasizing that point spent addressing those problems can have been used to create new track. “For an artist, I imply, that is like the very last thing we’ve got left. It’s no longer making us some huge cash, nevertheless it’s simply… it sucks, guy,” Englund shared, losing gentle at the emotional toll of defending ingenious paintings in a extremely out there, but prone virtual panorama.
In his video updates, Englund requested his lovers and fellow artists for help. He inspired audience to assist establish different stolen songs on WYBIE’s album, urging them to inform the unique artists. With copyright infringement changing into extra commonplace, Englund stressed out the significance of consciousness and motion throughout the track group, as a majority of these problems are handiest prone to develop.
Take a look at the entire video right here:
To reinforce artists like Englund, he suggested lovers to buy products, attend reside presentations, and movement track from verified profiles to make sure profits cross to the rightful creators. Englund additionally launched a brand new track video, Sport Over, inviting his lovers to look at it on YouTube with the intention to reinforce him immediately.
Take a look at the brand new track and video right here:
Ola Englund’s revel in serves as a stark reminder of the demanding situations going through trendy artists. With AI-generated track, greater accessibility to track distribution, and a loss of duty on sure platforms, protective highbrow belongings is extra crucial—and complicated—than ever. For artists, this can be a struggle no longer just for truthful reimbursement however for the popularity and coverage in their ingenious paintings. As Englund’s tale demonstrates, staying knowledgeable, vigilant, and proactive is very important for any musician in nowadays’s virtual track panorama.
Catch Ola Englund at the Get away The Web Excursion 2025!!
ESCAPE THE INTERNET TOUR 2025
Tickets: https://bit.ly/3WBqCLE
10.01. 🇨🇿 Prague Meet Manufacturing facility
11.01. 🇵🇱 Warsaw Niebo
12.01. 🇩🇪 Berlin Frannz Membership
15.01. 🇫🇮 Helsinki Tavastia
17.01. 🇸🇪 Stockholm Klubben Fryshuset
18.01. 🇧🇻 Oslo John Dee
19.01. 🇩🇰 Copenhagen Pumpehuset
21.01. 🇩🇪 Hamburg Gruenspan
22.01. 🇩🇪 Cologne Membership Volta
23.01. 🇩🇪 Aschaffenburg Colos-Saal
24.01. 🇳🇱 Utrecht Tivoli-Pandora
25.01. 🇬🇧 Birmingham 02 Academy 2
26.01. 🇬🇧 London 02 Academy Islington
28.01. 🇨🇵 Paris Maroquinerie
29.01. 🇨🇭 Zurich Dynamo
30.01. 🇮🇹 Milan Santeria Toscana 31
31.01. 🇩🇪 Munich Ampere
01.02. 🇦🇹 Vienna Szene Wien
Apply the artist at those hyperlinks:
https://www.olaenglund.com
https://www.youtube.com/olaenglund
https://www.instagram.com/olaenglund
https://www.fb.com/olaenglund
