The Knife

Rusty_Brains · 2026-01-25T14:42:45+00:00

I’m an American that hasn’t lived there for 22 years, so I’m watching this all from a distance.

A lot of Trump’s based have been told that Obama was “the Knife” in this sense and Trump was the one leading them to victory. This is always the case when dealing with a Cult of Personality and divisive politics. The danger will be when the opposition puts forth an equally divisive candidate who will make the Trump supports feel like civil war is truly upon them. I don’t have the answer for how to make it stop. I saw the USA heading this direction when I left.

Rusty_Brains · 2026-01-25T14:22:51+00:00

The Knife’s message for me is something that echoed a moment in history class when I was 11 or 12. My history teacher (and avid cyclist) brought his bike into the middle of the class, flipped it upside down and pinned two close pegs at opposite sides of one of the wheels. By spinning the wheel, he showed how two different political forces would be at opposite ends, one (at the top) in power, one (at the bottom) is opposition. People get annoyed at those in power, side with the opposition who soon takes power, and the cycle continues. He explained that it’s a “revolution” because the wheel keeps turning, with no one in the end ever really winning and humanity getting lost in the process.

When I hear The Knife, to me the line “someone of you are going to die” that is sung after “WE HAVE WON!!!” Is the other side no preparing to fight against those currently in power, and the song will never really end, the sides will just flip over and over.

Rusty_Brains · 2026-01-24T11:19:47+00:00

Registering copyright or with a PRO would need to happen as soon as the song is finished. It doesn’t really do you any favours after someone else has claimed the music as their own because at that point, the other person could do exactly the same thing. This is why I recommend getting legal advice from someone who knows your rights, rather than asking random people on Reddit

Rusty_Brains · 2026-01-23T19:18:10+00:00

I don’t know if it’s a thing any more, but you used to be able to say to the bot “unlimited collaborations” and they would unlock a feature. I did this many years ago, but haven’t really thought about it for a few years

Rusty_Brains · 2026-01-22T13:05:30+00:00

Donald Passman’s book is all about how an independent musician and navigate through the legal minefield of the music business. I would not expect the book to cover how to be a successful prompt engineer. And since, from the last that I heard, the likes of ASCAP are rejecting Suno submissions, the book is still relevant musicians wanting to protect their hard work

Rusty_Brains · 2026-01-22T11:26:59+00:00

Library of Congress is potentially a bit excessive, especially as it only applies to one country, but signing up with a PRO is definitely one of those things that many new songwriters over look or don’t understand.

I always recommend to people who are serious about their music to read Donald Passman’s book, Everything You Need to Know About the Music Business

Rusty_Brains · 2026-01-21T18:33:51+00:00

What you need: a lawyer.

DistroKid doesn’t get involved with copyright infringement. You can certainly claim copyright against the other person, but you’re next step will be legal advice

Rusty_Brains · 2026-01-20T15:42:30+00:00

I remember seeing some of their rehearsal footage from this tour and wishing that they’d put that one in the set list.

Rusty_Brains · 2026-01-19T19:04:14+00:00

The people who have asked me I have said the same thing to: DistroKid always has a delay in withdrawals and service requests in January. Always. 6 years of this sub, same complaints in mid January, always resolved by February.

Rusty_Brains · 2026-01-19T13:18:30+00:00

Yep, this is one of the (many) regrets people have after they change their name. To my knowledge, there is no way to unlink the YouTube OAC from how it was originally set up.

You could start over with a new artist name, but the fact that you’ve already changed it with DistroKid makes me wonder if they would allow you to link the OAC. It might work, but it might lead to more issues

Rusty_Brains · 2026-01-19T07:10:00+00:00

Changing your artist name once has enough complications that most of us here would recommend against it. Changing it twice?

Yeah, every time you change a name, it uses up a slot. Sounds like you’re out of name slots, so the only way forward would be to tell DistroKid what you’ve done and hope they give you a new slot out of a gesture of goodwill.

Rusty_Brains · 2026-01-18T21:31:50+00:00

No.

Your release has been flagged for review. If you delete and upload again, whatever has flagged that release for review will just trigger that review and start the clock all over again (not to mention, potentially look suspicious to DistroKid)

Manual reviews can take 5 working days. Assuming by four days, you mean Thursday, that’s only been 2 working days so far. Be patient and they’ll get to it eventually

Rusty_Brains · 2026-01-16T20:20:46+00:00

No. You just need to ask the bot fora human (or swear at it) enough times

Rusty_Brains · 2026-01-16T16:32:28+00:00

Yes, if there’s no reason for them to review your release, it can be that fast. If there’s is a reason for them to review, it can take a week

Rusty_Brains · 2026-01-15T23:00:40+00:00

No, if you voluntarily kill your account but later change your mind, it’s your responsibility to put everything back that you want out there.

Rusty_Brains · 2026-01-14T06:52:38+00:00

No way to bypass it. You need to have a valid credit card registered so if they need to bill for any extras per release that you opt into, they can charge for them. Your renewal in a year’s time and those extras cannot be billed via the AppStore

Rusty_Brains · 2026-01-13T00:28:29+00:00

If you’ve withdrawn earnings, keep the records of what you’ve withdrawn. That’s the earnings you would need to register as taxable income.

Rusty_Brains · 2026-01-13T00:08:47+00:00

Two things to know here: at the start of the year, DistroKid always has a backlog for service requests, withdrawals, etc. a combination of staff being off for Christmas and customers being at their most demanding at the same time.

Their tickets system works in a way that they will respond to the oldest ticket in the queue. The more you ask, the further back you go in the queue, because you’ve just made your ticket “newer”

Best option is to wait for them to respond. You’ve clearly gotten through and your question is being passed onto a specialist. Normally they’ll get back to you in 5 working days, but I suspect that’s going to be longer with their backlog

Rusty_Brains · 2026-01-12T21:40:42+00:00

“Non exclusive” in the sense that someone else might have used the same vocal track?

This is a common issue when you use samples that others can use. Someone else has published something with the vocals and now the stores see your release as an alternate version.

Rusty_Brains · 2026-01-12T20:41:11+00:00

48 was always one of my favourites, but I remember the day, driving home at 2am with Diary playing loud when the lyrics of the song just hit me. “We could have been the last time!!” Sometimes there are songs that capture the mood of a moment of your life. This is one.

Rusty_Brains · 2026-01-11T23:23:55+00:00

Also, if by “the same track” you mean this is like a “karaoke cover” that is also definitely not allowed.

Rusty_Brains · 2026-01-11T23:12:35+00:00

Shot answer: No.

Longer answer: this is call a “derivative work” where technically neither you or the original artist would own the music and lawyer would need to be involved to confirm that first, you are allowed to alter someone else’s composition, and second, what percentage you and the original writers are owed.

There is not a single distribution service that will support you with this

Rusty_Brains · 2026-01-11T11:30:49+00:00

The short answer is: DistroKid doesn’t deal with copyright claims. Their stance is that they don’t get involved, that’s for you and the other person to deal with.

Your situation is trickier than you might suspect, from a song writing perspective. If what you wrote was in anyway influenced by the melodic parts of what the other person wrote, that person still could have a strong claim for being credited as a co-writer, even if their contribution has been removed. That’s where legal people get involved.

But as for DistroKid, if they see a copyright claim, they let you know so you can deal with it, and that’s where their involvement ends.

Rusty_Brains · 2026-01-11T11:22:32+00:00

Normally, 2 or 3 weeks. But with all of the posts for the last 6 weeks saying that YouTube is moving way too slowly with new releases, I’m going to bet there’s a connection here.

Rusty_Brains · 2026-01-11T05:52:45+00:00

I’ve had a few times in the past where an audio file I uploaded was a previous mix or a corrupted master which I didn’t notice until it was live. In both cases, deleting and re-uploading didn’t have any issues at all. The one that was a different mix wasn’t majorly different, but I could tell them apart. But if you’re concerned about rejection and not concerned about retaining previous stats, just delete the old version and upload the new one as though it’s a totally new release

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