So some of you might remember Choon the crypto site so many of us put our Music and podcasts on when we were all still on the steem. At the time the company lead by Bjorn Niclas went belly up and just shut down leaving people bereft of the crypto they had earned. This happened with no warning and only a lame apology days later.
People were furious about this and were left pretty much in the dark on why this happened and what was to come next. a few days later Bjorn tried to broker a deal with another company to take over the artists as he was starting to feel the heat for his actions - in the end that company wanted us to play money to become part of it any a lot of us declined - People made it very clear that they wanted Bjorn to delete their content from his servers- He was told so repeatedly - He was as always evasive - then at some point claimed he no longer had access to the files and would not be able to comply - We got mad but then eventually gave up , just a little more weary about the crypto space and the people who operate in it.
Flash forward to 2020 a few months ago someone posted in the EMA forum that Bjorn was stating a new company and would be giving the old artists their notes (the token of choon ) in the new token currency should they chose to opt in - We had a short conversation about it but then it slipped my mind and I forgot about it.
Flash forward to today where I am suddenly made aware of a post telling people that Bjorn had without asking or informing Me uploaded all my tracks I had on choon, used my artwork and likeness and my bio on their site! No mind you this is a totally new company and remember according to the CEO he had no access to the tracks anymore! the man had no right what soever to use any of the content on the servers for his new company Rockiand yet here I was with my extensive catalogue! WTF!
First I wanted to give the dude the benefit of the doubt as he had offered me a small opportunity when choon still existed - maybe it was an oversight. maybe he was not trying to scam people yet again . So I said the following on the facebook thread -
And there it was good old classic Bjorn evasive as ever trying to gaslight me into thinking that I need not worry that he just took my stuff; in-fact that he will take me back (inset fireworks and confetti here ) because his new platform is open to anyone- now keep in mind again that this new business makes money off my content he is selling a Spotify like subscription model to people - iI was never informed of this - had I not found this out he could have potentially made money off my music for years (if the thing even ever get of ground properly ) - and I would have never known! AGAIN WTF!!!
I decided to be a bit more forceful in my next response -
The man seems completely oblivious to the fact that even if i had received an email “telling me “ he was going to use my content , person and artwork -He would have had no legal right to it
A- this was uploaded to a totally different company! this new company has no right to it at all!
B- he cannot go bankrupt refuse to delete content ! And then years later steal content and impersonate me for profit!
There was no consent! The original contract with the old company choon stated that we could at any time take off our content - he by refusing to do so at the time was in breach of contract! Also the old contract made it very clear that 100% of the profit would come to us the creators- so how is he justifying stealing our stuff - impersonating us and trying to make a profit in our name without consent ?!
This is brazen and illegal! - "think about this” I told him in another reply “ it is not about being open ! when choon failed people asked you to delete their content -you said back then that you no longer had access to the servers and thus could not do this - this new company has no right to our content you never asked permission but instead just used it to boost the volume of your platform for profit - now I might have been interested had you asked me to comeback but - but yet again you are being evasive like you were back then - refusing to see where you are fraudulently taking content and identity of people for profit - anyone reading this -there is literally no contact with him at this point -he can take it all as he did the last time without notice ! You don't even have the flimsy protection you had with choon - nothing ! - Bjorn you cannot just offer to date worthless tokens after the fact of stealing - it is like me walking into your home taking your tv and your cat and leaving you some lemon drops behind as payment - What were you thinking ?”
So if any of you had an account with choon I would recommend you check to see if you too have been impersonated and your music stolen.
Here is Rocki's Twitter Let them know what you think !
A small update here the proof that Bjorn said he would delete the files !
taken from here
(Image credit Dave Renike and a portrait of the late loved and so very missed jubilee made by myself turned into this here universal truth meme)