DistroKid removed two of my albums over copyright claims caused by thunder/wind sound effects
Hey everyone,
Wondering if anyone here has experienced something similar.
DistroKid recently removed two of my albums and gave my account a copyright strike. They claimed that one of my tracks samples Rob Zombie and another samples Draco Rosa.
I was completely confused because I wrote/recorded the music myself and have never sampled either artist.
After listening to the tracks they referenced, I figured out what seems to have triggered the matches: short atmospheric sound effects at the ends of my songs. One has a thunder effect and the other has a wind effect. Apparently the same or very similar SFX also appear in those artists’ recordings.
These effects were sourced independently years ago and were definitely not taken from either of those songs.
I explained all of this to DistroKid support and offered to provide project files, stems, masters, etc. I’m currently waiting for their response, but both albums are still down and the copyright strike is still on my account.
Has anyone dealt with a false copyright match like this through DistroKid? Did they eventually restore your releases and remove the strike?
Any advice would be appreciated.