@lyondhur It seems like you have not even visited the site or have tried it out in any way. Of course, MUSE does NOT require having a paid subscription at any other service. That would totally defeat its sense. So no, you are not correct! We offer a free music streaming service, where everyone can listen to anything. Users simply have to create an account and can listening to their favorite tunes, for free. It is a free app and it provides free music, naturally. Our intro pitch is also not meant to be confusing or even misleading. We actually tested the pictures with friends before publishing them in order to ensure their clarity. If you're feeling that our intro pitch was confusing we are quite sorry about that! But we want to underline that it was not intentional. We are also quite saddened that you accuse us of tricking people. We suggest you before writing these kinds of comments to try out the service beforehand to ensure you know what you are talking about.
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So, the “free” requires having a subscription on already paid music services such as YouTube Music or Spotify.. hmmm.
After getting through the rather confusing (perhaps misleading) intro pitch, Muse is basically an API-based player/streamer of what the user already paid/uses.. correct?
If so, it may be a free app, but it ain’t free music really, naturally.
Muse doesn’t “have” 35 million tracks to offer for free. Or does it?
Instead, Muse can search and “play/stream” 35 million tracks from services one has already paid for or uses, via looping API calls. Sneaky. A lot unclear as well. Jacking much?
I'm not sure what kind of legal advice you guys have received, but that's not exactly how reproduction rights and ownership work.
You sorta of made it sound like you’re giving away a much larger free lunch; and we know there isn’t such a thing. :)
In the same way one isn't allowed to download protected content, the same is impending to happen with streaming. Research 'streapping' (in media context, stream ripping).
I'll wish you good luck. Not with the product only, but how you're very likely to be called upon to explain.
@lyondhur It seems like you have not even visited the site or have tried it out in any way. Of course, MUSE does NOT require having a paid subscription at any other service. That would totally defeat its sense. So no, you are not correct! We offer a free music streaming service, where everyone can listen to anything. Users simply have to create an account and can listening to their favorite tunes, for free. It is a free app, which provides free music. Our intro pitch is also not meant to be confusing or even misleading. We actually tested the pictures with friends before publishing them in order to ensure their clarity. If you're feeling that our intro pitch was confusing we are quite sorry about that! But we want to underline that it was not intentional. We are also quite saddened that you accuse us of tricking people. We built an honest product for people to enjoy. We suggest you before writing these kinds of comments to try out the service beforehand to ensure you know what you are actually talking about because obviously at the moment you are not.
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@perplexet Easy mate.. I have used the service and I actually think it looks great. As any other user who is considerate towards copyright, I also do not voluntarily wish to infringe it myself and simply required more clarity around your business model. WHY is it legal and HOW does the service work is what is being asked.
I'm sorry if the "it's 100% legal" and "Muse PROVIDES free music" didn't quite cut it for me. Where is it in anyway different than hitting Play Playlist on YouTube? Nothing really, as we even get the silly reaction videos included in 'fished' playlists. Which, based on your pitch, is way more than jacking.. it's just silly really.
First, perhaps you should revisit my commentary; I don't think you understood it. "Services that one already USES OR PAYS for". That's what I get from Spotify or Youtube IF as a paying user. How would it be free for me?
Would I be able to play exactly "my songs" in Muse if I stop being a subscriber in those services? Do you own the rights to reproduce such tracks? How come this is a music player but I can only hear the track if I play the video (embedded from YouTube)? Questions.. just questions.
Your response is concerning if you couldn't even see that in what I wrote. Isn't it specifically WHY you're on PH? To answer questions around your pitch and launching? I may have questions about your product, but I definitely need not asking whether I appreciate your user engagement.
Your website simply says "Yes, it's totally legal" without providing enough explanation and context about how it is legal. You're holding user data (personal info) associated with the service and do not allow them to remove themselves (imagine those users who used their own personal email to try it?). Plus, you are currently "thinking about a concrete way for monetisation in the future". It's hard to pick a place to start talking about what isn't right here..
You obviously don't retain the right over the 35 million songs played/streamed via the service -- that called my attention first. Then, how come can Muse be authorised to pull a protected piece of content and stream it through their infrastructure to the user on the other end?
Yes, it is legal for any user to stream music from youtube and the likes, meaning, from the service directly to the user. Now, from the service > a 3rd party streamer > then to the user, I wanted to know more..
If you're THIS much triggered because someone raises concern over the way that you explained your service, then that's a red flag right there. And I am sorry for not taking the "I showed pictures to my friends" as a formal testing and legal clearance.
When you say "users just have to open an account and listen to free music"whilst implying that this music comes from MUSE, then YOU ARE definitely misleading, when.. it doesn't.
And when you say Muse "provides free music", that is exactly the type of thing that needs clarity. As I understood - again, not from your confusing explanation - Muse is not the provider of material, but merely a streamer, a player, sourcing from content providing platforms via pulling-and-streaming/playing.
I won't even start talking about using YouTube's logo on the bottom left of your app.. or artists faces, copyrighted art, album covers, etc. It seems it would be even more of a waste of time.
I should have stopped at "Isn't this using the name of that meditation band/app.." anyway.
I get that you may be nervous with launching (here, many of us have been there ourselves). But too thin a skin when users ask for clarity, poor engagement around a MUCH HEATED ISSUE, "showed it to my friends" and triggered responses without even fully understanding what's being questioned is enough for me.
No questions, just onboarding.
Is that what you were aiming for?
Here's something else:
Delete. Ignore.
How about that?
@lyondhur At this point, we won't discuss with you anything any further. The only thing we want to clarify is that MUSE is completely legal since we are literally only playing YouTube videos (which are free and available for everyone on the planet) as audio source. Embedding YouTube videos has been around for quite some time now. We do not store any audio files ourselves, hence no shady/illegal things or copyright infringements are happening. We are really open about this and everything can be read in our FAQ.
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