I kept seeing this Dabel thing popping up all over blind Twitter, so I googled it. Looks like it’s the next AudioBoom and I downloaded the app and read the terms of service. Spoiler alert: they’re nasty, and I would strongly encourage anyone who gives a shit about the content they’re creating on the service to not create content on the service and own your content instead. This applies especially to all the blind musicians who are working on music while on the service. Some tidbits:
For clarity, you retain all ownership rights in your content. However, by sharing or submitting content to the Service, you hereby grant the Company a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sub-licensable and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform the content in connection with the Service and the Company’s (and its successors’ and affiliates’) business, including but without limitation to promoting and redistributing part or all of the Service (and derivative works thereof) in any media format and through any media channels. You also hereby grant each user of the Service a non-exclusive license to access your content through the Service, and to use, reproduce, distribute, display and perform such content as permitted through the functionality of the Service and under these Terms of Use.
and
5. The Company determines the user’s shared or submitted content is in any way offensive, including but not limited to, pornography, obscenity, or hateful speech. The Company reserves the right to remove such content, without prior notice and in its sole discretion.
6. The Company decides to do so, at its sole discretion and without prior notice or liability, for any reason whatsoever.
Illegal and/or unauthorized uses of the Service, including, but not limited to, unauthorized framing of or linking to the website or unauthorized use of any robot, spider, or other automated device on the website, will be investigated. Such actions will not only be subject to a suspension or termination of user’s access to the Service, but will also be subject to appropriate legal action, including and without limitation to, civil, criminal, and injunctive redress.
(The whole thing’s here), and while this version is linked from the Ball site, I’ve compared the version at this page and the version in the Dabel app and they’re the same word-for-word. Friends don’t let friends engage in digital sharecropping. Own your content.
Dabel is just people who are either “bored,” “chilling,” “relaxing,” or some combination of all of the above. They stream themselves either talking about nothing, or talking about other people talking about nothing. Sometimes they mix it up and warn each other about “perverts.”
I took a look at the past streams, and there were several of people working on music and such. Either way, owning your content is always better.
Also the reqs for submitting a DMCA takedown notice: Electronic signature required. That’ll prevent basically any blind creator from submitting one, if, say, someone else uploads their content.
It’ll be interesting to see if this app goes anywhere. The one potential draw for me would be that there’s still no really easy way to broadcast audio while on the go and this solves that problem. I have PowerPress set up on my site, but uploading to it is another story — and then creating the post after upload, there’s just got to be an easier way. Fundamentally though, I absolutely agree with you, there’s no substitute for owning your own content, recorded or otherwise.
I agree that the app provides a solution to a problem, and I think I probably would have been OK if there had been an allowance for downloading your own content and then posting it on your own site afterwards so there’s always a linkable archive, (backfeed), but the terms of use really do seem to forbid even that, and so that makes it a no-go even with that exception. I had, (maybe still have), and Audioboom account, and have played with other streaming services, only to later lose all the content altogether because the service shuts down. I guess I’ve come to the conclusion that if you’re going to invest the time into creating the content, you should invest the time in making sure you at least have a copy of that content stored somewhere else if possible, because things shut down all the time, and the data generated from all that content is very valuable to other people. So if it’s valuable to other people, why isn’t it valuable to the creators?
Wow you have changed your site a lot, I really love it.
Good girl. At least somebody out there is bothering to read the terms of service. People were using Vorrail for years without any available guidelines as to how the audio is heard and used. Caveat emptor, or the 2019 digital equivalent.
And if I am asked once, I am asked a thousand times, why I do not sell on Etsy. They have an almost identical TOS. They can copy, use, reproduce, etc. etc. etc., worldwide, nonexclusive, screw you in perpetuity, etc. etc. etc. ad nauseum. Almost verbatim. No way.
I’ve heard of it and don’t care for apps like that.
Good for you. I mean, I wouldn’t shame anyone for selling on that platform, but you should always own your content and all that, and you’ve always done that work.