Ditto Music

found out about this website by searching for reviews of digital music distributors online
I manage a record label based in Japan and have worked with Dittomusic for years
However, I have decided to cease the deal with Dittmusic due to a number of reasons, most of them surprisingly mentioned on this website by other Dittomusic clients
I strongly believe these issues are worth mentioning so that people become aware of what might happen
My aim is to provide an objective review on Dittomusic's services, both positive and negative
Let's start with the positives:
1) Customer service in terms of attitude and promptness is quite good and helpful BEFORE signing upThey will answer your questions and occasionally make changes you cannot figure out how (This was with their previous system, I don't know about their current system)
2) Their distribution network is vast and streaming services are updated regularlyHowever, there is an extra sifee if you want your music available on ***
3) They offer a bunch of extra services, although I haven't tried many of them
Now, for the negatives:
1) Once I signand paid, customer service started to get worseReplies to emails took up to weeksReplies would usually come after expressing disappointment with Dittomusic's service and "threat" to cease the deal with them
2) releases were lost and uploaded up to weeks after the scheduled dateAfter the first time this happened, Dittomusic suggested I send them a confirmation email when I upload musicHowever, the same situation happened again
3) Stalling and illegally attempting to withholding payouts - This is by far the worstThis was done in two ways
First, Dittomusic charges a fee to keep releases available on stores every year, which is perfectly fine as each company is free to choose their business modelHowever, Dittomusic refused payouts claiming that I hadn't paid the renewal fee even though I didn't want to keep the release available on stores for an extra yearIt took me weeks to solve this situation due to delayed response from customer service
Second, we had an issue with unlicensed remixesOne remix was from a famous band that doesn't exist anymoreAt the time, I unknowingly thought copyright of bands that don't exist anymore would lose copyrightI later found out that they don'tCopyright for bands that don't exist anymore last for years in the USAll the other remixes were from personal friends of mine so I assumed there would be no need to do soWhen I sent Dittomusic emails from the artists' personal email accounts to prove they had given permission to do the remixes, Dittomusic claimed that was not enoughI understand that there are legal ramifications regarding remixes so I asked for payouts from original tracksHowever, they deliberately ignored that and kept on sending me links where I could obtain licenses for the remixesI asked them how much I was owed from original tracks and they simply told me to figure it out myselfI eventually did and sent them an invoiceThis situation also took around weeks to solve
The next time I asked for a payout, Dittomusic did the same thing againI had to reiterate that I had no intention in getting payout from remixes but they still redirected me to links where I could obtain paid licenses deliberately ignoring the real issueOnly after several email exchanges where I told them that what they were doing was illegal, telling them I would expose this fraud and cease the deal did they payout what I was legitimately owedDittomusic tried to withhold the total amount of what I was owed using the excuse that I didn't have appropriate licenses for remixes as an excuse to do so - twiceTheir attitude towards their client is terrible and downright insulting
4) Requests to remove releases take too longIt's been a year and a half since some releases should have been removed and they are still availableI am starting to wonder if the removal of releases work at all
At the moment, I got paid from all original tracks but they still withhold sales originating from remixesI tried to solve this issue in a civil way by suggesting Dittomusic transfer all those funds to the legitimate copyright holdersI even sent them who the legitimate copyright holdersTheir reply was that I should organize all of itHow can I organise anything when Dittomusic shows no intention of collaborating? I wonder how many labels and artists are aware that Dittomusic is illegally withholding funds that should be transferred to the legitimate copyright holders
This seems very similar to the situation where many clients complained about Dittomusic not paying mechanical royaltiesIt reveals their general business attitude
Dittomusic claims to be professional but I fail to see any of that although their actions and attitude after these situations I have been through as well as other clients
Dittomusic's business practice are