Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/11/2024

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Gentlemen, bbb, the reason, my message, the symphonic company did not want to pay me my royalties. I request a refund of my profits that have been withheld. In addition, they closed my account without notice and no one contacted me. from date November 30

  Business Response

  Date: 12/17/2024

  Dear Better Business Bureau Team, 
  
  Sair ***** is a former client of Symphonic. Sair ***** accepted Symphonic's Starter Terms and Conditions and created a Symphonic Starter Account on or about July 1, 2024. Thereafter, it is Symphonic's contention that Sair ***** violated Section 9 of the Starter Terms and Conditions which governs Improper Activity. As a result, Symphonic invoked the remedies noted in the Starter Terms & Conditions accepted by Sair *****. Sair ***** was informed of this decision in the notice of termination sent to him by Symphonic on December 10, 2024. 
  
  Respectfully, all rights and remedies are reserved. 
  
  Sincerely, 
  
  The Symphonic Legal Team

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/28/2024

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I have been requesting a Letter of Relinquishment from Symphonic Distribution to return the administration of my song publishing to ***** since July 15th 2024. I have followed up with the company numerous times and keep getting told they are working on it. It is now almost the end of October. I will upload screenshots of my email correspondence with Symphonic so you can better understand what is going on. I just would like this letter from Symphonic as a resolution so I can move on. Thank you for your time.

  Business Response

  Date: 11/01/2024

  Thank you for contacting us.  A response was provided directly to Mr. ***** today as well.  Part of the issue here is that when Symphonic changed administrative partners, a notification was sent to Mr. ************* sign up for these services through our new partner.  However, we do not have a record of him making this sign up change as requested by Symphonic so his account continued to be administered through a former partner relationship.  Symphonic has acted as a pass through since the transition was not made by the client.  Since these events transpired before the current team members were employed here at Symphonic it has taken us some time to review the history and sort out the best way to handle this matter. 
  
  A draft LOR was provided to Mr. *************day with a request that he confirm it will be sufficient for his records.  We are also providing a copy of this LOR to our former administration partner to confirm the same and hopefully the LOR will be sufficient for their purposes as well.  We have also requested that Mr. ******************* the BBB complaint as we are working to try to accomplish a resolution of this matter.

  Symphonic reserves all rights and remedies. 

  Sincerely, 

  The Symphonic Legal Team

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/04/2024

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ****** *****

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/20/2024

  Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I would like to file a formal complaint against Symphonic Distribution. I was made aware that my publisher is a convicted felon in prison in ******* (information that was withheld during the MANY conversations and discussions). He has also had a warrant out for his arrest since 2018 and the police FINALLY caught him earlier this year).This is unacceptable and illegal on various levels. I have requested Symphonic to provide me a copy of the contract THAT HAS MY NAME ON IT AS THE ARTIST and ******************* and ************** Music as the publisher (which they have). However, the company is refusing to provide me with the copy of the contract that was submitted to them WITH A SCANNED COPY OF MY SIGNATURE and not a wet signature (meaning it was falsely and fraudulently signed by another party other than me - ANOTHER ILLEGAL ACT).I am requesting the contract be provided to me via email and if it needs to be encrypted, that is fine as well. However, these fraudulent acts by the wanted (now caught) *****, *******************, and the aiding and abetting company, Symphonic Distribution (refusing to provide fraudulently signed documents with MY NAME ON THEM).

  Business Response

  Date: 08/08/2024

  To Symphonics knowledge, *************************** (the "Claimant") is requesting a copy of a contract which Claimant purports exists between her and a third party whom the Claimant alleges is a client of Symphonic (the "Third Party") and which she believes the Third Party sent Symphonic. 
  
  The Claimant is neither a direct customer nor a client of **********************.  Symphonic has not executed or entered into any contract, or made any arrangements with, the Claimant.  Symphonic has not provided, been obligated to provide, or failed to provide the Claimant any services.  Symphonic does not owe the Claimant any duty or obligation regarding or relevant to the Claimants claim and request. 

  As set forth in Symphonics standard terms included in Symphonics contracts with its clients, Symphonic is subject to confidentiality requirements and restrictions such that Symphonic shall not disclose its clients Confidential Information (including the terms of the contract between Symphonic and its client and Symphonics clients other confidential documents and information) to any other person for any reason or purpose.  If the Third Party is actually a client of Symphonic, they are subject of said confidentiality requirements and Symphonic is bound by said confidentiality restrictions. 
  
  The Claimant will need to address her grievance, this matter, any purported issue, and her claim and request for documents and information directly to the Third Party with whom she claims to have executed and entered into a separate contract (to which Symphonic is not a party).
  
  Please let us know if you have any questions or there is anything else we can do to assist.  Symphonic respectfully reserves all rights and remedies.  Thank you.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/27/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Symphonic Distribution is filing false copyright claims against MY work on ******** I am the SOLE creator, editor, and COPYRIGHT owner of ALL of my songs that have been released to the public.Symphonic owns the copyright to NOTHING and need to CEASE filing anymore claims against MY WORK unless wanting to be served a legal summons with filings for monetary and compensatory damages.I have 19 videos on ******* and ********************************************************************************** ONLY, edited by ME ONLY, and copyrighted by ME ONLY. This company has NO CLAIM to filing any copyright claims on any of the 25 instrumentals that I have released to the public and they need to cease any further claims.

  Business Response

  Date: 01/10/2024

  Hi, 

  We're going to need more details as we distribute millions of tracks annually. 

  Please get the claimant to provide more metadata about the tracks in question. 

   

  Thanks

  *********************;

  ************************

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/10/2024

  I am Trakklacer.

  I have received several emails from ******* stating my videos cannot be monetized because copyrighted content has been detected. I SHOULD NOT be receiving anything regarding copyrighted content when I am the SOLE AUTHOR, CREATOR, OWNER, PRODUCER, CONTENT CREATOR, AND ONLY PERSON LISTED ON THE COPYRIGHT APPLICATION (AND RECEIVED CERTIFICATES).

  The songs I have received emails from ******* are as follows (you can use your own search engine to pull up the videos on ******* since you have "millions" of artists you represent):

  "Wakanda Forever"
  "Again"
  "Warned"
  "Kings' Dream"
  "Alright"
  "Bout ****************************************** Plan Coming Up"
  

  Regards

  Business Response

  Date: 01/19/2024

  Symphonic is dedicated to ensuring Client Content uploaded by our users is compliant with applicable copyright laws and does not infringe on any 3rd party rights.
  
  The subject content of *************************** (UPC #'s: 198088115096, 197209433095, 197209433095, 197209433095, 197209433095, 197209433095) was provided to Symphonic by a third party who warranted and represented to Symphonic that they had the rights in the subject content for Symphonic's provision of ******* Content ID services. ********************** was not previously notified of any copyright issues concerning this content. In light of the dispute raised by ***************************, Symphonic has commenced an internal investigation into this matter concerning the subject content and the rights warranted and represented to Symphonic. While this investigation is ongoing, Symphonic has released the ******* Content ID claims on the following ******* channel: ********************************************************, and removed the subject content from ******* Content ID. This could take several business days to be fully reflected on the ******* platform. 
  
  Sincerely, 

  The Symphonic Team

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/06/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  20$I sent over my licenses for my music and then they cancel my music and my account out of nowhere and then they sent me this email :We are writing to inform you that Symphonic declines to distribute your Client Content. We are exercising the rights set forth in the Starter Terms and Conditions due to detected account irregularities, DSP policy circumvention, and/or suspected improper activity which violate the terms of usage and/or affect Symphonic's relationships with our partners/clients.

  Business Response

  Date: 05/02/2023

  We appreciate the opportunity to respond to the issue of terminating the client's account with **********************.
  
  At Symphonic, we are committed to helping independent artists share their music with the world. We offer various services, including digital and video distribution, royalty collection, marketing, and more. We take our commitment to our clients very seriously and have strict policies to ensure that all content we distribute meets our quality standards and adheres to our terms of use.
  
  The client in question paid $19.99 per year for our **************** which gets their music to 200+ *************** Providers (DSPs), including Spotify, ************** and more, and allows them to keep 100% of royalties for the music they own.
  
  Unfortunately, after a thorough review of the client's account, we found multiple irregularities. These included insufficient documents submitted as licenses for their music, which violated our quality standards and terms of use.
  
  Additionally, the client submitted **** takedowns for their content via *************** Providers (DSPs), which can cause ** to lose good standing with our partnership with these DSPs.
  
  The ****, or Digital Millennium Copyright Act, is a ** law that was enacted in **** to address copyright issues related to digital content. **** takedown requests are often used in the music industry to combat online piracy and unauthorized distribution of copyrighted music. Copyright holders, such as record labels and musicians, may file **** takedown requests with websites and online platforms that host or share their music without permission.
  
  We found that the client violated the **** act by adding major artists to their content and later removing them as features after we questioned them about it and did not provide rights despite our request.
  
  As stated in section 10(g) in our terms and conditions, failure to provide documentation within three (3) business days of the request may result in non-payment of royalties, takedown of client content, and/or immediate closure of the client's account, all at **********************'s sole election. 
  
  Given the significant risks posed by these issues, we had no choice but to terminate the client's account to protect the integrity of our business and our partnerships with our clients and partners.
  
  We understand that this decision may have disappointed the client, and we regret any inconvenience caused. However, we stand by our decision to terminate the account and uphold our commitment to our policies and business standards.

   

  Terms & Conditions can be viewed here: ****************************************************************