# Maybe the biggest bummer in this industry so far?



## Dirk Ehlert (Jul 16, 2013)

Hey guys,

yesterday over on Facebook Daniel James brought up a topic about a page on Pond5 (Royalty Free Marketplace) (for those who are on FB and friends with Daniel, here's the thread - https://www.facebook.com/H2DJames/posts ... tif_t=like ) 

A guy called Alex Khaskin is running profiles on numerous RF-Portals and he sells a ton of samplelibrary demos that others have done (Daniel, Colin O'Malley, Troels Folmann, myself etc.). In his email reply to Daniel, he tried to blame his son, since he doesn't care about uploads himself and his son might have uploaded tracks that he downloaded for the purpose of listening to sample lib demos - well, kinda very strange. I'm not saying his entire portfolio is ripped, but especially with a track of mine, he not just "coincidently" uploaded that one for sale, but the track was edited, recut and additional layers put on top, plus that track alone was on Pond5 in 4 different versions. The Pond5 site is down now (he had more than 1400 tracks there) but he is still to be found on various other portals (found that same track of mine on Musicloops.com for example).

I'm still more or less speechless about the criminal energy of this, according to the sales numbers Pond5 alone made him minimum 60k just a quick calculation told me he sold my stuff für ~600 bucks. 

I'm writing this for several reasons, first of all I feel the name needs to be known for sure. Plus, if you've done library demos or have your stuff on soundcloud etc. you might wanna check his other portfolios to maybe discover a track of yours as well. 

This can't go unheard in this industry, has anyone else experienced something similar?


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## audiothing (Jul 16, 2013)

_"Error: This account has been disabled [Slivochnii]"_
Is there a way to check what he had? I'm digging through the FB post and I think I'm on his personal website, but if you can please post more details.

These kind of things make me very angry and sad at the same time.


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## Dirk Ehlert (Jul 16, 2013)

Just google his name and you find all the links to his profiles like Audiosparx, Musicloops, Premiumbeats, Revostock etc.

Don't know whether I can post all the links here, otherwise we could easily make a collective thread and put everything together. Seems he killed his account himself yesterday on Pond5.

Which makes his statement about "accidently" uploading stuff pretty lame.


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## musicformedia (Jul 16, 2013)

Here are his accounts. I'd suggest everyone has a look through the tracks to see if any of them are yours:

http://www.musicloops.com/royalty_free_ ... haskin-74/

http://www.premiumbeat.com/artists/alex-khaskin

http://www.shockwave-sound.com/composer/list/159.html

http://www.neosounds.com/royalty-free-a ... 30-p1.html

http://www.smartassmusic.com/stock-musi ... ex-khaskin

http://www.sounddogs.com/results.asp?ty ... egoryid=35

http://www.musicdealers.com/#!/artist/84815

http://www.youlicense.com/Artist/Artist ... ?ID=107589

http://www.productiontrax.com/profile.php?id=1941

http://www.audiosparx.com/Alexander_Khaskin

http://www.themusicase.com/composer/Roy ... x_Khaskin/

http://www.mediamusicnow.co.uk/royalty-free-music-composer/alex-khaskin.aspx (http://www.mediamusicnow.co.uk/royalty- ... askin.aspx)

http://www.music2license.com/composer/alex_khaskin

http://www.freshmusic.com/royalty-free-music/composer/alex-khaskin (http://www.freshmusic.com/royalty-free- ... ex-khaskin)

http://www.yookamusic.com/licensor/alexkhaskin


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## Dirk Ehlert (Jul 16, 2013)

Btw, his Audiosparx page holds pretty much all of the latest Big Fish Audio releases (the construction kits as they appear originally in the libs, especially the punk / country / and Indie tunes.


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## Ganvai (Jul 16, 2013)

His description on premiumbeat is great:

Alex Khaskin

Alex Khaskin is a Russian composer born in St. Petersburg and currently living in Toronto Canada. Alex received his undergraduate education at Glinka’s School for The Musically Gifted (piano and conducting), before studying composition and conducting at The St. Petersburg State Conservatory. For the last 15 years in Canada Alex been successfully working in the film and television industry of North America. The list of his clients includes: CBS, CBC, CTV, Lions Gate Films, Artisan, Alliance/Atlantis, Muse Entertainment, CINAR, Dufferin Gate, Legacy Film Works…


Really pisses me off.


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## rayinstirling (Jul 16, 2013)

Anyone wanting him in their circle

https://plus.google.com/116304326229547204496/posts


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## Madrigal (Jul 16, 2013)

This was bound to happen at some point but it doesn't make it any less disgusting :x
Happy you guys were able to spot the fraud.


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## rpaillot (Jul 16, 2013)

Ultimately this guy is going to be sued by all the production companies he sold the tracks to, and the original composers. 

How can you be that stupid to think nobody would have noticed the fraud ?


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## marcotronic (Jul 16, 2013)

That's just completely unbelievable **shakinghead**

Marco


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## XcesSound (Jul 16, 2013)

http://www.pond5.com/artist/Slivochnii#14

He has disabled his account, he had over 1400 tracks on there. Many of demos for sample libraries were on there. Whats more disgusting is he adds some synth or generic horn melody or string line, and making it "truly" his! 

Wondrr what Alex is thinking right now??

Pretty serious matter.


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## impressions (Jul 16, 2013)

I found a track of mine in an internet radio called "8.."(can't remember) i had them remove it, even though they insisted that my soundcloud agreement involves presenting my music in websites without my permission.


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## Big Fish Audio (Jul 16, 2013)

Thank you De_Signs for pointing this out. We are looking into all the links currently and will act accordingly to what we find.


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## Greg (Jul 16, 2013)

Seriously appalled by this.. especially by how long it took for him to be caught. Hopefully justice is served and these composers are compensated x10.


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## MichalCielecki (Jul 16, 2013)

It also may be wise to take a look at his personal site and audio/video examples:

http://www.alexkhaskin.com/audio.html
http://www.alexkhaskin.com/video.html

Cheers,
Michal


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## KMuzzey (Jul 16, 2013)

Wow, he even has a Wikipedia entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_khaskin

.... should anyone want to add thievery to his bio.

Kerry


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## Question (Jul 16, 2013)

Maybe someone who has found their tracks on his site should call him on the phone?

Here is his contact info.

Salieri Music Inc.
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Telephone: (416) 712-2744

E-mail: [email protected]


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## RasmusFors (Jul 16, 2013)

Yeah, someone should write it in his wiki page. Scare of potential customers


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## murrthecat (Jul 16, 2013)

Funny - if one can say so of such a serious situation - to see that his company is named after Salieri...whom Mozart accused of trickery in several letters...


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## germancomponist (Jul 16, 2013)

KMuzzey @ Tue Jul 16 said:


> Wow, he even has a Wikipedia entry:
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_khaskin
> 
> ...



A good idea!


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## Aakaash Rao (Jul 16, 2013)

Absolutely disgusting.


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## stevetwist (Jul 16, 2013)

This is very saddening. Such disgusting behaviour.

I am glad someone noticed what he is up to, and I hope that justice is served and the victims appropriately compensated. My thoughts are with all the composers he's preying upon.

Steve


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## germancomponist (Jul 16, 2013)

Why another/new thread?

The original thread about this happening is here: http://www.vi-control.net/forum/viewtop ... =1#3716565


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## Dirk Ehlert (Jul 16, 2013)

That's my fault then, I didn't see Daniels initial post. Would suggest to close this one then. I'll head over to the other one as well. Thanks Gunther and again, sorry for the double post.


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## germancomponist (Jul 16, 2013)

de_signs @ Tue Jul 16 said:


> That's my fault then, I didn't see Daniels initial post. Would suggest to close this one then. I'll head over to the other one as well. Thanks Gunther and again, sorry for the double post.



He he, Dirk, no reason for you to excuse. But I thinkt Daniel was the guy who found this out and started a thread and...... . o-[][]-o


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## kitekrazy (Jul 16, 2013)

XcesSound @ Tue Jul 16 said:


> http://www.pond5.com/artist/Slivochnii#14
> 
> He has disabled his account, he had over 1400 tracks on there. Many of demos for sample libraries were on there. *Whats more disgusting is he adds some synth or generic horn melody or string line, and making it "truly" his!
> *
> ...



He can do that legally if these are loops based or construction kit libraries.


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## Peter Alexander (Jul 16, 2013)

impressions @ Tue Jul 16 said:


> ...even though they insisted that my soundcloud agreement involves presenting my music in websites without my permission.



Worth noting. Thanks for sharing this.


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## madbulk (Jul 16, 2013)

de_signs @ Tue Jul 16 said:


> That's my fault then, I didn't see Daniels initial post. Would suggest to close this one then. I'll head over to the other one as well. Thanks Gunther and again, sorry for the double post.



No no... I'm glad you posted here because until I heard your account -- that your tune had been edited and built out into different versions -- I was inclined to give the guy the benefit of the doubt.

This was, as someone implied, bound to happen.


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## Synesthesia (Jul 16, 2013)

kitekrazy @ Tue Jul 16 said:


> XcesSound @ Tue Jul 16 said:
> 
> 
> > http://www.pond5.com/artist/Slivochnii#14
> ...



Thats not actually true - certainly for the construction kits that Big Fish produce. It specifically says you can't use them to create library music. I guess because people would simply add a line and upload it to a royalty free site..


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## madbulk (Jul 16, 2013)

But Big Fish is exceptional if not unique in this regard as far as I know.


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## Daniel James (Jul 16, 2013)

Synesthesia @ Tue Jul 16 said:


> kitekrazy @ Tue Jul 16 said:
> 
> 
> > XcesSound @ Tue Jul 16 said:
> ...



I think this is talking about how some composers found their complete tracks have had parts put on top of them, like a new brass or string line to mask the fact the track isn't his.

-DJ


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## benmrx (Jul 16, 2013)

Daniel James @ Tue Jul 16 said:


> Synesthesia @ Tue Jul 16 said:
> 
> 
> > kitekrazy @ Tue Jul 16 said:
> ...



Exactly. I don't forward much on Facebook, but I did 'share' this!


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## Casiquire (Jul 16, 2013)

For the record, no, you cannot legally take someone else's music or sound recording and modify it by adding a line before distributing it as your own. At least in the US, you need permission for almost any type of derivative work. Even covers where you don't need express permission still require royalty payments. Copyright law is mostly very kind to musicians!


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## kitekrazy (Jul 17, 2013)

madbulk @ Tue Jul 16 said:


> But Big Fish is exceptional if not unique in this regard as far as I know.



Bingo! I could make an endless list that do not have this practice. That's probably why you see very few loop sites carry BFA. IF they do, they never get a lot of sales. Personally, anything I've done with loops, I make it known. I would not want people to ever confuse me as a musical genius.

There's plenty of top 40 songs that uses loops. They only way you find out if they are used is going to the developer's sites.


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## jcs88 (Jul 17, 2013)

Truly incredible. What a piece of shit.

To all who have had material stolen - my condolences for the headache. I doubt my stuff is in there but I'll have a look through.

The worst thing he did was rip off the big soundtracks; those studios will have the money to go after this scum.


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## jdrcomposer (Jul 17, 2013)

While this is unspeakably awful for us composers, I did have a laugh at how blatantly obvious this one was

http://www.freshmusic.com/royalty-free-music/track/sails-set

I really hope those of you who got their work stolen by this guy get some kind of compensation.


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## soundtraktechnoid (Jul 17, 2013)

This is pretty appalling. I hope everyone who has had their stuff stolen is taking legal action, this is a lot of money that he has made of off other peoples hard work. If he can't personally make this right and atone for it, then steps need to be taken by you guys, it is the only course of action to make sure someone else doesn't try something like this (which is an incredibly stupid move).


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## Rob (Jul 17, 2013)

That's unbelievable... By the way it's a pain to have to go through dozens of mp3s to check if someone's music has been stolen... what an a**hole...


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## germancomponist (Jul 17, 2013)

Rob @ Wed Jul 17 said:


> That's unbelievable... By the way it's a pain to have to go through dozens of mp3s to check if someone's music has been stolen... what an a**hole...



There is new software what can identify tracks only after 3 seconds. Many services utilize this software now.


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## mgtube (Jul 19, 2013)

germancomponist @ Thu Jul 18 said:


> Rob @ Wed Jul 17 said:
> 
> 
> > That's unbelievable... By the way it's a pain to have to go through dozens of mp3s to check if someone's music has been stolen... what an a**hole...
> ...



Could you please name any of those services please?


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## hector (Jul 19, 2013)

mgtube @ Fri Jul 19 said:


> germancomponist @ Thu Jul 18 said:
> 
> 
> > Rob @ Wed Jul 17 said:
> ...


Two biggest using it are Soundcloud and YouTube. Google music also have ability to use it to find music you record on your phone (also Shazzam).


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## SamGarnerStudios (Jul 19, 2013)

http://evolver.fm/2012/10/10/top-5-apps-for-identifying-songs/ (http://evolver.fm/2012/10/10/top-5-apps ... ing-songs/)

I didn't know this kind of software exist. But I was in the bar the other night and saw someone use it and it blew my mind. It was really loud and we were talking around the phone and it still was able to accurately determine the song.


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## dinerdog (Jul 19, 2013)

This is the software that tracks your music:

http://www.tunesat.com

The only thing is that it has to be aired somewhere. If you sign up for their service and register/encode your music, they monitor hundreds (or thousands) of channels and send you a daily report of all the usage's of your tracks they find. It's not cheap and more for pro libraries and music houses, but amazing in what it can catch.


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## SamGarnerStudios (Jul 19, 2013)

Oh, yeah, I thought you were iphone apps lol.


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## mgtube (Jul 19, 2013)

dinerdog @ Fri Jul 19 said:


> This is the software that tracks your music:
> 
> http://www.tunesat.com
> 
> The only thing is that it has to be aired somewhere. If you sign up for their service and register/encode your music, they monitor hundreds (or thousands) of channels and send you a daily report of all the usage's of your tracks they find. It's not cheap and more for pro libraries and music houses, but amazing in what it can catch.



Thanks for that but does it also track on music libraries?


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## rgames (Jul 19, 2013)

mgtube @ Fri Jul 19 said:


> dinerdog @ Fri Jul 19 said:
> 
> 
> > This is the software that tracks your music:
> ...


It tracks whatever you tell it to track regardless of where it originates. You upload the audio files and it monitors web/TV/etc for matches.

The problem is deciding what to track. My library is over 300 tracks and it's way too expensive to track all of them. And every quarter my ASCAP statement is a crapshoot - I have no idea what's likely to be placed and what's not.

I signed up for the 100 track trial and yeah, Tunesat found a few that ASCAP missed. But that doesn't mean they won't show up at some point in the future.

Plus, because Tunesat has only 100 of my tracks, my ASCAP statements shows a lot of placements that Tunesat missed.

I just don't see how it's cost effective.

rgames


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## Ed (Jul 21, 2013)

Tunesat is pretty shitty for web use in my experience, it's picked up some things for sure but there's loads of things that never came up at all that I knew were online

I haven't done the compare to your PRO data yet but it's been great to find out what TV use has been I'd have never known otherwise. That said I only have 10 tracks on there atm, it can get very expensive if you have more tracks


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## Steve Steele (Jul 22, 2013)

de_signs @ Tue Jul 16 said:


> according to the sales numbers Pond5 alone made him minimum 60k just a quick calculation told me he sold my stuff für ~600 bucks.



I didn't realize the business for buying tracks was that big. Who would be the major buyers? Indie film makers? Game developers?


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## KMuzzey (Jul 25, 2013)

So has anyone found a resolution with Khaskin yet, or taken their discovered thefts to the "claim" level? This was such a big explosion the other day, and now... crickets.

Kerry


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## sleepy hollow (Sep 11, 2015)

KMuzzey said:


> This was such a big explosion the other day, and now... crickets.


Crickets... and some tumbleweed... 

Thought I'd bump this thread. Maybe there are some news.


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## Karl Feuerstake (Sep 11, 2015)

His first cue for Horror was just stormdrum loop plus one or two ambient pads... what a shame. It's 'tactics' like that which destroy the art in music.


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## Guffy (Sep 11, 2015)

All those IMDb credits, nothing but fancy words on his wiki page, etc etc..
I can't believe nothing is done about this guy. I'm 99 % sure he still rips of other people's work, just more discreet from lesser-known composers. What a scumbag.

Edit:


Still at it.


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## woodsdenis (Sep 12, 2015)

He foolishly ripped some of HZ Pirate score, the lawyers of Disney were dispatched AFAIK.


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## tomaslobosk (Sep 13, 2015)

What a joke!, sadly the world is full of this kind of people.
But I'm always in peace, because I know these people will NEVER achieve what we've achieved.


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## Bunford (Sep 13, 2015)

Unfortunately this is hugely prevalent in creative industries! I also do digital artwork and paint in oils and acrylics and found one of my items being sold as a print, offering it on mugs, cushions and the like. It was the same argument. When i confronted the seller of the novelty items with my unlicensed and unauthorised art on it they claimed their son had bought them a CD of royalty free images to use and my image was on there. When i pushed further to ask where did the son buy the CD from they were unable/unwilling to answer me. It ended up with them refusing to reply to my correspondence.

I learnt from that lesson and now only upload images that are watermarked, locked metadata and in low resolution so they will be pixelated and blurry if anyone tries to use them.


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## Daryl (Sep 13, 2015)

TomiLobosK said:


> What a joke!, sadly the world is full of this kind of people.
> But I'm always in peace, because I know these people will NEVER achieve what we've achieved.


Well that depends on what you mean by achieve. Certainly they can earn money for pretty much no effort and have no feelings of guilt. Therefore what have they not achieved? Creating it themselves? They don't care about that. Why would they? If it was all about being creative, they would have no reason to make money from other peoples work.

D


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## tomaslobosk (Sep 13, 2015)

Daryl said:


> Well that depends on what you mean by achieve. Certainly they can earn money for pretty much no effort and have no feelings of guilt. Therefore what have they not achieved? Creating it themselves? They don't care about that. Why would they? If it was all about being creative, they would have no reason to make money from other peoples work.
> 
> D


Yeah, you are right, but I didn't mean it in the practical way, more like in a spiritual way: they'll never be able to experience that magnificent feeling of truly creating something beautiful.


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## Daryl (Sep 13, 2015)

TomiLobosK said:


> Yeah, you are right, but I didn't mean it in the practical way, more like in a spiritual way: they'll never be able to experience that magnificent feeling of truly creating something beautiful.


Ah. Bingo. Well I don't believe in any of that cr*p. 

D


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## tomaslobosk (Sep 13, 2015)

Daryl said:


> Ah. Bingo. Well I don't believe in any of that cr*p.
> 
> D


Hahahahahaha! touché.


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## Johnny (Sep 13, 2015)

Anyone know a good bounty hunter? (JK)


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## Johnny (Sep 13, 2015)

The sad reality is,
Who's to say that this guy was even the very first shit-bat out there? At least he is the first to get caught!


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## Ah_dziz (Sep 13, 2015)

I caught a guy selling my music online a few years. It was a collection of tracks that I was very proud of and had sold the rights to a large studio so I wasn't able even to sell them legally. I had a pretty good time sending the Sony pictures legal department after him. I expected him to be a little kid for some reason but it turned out he was older than me and just a scumbag. It's a bummer how much of this goes on. I don't know how much YouTube plays are worth but there are millions of plays of unauthorized cuts of my music on there and YouTube has done nothing to stop it despite having been asked. Unfortunately people steal shit, and will continue to do so regardless of what people try to do about it. Best of luck to everyone on here who's had this happen to them. I've given up except to call people out personally whenever I come across somebody using my stuff.


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## Johnny (Sep 13, 2015)

Amen,
Sorry to hear that you were victimised too.
All we can do is hope that whatever goes around comes around- let karma have its way on these guys and hopefully they'll learn their lesson the hard way. Oye....


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## GP_Hawk (Sep 14, 2015)

This guy is still going strong. Someone needs to move this info into social media circles.


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## Vin (Oct 12, 2015)

GP_Hawk said:


> This guy is still going strong. Someone needs to move this info into social media circles.



Yep, I was just browsing some libraries and his name often pops up. Why is this s%&t still allowed to do it?



> The list of his clients includes: CBS, CBC, CTV, Nelvana, Lions Gate Films, Artisan, Alliance/Atlantis, CCI Entertainment, Muse Entertainment, CINAR, Dufferin Gate, Decode Entertainment, Regent Entertainment, Legacy Film Works, Barna-Alper Productions and many more.


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## sleepy hollow (Oct 12, 2015)

Vin said:


> Yep, I was just browsing some libraries and his name often pops up. Why is this s%&t still allowed to do it?


No plaintiff, no judge...?


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## Shubus (Oct 12, 2015)

impressions said:


> I found a track of mine in an internet radio called "8.."(can't remember) i had them remove it, even though they insisted that my soundcloud agreement involves presenting my music in websites without my permission.


I'm glad to see the soundcloud agreement being brought up--this is the reason I choose not to post to soundcloud.


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## Kralc (Oct 12, 2015)

I looked this guy up (I'm always curious to hear other composers sounds (or maybe in this case, his name on other composers sounds??)).

Tell me the difference between these two tracks...  (Is this kind of editing kosher to do??)
https://www.shockwave-sound.com/stock-music-track/12910/movie-comedy
https://www.shockwave-sound.com/stock-music-track/12844/christmas-mischief


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## Elephant (Oct 12, 2015)

Shubus said:


> I'm glad to see the soundcloud agreement being brought up--this is the reason I choose not to post to soundcloud.


Yikes !! Have you got a link to the clauses ?


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## Elephant (Oct 12, 2015)

OK Here's the clause, I think ............... 

http://soundcloud.com/terms-of-use#grant-of-license


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## ZeeCount (Oct 12, 2015)

Shubus said:


> I'm glad to see the soundcloud agreement being brought up--this is the reason I choose not to post to soundcloud.



They probably meant this segment:

"By uploading Your Content to the Platform, you also grant a limited, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, fully paid up, licence to other users of the Platform, and to operators and users of any other websites, apps and/or platforms to which Your Content has been shared or embedded using the Services (“Linked Services”), to use, copy, repost, transmit or otherwise distribute, publicly display, publicly perform, adapt, prepare derivative works of, compile, make available and otherwise communicate to the public, Your Content utilising the features of the Platform from time to time, and within the parameters set by you using the Services."

All this is saying is that once your music is uploaded into soundcloud, anyone can play back the music in any context IF they use the soundcloud engine. So unless said web radio was literally just clicking play on a playlist they had built using soundcloud they were still violating the ToS of soundcloud.


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## Mystic (Oct 13, 2015)

This kind of stuff always worries me. I don't post a whole lot of public tracks to soundcloud because of it. Even at 128kbps, a song is good enough quality to rip off. Damn shame people like this exist. Surprised no one has gone after this guy yet legally.


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## Shubus (Oct 15, 2015)

I rather like Shockwave-Sound.com's solution to this mess--imbedding audio stating "preview" and the web address. Clearly this puts the brakes on content theft, but make it a lot harder to listen to. Haven't heard this technique on Soundcloud yet....but I've not listened to everything there, either!


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## rJames (Oct 15, 2015)

ZeeCount said:


> They probably meant this segment:
> 
> "By uploading Your Content to the Platform, you also grant a limited, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, fully paid up, licence to other users of the Platform, and to operators and users of any other websites, apps and/or platforms to which Your Content has been shared or embedded using the Services (“Linked Services”), to use, copy, repost, transmit or otherwise distribute, publicly display, publicly perform, adapt, prepare derivative works of, compile, make available and otherwise communicate to the public, Your Content utilising the features of the Platform from time to time, and within the parameters set by you using the Services."
> 
> All this is saying is that once your music is uploaded into soundcloud, anyone can play back the music in any context IF they use the soundcloud engine. So unless said web radio was literally just clicking play on a playlist they had built using soundcloud they were still violating the ToS of soundcloud.



If this isn't enough to have all of you take your music down from SoundCloud, I don't know what would be.

You really are giving away any music you post there. WOW. 

I assume they have this clause so that they cannot be held liable when scumbags like this guy steals your music.

The contract actually says, "prepare derivative works of," I mean... ouch.


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## ZeeCount (Oct 15, 2015)

rJames said:


> If this isn't enough to have all of you take your music down from SoundCloud, I don't know what would be.
> 
> You really are giving away any music you post there. WOW.
> 
> ...



It says "prepare derivative works of... utilising the features of the Platform..."

This means they can only make derivative works _using the soundcloud platform_. This is not the same thing as giving carte blanche to "use it any way they want".


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## rJames (Oct 15, 2015)

ZeeCount said:


> This means they can only make derivative works _using the soundcloud platform_. This is not the same thing as giving carte blanche to "use it any way they want".


What does that mean? Is there a feature of the platform where someone could incorporate what you've written into something they now claim? Cause that is what a derivative work is.
That doesn't bother you? You are granting this right to "other users of the platform." If they made a derivative copy and added it to their Soundcloud account (as well as to a bunch of libraries) would that be OK? Legal language usually doesn't contain specificity but rather wants to encompass as wide a set of circumstances as possible.
When reading a contract I always ask myself, "what does the broadest reading of this encompass?"
Anyway, who wants other people making derivative works of your copyrighted work and posting it on Soundcloud?


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## ZeeCount (Oct 15, 2015)

rJames said:


> What does that mean? Is there a feature of the platform where someone could incorporate what you've written into something they now claim? Cause that is what a derivative work is.



Soundcloud is primarily a music player, so using the soundcloud platform means using it as a media player. If someone were to make a deriative work using their system and then shared that to another platform they would be violating the ToS of soundcloud. Also, notice that it says "within the terms set by you". So if you disabled downloading and someone then ripped the stream and uploaded it to soundcloud that would also be violating the ToS. If you choose to not release your music under the creative commons licence, the soundcloud one does not overwrite this.

In terms of people making derivative works, I have had plenty of people download my music and then reupload it to soundcloud and soundcloud has always removed these pieces within a few hours of me reporting them.


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## procreative (Oct 16, 2015)

Any contract can be ripped apart by a good legal team if there are any vagaries in there. Likewise a contract means nothing if an unscrupulous user is prepared to risk it or has nothing to lose.

Unless you have infinite funds to spend chasing said people in the vein hope they will 1. Desist and 2. Pay any fines or judgements and 3. Pay the legal costs involved (which courts do not always award), good luck.

Generally the kinds of people that do these things make a habit of doing them because they know how to escape justice. Think about it why has Big Fish Audio or any other publisher not chased this guy down? Cost vs Gain.

The only solution is to not upload whole pieces but sample snippets and ask interested parties to request the full track if they are serious. Either that or accept this will happen, just like it does to every digitally published work.


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## madbulk (Aug 23, 2016)

GP_Hawk said:


> This guy is still going strong. Someone needs to move this info into social media circles.



It's been a few years since this dustup and this thread hasn't been revisited in nearly a year either, but this is sorta interesting... I run an RF site called Sonitarium.com and I had gotten a composer application or two from Mr Khaskin. That application was not accepted.
Subsequently an application was received from a "Stan Fomin." A search for "Stan Fomin" lead to a youtube vid, and Stan appears to be a very good jazz player and multi-instrumentalist. Stan's application happened to be orchestral, and it was accepted. We received a "help inquiry" email shortly thereafter because Stan was having trouble remembering his composer login or something. The email didn't have a closing -- in other words there's no, "Sincerely yours, Stan," or such. The name in the return address was not Stan Fomin, but instead "Petia Wolk," whom I didn't recognize. So I looked at the underlying email address, which strangely included the name of guy best known as W.A. Mozart's rival. And when I looked in our composer registrations, I'll be darned if it didn't list "Alex Khaskin" as the name of our newest composer.
Man, oh man.


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## Spectralworks (Jan 19, 2021)

Well guys after 5 weeks of finding/restoring an 11-year-old Cubase project I was able to put together these videos and show them to ADREV and IDENTIFY/Hawk
Alex Khaskin is no longer collecting royalties from youtube, sadly Im dot sure whether its possible to retrieve the royalties he received over the years ( in my case from hundreds of millions of views, my track landed as the background theme in something called #annoyingorange , on YouTube, they have 10 million subscribers and 7 billion views. Some of their videos containing my music have as many as 233 million views, some only 3 million , but they've got 3000 videos up, and quite a few have my music, Anyone have any idea what kinda $ there may have been?
In any case here is the video I showed ADREV today with positive results
A HUGE PERSONAL THANK YOU GOES OUT FROM ME PERSONALLY TO THIS GREAT FORUM FOR BEING PART OF MY EVIDENCE !!!
-IK
enjoy :


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## Spectralworks (Jan 19, 2021)

Alex Khaskin has 542 tracks on Soundcloud.com, I recognized at least 10 tracks from a jazz pianist that I know on there, and a few from minor Russian stars (Alex just renamed and uploaded their karaoke instrumentals), about 50 of my personal tracks are up on his Soundcloud, perhaps more. BUT I MUST APPLAUD Alex, on some of my tracks, he took the time to slap on some midi string and guitars on top of the original stereo file. That's Progress ...I guess......
Actually got my track "funny Walk" that ended up IN https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYsOnfN5tIU with 233,266,022 views on YouTube.... he re-titled it Cookie Walk though:(
View attachment 43353


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## jamie8 (Jan 19, 2021)

Daniel James said:


> I think this is talking about how some composers found their complete tracks have had parts put on top of them, like a new brass or string line to mask the fact the track isn't his.
> 
> -DJ


What a prick! im canadian and i certainly am unable to compose like most people on here , i have played professionally for some top bands as well as tons of dialog stuff for EA. and i would never try to rip someone off like that, this alex guy needs a visit from the karma police and i hope they bring a large bat with them, its hard enough to do this even on a amateur level . 
ps daniel just saw you sing , keep it up man ,not to bad !

"Moderators" , please forgive me if i have crossed any line here , just makes me mad especially with all the time and investment .


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## Michael Antrum (Jan 19, 2021)

And he looks like such a honest and reliable guy too....

Was this picture taken in the 80's ?


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## GNP (Jan 19, 2021)

Takes the word "hard worker" to whole new level.

His whole account and even pictures "of him" could be fake.


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## Spectralworks (Jan 19, 2021)

soundtraktechnoid said:


> This is pretty appalling. I hope everyone who has had their stuff stolen is taking legal action, this is a lot of money that he has made of off other peoples hard work. If he can't personally make this right and atone for it, then steps need to be taken by you guys, it is the only course of action to make sure someone else doesn't try something like this (which is an incredibly stupid move).


Legal


GNP said:


> Takes the word "hard worker" to whole new level.
> 
> His whole account and even pictures "of him" could be fake.


No it's real... I know him in real life... its him ...
He has ... issues ... no joke... its possibly an OCD type of coping mechanism... a repetitive task ..steal song , rename , reupload ,repeat...
Im no doctor but hey ... its possible ..no? :


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## CT (Jan 19, 2021)

The pictures ARE stolen! That's me!


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## GNP (Jan 19, 2021)

Spectralworks said:


> Legal
> 
> No it's real... I know him in real life... its him ...
> He has ... issues ... no joke... its possibly an OCD type of coping mechanism... a repetitive task ..steal song , rename , reupload ,repeat...
> Im no doctor but hey ... its possible ..no? :



I once had the same thing happen to me back in my past when I did cinematic tracks just for the heck of it, except the guy didn't even bother laying other instruments on top of my tracks. He just renamed the titles (e.g. Dawn Of A New Era changed to One Last Goodbye)!


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## Spectralworks (Jan 20, 2021)

Mike T said:


> The pictures ARE stolen! That's me!


hold on which pics are we talking about?


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## ProfoundSilence (Jan 20, 2021)

I'm not normally one for the death penalty, but if any of you need organs - I don't see why you don't get to just borrow them without asking. 


That guy deserves nothing less than misery for the rest of his life.


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## Spectralworks (Jan 20, 2021)

madbulk said:


> It's been a few years since this dustup and this thread hasn't been revisited in nearly a year either, but this is sorta interesting... I run an RF site called Sonitarium.com and I had gotten a composer application or two from Mr Khaskin. That application was not accepted.
> Subsequently an application was received from a "Stan Fomin." A search for "Stan Fomin" lead to a youtube vid, and Stan appears to be a very good jazz player and multi-instrumentalist. Stan's application happened to be orchestral, and it was accepted. We received a "help inquiry" email shortly thereafter because Stan was having trouble remembering his composer login or something. The email didn't have a closing -- in other words there's no, "Sincerely yours, Stan," or such. The name in the return address was not Stan Fomin, but instead "Petia Wolk," whom I didn't recognize. So I looked at the underlying email address, which strangely included the name of guy best known as W.A. Mozart's rival. And when I looked in our composer registrations, I'll be darned if it didn't list "Alex Khaskin" as the name of our newest composer.
> Man, oh man.


I Know Stan Fomin personally, he is a good close friend, a great guy, and an amazing musician.
Alex Khaskin "Screwed" Stan (pardon my french) MAJORLY both Financially and professionally, 

as far as using other peoples names to open up accounts ( I believe that's called IDENTITY THEFT )

here's one for you... a Composer whom Alex hired for a couple of projects by the name of Don Garbutt, whom I've also met at Alex's studio once, seemingly uploaded a random mix of around 140 of Mine, Stan Fomin's AND ALEX KHASKINS stock music tracks to the Internet Archive



For anyone to download Absolutely free... Don Garbutt is a respected musician and music teacher at a music college in Canada, I'm having difficulty picturing him stealing my, Stans and Alex Khaskins stock music tracks and uploading them there to be downloaded absolutely free using his own name, whats to gain ???...it does sound like someone else though...any thoughts ? or Ideas why Alex would play a hand like that ?


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## I like music (Jan 20, 2021)

Staypuft, dat you?

EDIT:

OK, this is way more serious than I thought. I'll leave my joke there, but wishing a speedy resolution for you all (though it doesn't seem like that's going to happen soon...)


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## Spectralworks (Jan 20, 2021)

Im just gonna keep Exposing them as I find them, whether Stolen from me or from other artists.
Here is Alex discovering A GOLDMINE, A Russian KARAOKE website with Thousands READY TO GO tracks of Artists unknown in the West or in General, without a voice, knowledge of English or resources / means to speak out.

Another Russian Pop Hit from 2003. He re-titled this one

Night Life in Moscow:
Khaskin 's Stolen version : 

Original song by RUSSIAN POP Arist Natasha Koroleva on YouTube from 2003 :






Karaoke Site and link to the Karaoke (-) :


http://x-minus.pro/track/192860/%D0%B1%D1%83%D0%B3%D0%B8-%D0%B2%D1%83%D0%B3%D0%B8


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## topaz (Jan 20, 2021)

Audiosparx, shock horror, perpetual nightmare I luckily got out of.


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## Spectralworks (Jan 20, 2021)

I don't want to seem like I'm hijacking and spamming the thread here, there's just so much our "hero" has done in the past 10 years, it's insane.
is it ok if I continue?
because with one of my tunes he tricked the music watermarking system in a sneaky way... I've never seen it done quite like it before


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## topaz (Jan 20, 2021)

Shock horror, AudioSparx are still proudly hosting this crim.


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## Spectralworks (Jan 20, 2021)

topaz said:


> Shock horror, AudioSparx are still proudly hosting this crim.


many places are


topaz said:


> Shock horror, AudioSparx are still proudly hosting this crim.


http://www.musicloops.com/royalty_free_ ... haskin-74/

http://www.premiumbeat.com/artists/alex-khaskin

http://www.shockwave-sound.com/composer/list/159.html

http://www.neosounds.com/royalty-free-a ... 30-p1.html

http://www.smartassmusic.com/stock-musi ... ex-khaskin

http://www.sounddogs.com/results.asp?ty ... egoryid=35

http://www.musicdealers.com/#!/artist/84815

http://www.youlicense.com/Artist/Artist ... ?ID=107589

http://www.productiontrax.com/profile.php?id=1941

http://www.audiosparx.com/Alexander_Khaskin

http://www.themusicase.com/composer/Roy ... x_Khaskin/

http://www.mediamusicnow.co.uk/royalty-free-music-composer/alex-khaskin.aspx (http://www.mediamusicnow.co.uk/royalty- ... askin.aspx)

http://www.music2license.com/composer/alex_khaskin

http://www.freshmusic.com/royalty-free-music/composer/alex-khaskin (http://www.freshmusic.com/royalty-free- ... ex-khaskin)

http://www.yookamusic.com/licensor/alexkhaskin


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## Markrs (Jan 20, 2021)

I'm staggered this is allowed to happen, given digital fingerprinting and the tightened Lawson on digital property.


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## Spectralworks (Jan 21, 2021)

Markrs said:


> I'm staggered this is allowed to happen, given digital fingerprinting and the tightened Lawson on digital property


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## Spectralworks (Jan 21, 2021)

Alex Khaskin has a Sneaky/Clever to BYPASS/TRICK the fingerprinting/watermarking system, when he wants to ... ( I HAD to reverse engineer / figure out at least one method...
here is how I figured it out...


This is a song co-composed with my good friend Stan Fomin and Me in 2010.
if you :search by "most popular track of all time" on music loops.com it comes up as #1.





https://www.royaltyfreemusicclips.com/music-download/optimistic-keys-8145/

now This is Alex Khaskins version:

Alex first pitched down the original from (Emin to Cmin) -4 semitones, which brought it down from the original 105 bpm to 78 bpm

a difference of -4 semitones 

from 105bmp to 78bpm (that's non-destructive pitch shift, like slowing down a cassette tape) 

then he began to increase the speed, 1bpm at a time (preserving pitch, which killed the quality with every single BPM he added, )

Alex ended up adding +12bpm in order to get it to where it began sounding somewhat "reasonable at 90bpm.

90bpm is where this Stolen version " My Rainbow " Im working on a video of this , I've got a Multitrack work file for "Optimistic Keys" which would solve many problems but mostly everything is in MIDI and I don't have a single vst instrument from 11 years ago which is frustrating. wish me luck and thanks for your support guys!


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## Stringtree (Jan 21, 2021)

What an awful story, Ilya. I hope you take some comfort in the fact I am now infected with _Funny Walk _and will be singing it in my head for a very long time. Best of luck to you. 

I never thought I'd like a ukulele-and-whistling-style track. You have jedi skills, my friend.


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## Spectralworks (Jan 21, 2021)

Do you


Stringtree said:


> What an awful story, Ilya. I hope you take some comfort in the fact I am now infected with _Funny Walk _and will be singing it in my head for a very long time. Best of luck to you.
> 
> I never thought I'd like a ukulele-and-whistling-style track. You have jedi skills, my friend.


Lol  im smiling as im typing this because in the past few weeks as i was resurecting funny walk miltitrack from a half dead 15 year old IDE hard drive then making the explanation video , i musta heard it a million times.. i think the only way that song will ever bring a smile to my face is if there is acctually justice and purpose to all these music fingerprinting/watetmarking /composer rights/ pro entities...is not only to grab half and run, i also hope i can get what was paid to a thief instead of me and smile again ) 
Thanks so much for the support !


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## Slivochnii (Jan 25, 2021)

Ilya Kaplan, stop lying and discredit my name . It is you who is a thief . Because of Covid 19 you are out work in Russian night club and now you are trying to find a way how to make money elsewhere . First of all you dont have multi tracks of any of my songs cause they are disappeared with old PC . Second , Funny walk was composed by me and the reason why you are in the first time even able to sue German singer is because i found out and gave you the link . ....but , all the music that we are talking about was composed way prior you been fired by me before you became mentally unstable . I gave you a lot of tracks in early 2000th till i fire you so that you could make enough money for a living , but only for royalty free stuff ...at the time none of us new that YouTube will have watermarked program . Then i fired you because of you were acting weird . You were my sound designer , not a composer . Even if your life depends on it you wouldn't be able to find middle C . I keep you at my side for many years and gave you possibility to learn a craft of sound designer , but then something happened to you and you became unstable ....was it mental illness , drugs or something else ? ...but you screw up deadline with one of my major producers and i had to let you go . Since then because of your strange behavior you lost every job that you ever been involved . You been fired from the club as a singer and basically lost your income .
You have been calling me since then and asking me to hire you again , but i cant do that because you are not trustworthy . So ,now , instead of appreciate for how many years i helping you to make a living you decided to go after me yet another way by claiming that music is yours ....how much money you made just because i allow you to sell my music on Royalty free websites ? how much money you made
by working with me and getting credit for nothing ? Even when you were sick i spend more then 5000 dollars to buys you a new furniture .....stop lying and using cleverly facts that have nothing to do with your ownership of my songs .....this time i will fight you on every lie your mouth produce

Your ex friend , Alex

BTW just saw your video on youtube were you are claiming one trac k that been stolen from you and showing multi track session ....it is clever but not without holls ....this is the only track that you have as a session because at the time we were working together and you need to sue German singer .....in order to win money from the guy you asked me if you can use multi track in court ...i GAVE it to you to help your case ....but .....this was not your track from the top ...you did sing on it and even whistle but you sisnt compose it ....


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## Slivochnii (Aug 24, 2021)

Spectraworks or simply Ilya Kaplan been very active on this site , claiming all sort of nasty stuff about me stealing , renaming , uploading for free etc , but , is Ilya Kaplan actually a composer ? Just to make sure before you believe everything he claim please listen his latest composition and then tell to yourself " who is in the right state of mind would still this 3 chords " ?

here it is , enjoy :










I dont claim to be genius , but this is beyond criticism


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## jmauz (Aug 24, 2021)

Suddenly I feel like I'm in the twilight zone. WTF is going on here?


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## Spectralworks (Aug 25, 2021)

Slivochnii said:


> *Spectraworks or simply Ilya Kaplan been very active on this site , claiming all sort of nasty stuff about me stealing , renaming , uploading for free etc , but , is Ilya Kaplan actually a composer ? Just to make sure before you believe everything he claim please listen his latest composition and then tell to yourself " who is in the right state of mind would still this 3 chords " ?
> 
> here it is , enjoy :
> 
> ...



You Alex Khaskin unfortunately steal even 1 chord compositions . This whole thread is ABOUT YOU and your " activities " wasn't created by me i just added to the multiple pages of complaints by other members. Whether u stole a 3 chord composition or a 30 chord track, the fact remains , you steal other peoples music .. This forum has 2 or more separate threads created by other people so please, at the very least don't pretend that you are a poor innocent guy . don't get why you do it either, you're a talented composer, but an even more tallented thief ... as far as your innocence ...come on , you know what you've been doing , please don't force me to post more examples of you stealing music , simply renaming it and putting your name under it.

Heres another Example of Alex Khaskin Stealing .if you are innocent, please explain this video Alex


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## MaxOctane (Aug 25, 2021)

Like a half-remembered dream, this thread will be gone by morning.


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## Rob (Aug 25, 2021)

can't help noticing that both posters have the same way of spacing commas and dots...


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Aug 25, 2021)

Rob said:


> can't help noticing that both posters have the same way of spacing commas and dots...


Shades of Andy Kaufman! This thread is a performance.


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## doctoremmet (Aug 25, 2021)

I clicked on the three chord video. Wait….


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## jmauz (Aug 25, 2021)

I think this is a Russian mind-control experiment.


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## Kuusniemi (Aug 25, 2021)




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## MaxOctane (Aug 25, 2021)

Shades of Andy Kaufman! This thread is a performance.


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## Justin L. Franks (Aug 25, 2021)

Slivochnii said:


> Spectraworks or simply Ilya Kaplan been very active on this site , claiming all sort of nasty stuff about me stealing , renaming , uploading for free etc , but , is Ilya Kaplan actually a composer ? Just to make sure before you believe everything he claim please listen his latest composition and then tell to yourself " who is in the right state of mind would still this 3 chords " ?
> 
> I dont claim to be genius , but this is beyond criticism


Using a common three-chord progression is not "stealing". What you do, however, clearly is.


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## Slivochnii (Aug 25, 2021)

doctoremmet said:


> I clicked on the three chord video. Wait….


Using 3 chord progression is NOT composing . So ,there are nothing to steal .


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## heisenberg (Aug 25, 2021)

Performance Art is highly undervalued. Soak it up. It’s beautiful!


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## Slivochnii (Aug 25, 2021)

Yep ,this is Art


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## José Herring (Aug 25, 2021)

Rob said:


> can't help noticing that both posters have the same way of spacing commas and dots...


It's like the ending of fight club.


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## Slivochnii (Aug 25, 2021)

Yep , it is like someone forgot to study solfeggio


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## Casiquire (Aug 25, 2021)

This gets weirder the more you read, holy....


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## ryans (Aug 25, 2021)

This is awesome.


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## AndyP (Aug 25, 2021)

So now I would like to see the identity cards and birth certificates of the protagonists. Officially certified if it is right.
After that we arrange a personal meeting. everyone brings his "evidence" and we evaluate it then. 
The loser is stoned to death with old audio cassettes, and must first bequeath his assets to the potential winner, certified by a notary.

If it turns out that there is no winner, but only losers, or winner and loser are one and the same person, the assets fall to the forum.

I'm afraid we'll never resolve this story any other way.


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## chrisav (Aug 25, 2021)




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## Casiquire (Aug 25, 2021)

AndyP said:


> After that we arrange a personal meeting. everyone brings his "evidence" and we evaluate it then.
> The loser is stoned to death with old audio cassettes, and must first bequeath his assets to the potential winner, certified by a notary.


Phew. I thought you were going to say they'd be banned. I'm glad there's a more humane option


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## Shredoverdrive (Aug 25, 2021)

Oh my. I'm hooked! Can't wait for the next episode of this show.


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## Pincel (Aug 25, 2021)

I live for threads like this one. Keep it going please! xD


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