Hey guys. I've got a new topic here that I think should be helpful for a lot of Makers. 
It's also an important one that will be updated as necessary!
(I mean, look at the title! Scary, right?!)

Click these to get to a topic:

MUSIC - TuneCorp's Practices - Bounty Hunter Lani
GRAPHICS - Commercial Game Icon Rips - Steel Beast 6Beets

Alrighty!
Let's get this topic started with some music!
*Gets a copyright claim*

DARNIT!

But yes, the first topic I have for you all is MUSIC!



As a Resource Hunter, I have found a LOT of music in my internet travels. Many Royalty-free, others under the Creative Commons tag. Still others have their own little rules of use, and require you to contact them for instructions. But anything related to TuneCore is a big no-no!

I have found that, no matter the copyright rules on a song, whether it be Royalty-Free or Creative Commons, they will shark ANYONE'S video that uses a song in their system.
Gameplay? No way! They won't let you upload any gameplay footage with a song that in their system unless you give them all of the money for the video! It doesn't matter what the copyright rules are on the song, THEY STILL DO IT! So if you are a music artist, and want people to actually play games with your songs in them...
AVOID USING TUNECORE!


I obtained a music pack of songs from here: https://rpgmaker.net/musicpack/
The song Town of Wishes, the very first song in the music pack, is in the TuneCore system, as well as others in the pack. If you want people to record playthroughs of your game(s), avoid using these songs unless you get express permission by TuneCore via a whitelist system by contacting the artist and having them manually add everyone who plays your game into the list.
Wha? That sounds ridiculous that hundreds of people have to seek permission in order to record your game?!
AVOID USING TUNECORE!


A musician had put his music into the TuneCore system, uploaded his own sample version onto Youtube, and his channel got a STRIKE BY TUNECORE!
He tried to fight it, and they argued with him. He uploaded the sample version again, and HE GOT A SECOND STRIKE FOR HIS OWN SONG!!!
AVOID USING TUNECORE!!

I myself have been affected by this ridiculousness, being forced to delete a song from an unmonetized demonstration video or suffer a copyright strike by TuneCore's shark-like system.
So all I have to say about this now is...
AVOID USING TUNECORE!!!
(Video Game music artists too! Or you'll have lots of unsatisfied customers!)


What other companies out there have YOU encountered that do things like this?
Have you had any serious problems with any musicians? Have you been scammed by a musician that we should know about?
Are there any music resources you have found should be avoided completely, like plagiarized content and the like masquerading as originals?
Please leave your comment here, we require your aid and knowledge! We want this post to help anyone reading on a multitude of issues!


Next post will be a big one, regarding image resources! There is plagiarism, non-permitted game rips, illegal selling of RTP edits, and BLACKLISTED MATERIALS!
So be on the lookout for that!

Huh... I didn't know TuneCore was that Bad when it comes to their music. Then again... I don't know what TuneCore is and that's possibly a good thing.

I'd like to chime in to warn about against using a big set of icons that's been available for XP/VX/ACE for some time as it contains several works stolen from artists without giving them credit.

(09-30-2016, 12:37 AM)Steel Beast 6Beets Wrote: I'd like to chime in to warn about against using a big set of icons that's been available for XP/VX/ACE for some time as it contains several works stolen from artists without giving them credit.

If we're talking about the same icon set, it also has many icons stolen from popular games as well, and that is NOT GOOD.

Thank you very much for posting. I'll be getting to a lot of visual resources to avoid tomorrow   

Insofar as that Iconset, it might be helpful to post 'DAMAGED/UNUSABLE' copies of said graphics. Distortions/Changes to said graphics would make it so no one could rip them from here and use them (they're damaged of course), but allow our readers to see the graphics to know what to avoid.

I've attached a damaged copy of the Big icon set. The original file is just too big to be uploaded to image hosting site like Imgur, it seems.

As Lani states, there are several icons ripped off from commercial games such as Ragnarok Online and The World Ends with You.
(Click on the image to open in new tab)

  bigset.jpg (Size: 3.14 MB / Downloads: 24)

(09-30-2016, 07:13 PM)Steel Beast 6Beets Wrote: I've attached a damaged copy of the Big icon set. The original file is just too big to be uploaded to image hosting site like Imgur, it seems.

As Lani states, there are several icons ripped off from commercial games such as Ragnarok Online and The World Ends with You.
(Click on the image to open in new tab)

Thank you very much for this. It's very helpful. 

If anybody has this icon set, please make sure you get rid of it.

Yanfly put out a great icon maker where you can create your own bits and pieces, usually from photoshop custom shapes, animation bits, and whatever else to create hundreds of free-to-use icons without copyright problems.

A great resource for some of the icons and bits is DEVIANTART.com - Wherever possible, the authors of custom shapes and bits do everything possible to outline their terms of use right from the start.