Discogs have begun curbing the sale of unofficial releases and bootlegs via their website with a number of releases having recently been removed from their online marketplace.
Though sale of these releases has been banned by the site, listings of said releases still remain on the website’s database. In a statement given to Resident Advisor, the company said that they are adding resources to enforce the seller’s agreement that they have had in place for some time now.
"As an organisation where many of us are musicians, record collectors and even label owners, we are and will continue to be zealous in improving Discogs for our trusting community which also includes many recording musicians, labels and publishers," the company’s chief operating officer, Chad Dahlstrom, told RA. "Over the course of this year, we have continued to add resources allowing us to be more proactive in enforcing a policy that has been stated in our existing seller’s agreement while also honouring DMCA takedown notices. We respond quickly to complaints, take down requests and are working closely with labels, publishers and artists to remove these items from our marketplace when they show up."
The Discogs seller’s agreement states that items listed for sale must not violate copyright, trademark or other intellectual property rights, which includes the sale of bootleg items as well as pirate copies of music.
"Our mission continues to be the building of the world’s largest database and marketplace for physical music, Dahlstrom adds. "To fulfil that mission we must protect our buyers and sellers, as well as our artists and record labels, with the same ferocity that we drive toward our mission as a company."
