Repeat Infringers — How Indie Composers Get Platforms to Act

What the rule says

The DMCA requires online service providers to “adopt and reasonably implement … a policy that provides for the termination in appropriate circumstances of subscribers and account holders of the system or network who are repeat infringers.”

That sentence matters because:

1. Platforms that don’t have a documented repeat-infringer policy lose DMCA safe harbour. Major platforms all have one.
2. The policy must include the actual termination mechanism. It’s not enough to have a policy on paper.
3. Account termination is the only real consequence. Warnings count, but only termination drives the rule.

How many strikes before termination?

Every public platform publishes a “strike count” in their terms. Common values:

• YouTube — copyright strikes are tracked separately from community guidelines. Three copyright strikes closes a channel.
• SoundCloud — repeat infringer policy uses “escalating consequence” tiers: warning → mute → upload restriction → account termination.
• Twitch, TikTok, Instagram, Spotify — each platform has its own strike system, with 3–5 strikes leading to account termination in the typical case.

Most platforms count strikes against the entire account, not per-track. A track that gets 4 strikes across 4 different videos, all from the same uploader, can lead to account termination.

How to build a case

1. Each infringement is a separate incident. Screenshot evidence per match.
2. Document the uploader. Account name, URL, location (if available), and the date each match appeared.
3. Send each incident as a takedown notice. This is the platform’s record — and your record. It’s also what the platform will reference when the infringer hits a strike threshold.
4. If the infringer is removed — great. If they aren’t — but you have a documented history — you can escalate.
5. At 3+ strikes, escalate by emailing the platform’s repeat-infringer policy address (every platform has one). Attach evidence and ask for account termination.

Common platform addresses

Most platforms publish a dedicated escalation email or form. Examples:

• YouTube: copyright@youtube.com plus an escalation in the Studio dashboard.
• SoundCloud: copyright@soundcloud.com.
• Instagram / Facebook / Meta: form via facebook.com/help/contact/289642406713692.
• TikTok: form via in-app reporting.
• Twitch: copyright@twitch.tv.

What happens if you can’t escalate

If the platform is unresponsive, escalate through legal counsel. Filing a federal court lawsuit under the DMCA is a real and occasionally used remedy — typically against the infringer directly, but sometimes against the platform if the platform has documented non-responsiveness.

In practice, indie composers get results best when they:

• File individual DMCA notices with high-quality evidence,
• Track incidents, and
• Escalate at the right strike level.

The role of fingerprinting tools

Tools like LicenseTrack do two things that make this workflow practical:

1. They re-scan platforms continuously so you don’t have to monitor by hand.
2. They keep evidence linked to each match (URL, timestamp, evidence file), so accumulating repeat-infringer evidence is digitable.

Internal links

• See how LicenseTrack monitors YouTube and the long tail.
• Read the gold-playlist workflow.
• Catch every match on Bitchute.