🎧 Google Listens-1 ( Getting a major flaw fixed, fight for right)

By Vijsi 

It started with confusion. Then came frustration. Then actions that changed things.

As an independent artist, I was proud to have my YouTube Music Channel (OAC) and see my music on YouTube. But that pride quickly turned into disbelief when I noticed something odd — I had released only 2 tracks that time but my channel was flooded with over 30 releases that weren’t mine. The unrelated content ranged from vintage Bollywood to  unwanted with themes that didn’t reflect my music identity and style. 

🚨 The Problem: A Glitch in the Matrix or a design flaw ? 

YouTube’s system had mapped other artists’ music to my channel because of similar names. According to their process, the affected artists were supposed to report the issue. But here’s the catch:

- Many of those artists didn’t have channels  

- Some were unaware of the technology  

- Others probably assumed, “It’s Google — so it's correct and it must be this way only”  

- And the rest? Silent.

So the burden fell on me — as my channel was being misrepresentated.

😔 The Invisible Damage:  I Hesitated to Share My Channel

While the technical mess was frustrating, the real pain was something deeper — I couldn’t  share my own YouTube Music channel.

Why?

Because to a random viewer, it looked like I was uploading other people’s music.  

They don’t know how digital distribution works. They don’t see the metadata or the distributor tags.  

They just see a channel with songs from the 1970s also , many tracks from some other artists also— and they assume I’m either pirating or confused.

I tweeted this concern to YouTube directly:

as  that’s the part that stung the most.  

Required lot of hard work to create and release my music — and now I couldn’t even promote it without risking misunderstanding or judgment. That time I had 2 or 3 of my releases and more than 30 of others' 

🧩 Reporting Chaos: 

I tried to follow the process:

- Listing every incorrect URL  

- Verifying each entry  

- Submitting reports for artist separation to distributors 

- but then it didn't work rather 

  new wrong entries popped up

I even considered commenting on those wrong releases to raise flags, so that they raise the artist separation request— but ironically, comments on distributors releases were disabled those days. 

It felt like trying to fix a leaky boat with duct tape while more holes kept appearing.

Meanwhile, I kept my distributors updated. Their replies? Mostly pessimistic. “We can’t do anything.other than forwarding artist separation requests ” “It’s on YouTube’s side to fix the issue if it's recurring”  

No one had a solution. But wasn't possible to give up.

💡 The Playlist That Spoke Louder Than individual link reporting 

Then came the idea:  Instead of listing so many URLs , I created a playlist of all the wrong entries on my channel and tweeted it. Reporting all URLS had the risk of accidentally reporting my actual releases but playlist was simpler. At one glance i could verify all releases.

The product expert handle on twitter was replying with generic fluff. But the teamyoutube on twitter? They appreciated the playlist idea in DM and started taking action.

😂 The Funny (but  Infuriating) Twist

Some wrong entries were removed. 

Hurray!

Victory? 

Not quite.  

A few days later, those removed tracks came back to my channel again 😂.. Like ghost tracks haunting my channel.

It was funny . But also infuriating .

At that point, I realized — this can’t go on. I needed to escalate.

📣 Going Escalatory: Tags, and Tech Comparisons

I tweeted to Sundar Pichai directly, had already tweeted Legendary Asha Bhosale ji earlier because her 1970s song was also showing on my channel because of similar music directors name, and,  tagged Spotify and Apple Music also, pointing out how their artist coding was done.

I wasn’t sure if they understood the whole issue, my reputation concern mainly. But I knew I had to make noise.  

And finally — it worked.

✅ Resolution: A Clean Channel and a Quiet Win within 3 days of tweeting to Sunder Pichai.

My channel was cleaned up. The wrong entries were gone.  

No press release. 

No official acknowledgment.  

But the system quietly improved. And I could finally share my channel without hesitation.

🎤 Final Thoughts: 

*Nobody is nobody.

This wasn’t just about my music. It was about identity, accuracy, and respect which was on stake because of flaw in the design.

*Screenshots of my tweets :