They were known yes... But how many subs have they earned from GD? How many views? A fucking lot. Also, I'm not on RobTop's side, in fact you shouls sue him rather than the game. I am on the community's side, cause most of us people on the community have done nothing wrong so it shouldn't need to affect us. I feel like a direct demand on RobTop would fix the problem, since he did technically break the law and stuff.
I still feel that most of the community members have done nothing wrong and shouldn't have to pay for what RobTop and squeaky 12 year olds did. I understand Xtrullor was harassed too, I'm sorry for that, I honestly love his music and would never insult him. I think that is he was more chill about everything he would not be insulted as much, take the example of F-777 and Dex Arson, they get barely any hate. I just hope that you see why Geometry Dash should not be removed, rather fixing legal issues with the people involved.
PS: I had always thought NG was copyright free, thanks for clearing it out.
Cyvern
"Okay, let me put it from our side of the story.
Do you all care about the fact that us musicians are pouring in hours of work, only to be greeted with a bunch of kids who think that if a song is not as good as Skrillex, they can 0-bomb it all they want?
Do you all care about the fact that we don't even get a single penny of ad revenue share or even the proceeds from our plays on Geometry Dash?
Do you care that some of our songs aren't even meant to be used commercially, and the fact that they are used in this game actually breaks the law?
Do you care that people are actually legit doing the things that they are doing, or even the vitriol that you see on your page?
I'm sorry, we have dealt with this for three years. It's time this changed."
First thing: Did you even bother reading my entire comment?
"Do you all care about the fact that us musicians are pouring in hours of work, only to be greeted with a bunch of kids who think that if a song is not as good as Skrillex, they can 0-bomb it all they want?"
Yes, there is an entire forum of people who care (I'd recommend ignoring the psychos) http://gdforum.freeforums.net/
"Do you all care about the fact that we don't even get a single penny of ad revenue share or even the proceeds from our plays on Geometry Dash?"
Lemme sum this up: You pay once for GD unless moving to another platform.
Full version: No ads, pay once unless you move to another account/phone/sim card
The Lite Version: There are ads, but you can't play online levels that use the songs on NG. And before you mention the songs used in the official levels, those artists gave full permission for RobTop to use their songs, and have expressed the fact that they love Geometry Dash. (F-777, Waterflame, Dj-Nate, MDK etc.)
Geometry Dash Meltdown: GDM is basically just GD Lite Version, but with three official levels, and that's all.
Geometry Dash World: I have no argument for this.
Also, if you mean Newgrounds doesn't earn a penny from us GD players, then I can vouch for the fact that it's probably because most of us simply can't cause we don't have money.
If you mean the artists don't earn money, then I can guarantee that's something you made up in your head. I would even go as far to say that GD managed to help certain song artists get out there and become somewhat popular, Hinkik is a major one, I love his style of music and I'm thankful that Krazyman50 managed to get his songs into the community. Me as well as many of my friends discovered great songs and artists (F-777, Xtrullor, and TFR were the biggest ones for me and my friends) because of Geometry Dash, so I can guarantee that artists definitely benefit from us in some way shape or form.
"Do you care that some of our songs aren't even meant to be used commercially, and the fact that they are used in this game actually breaks the law?"
Actually, here's the thing, the songs used in the game are almost always 100% legal. Newgrounds and Robert Topala made a LEGAL agreement about the songs. Even still, there's another thing that protects GD even further, the licensing terms. If a song says something a long the lines of "You may not use this song for any commercial purposes period." then RobTop has probably banned the song for use on GD. He has that kind of power, and if he hasn't banned the song then its only a matter of time before he does.
On a sidenote, yes, it bothers me that the community is uploading copyrighted and illegal songs.
"Do you care that people are actually legit doing the things that they are doing, or even the vitriol that you see on your page?"
(I don't commonly use Newgrounds, so I'm not exactly sure what a vitriol is) And yes, like I said in my previous statement, I disagree with the people uploading illegal music.
Troisnyx
A matter of time = three years and nothing was done? It does bother me that we haven't even heard from him until AFTER this petition was actually put up. I mean, what does that tell you? @NekoMika knows about his sporadic updates but that was seriously taking the piss.
Waterflame still isn't as popular as TheWeebl, whose followers went into the tens of thousands before he did, good example right there. And besides, many of the new artists who do try something are shot down before they can even do anything about it. It doesn't matter who they are, if they aren't as good as Skrillex, they can prepare for an abusive comment and 0-bombs. It pains me to say this, but this has actually happened.
The Lite version has ads, which like in any app, generate revenue. And this brings up a question, what would happen if the custom levels were removed entirely and people finally knew where their songs were going? And I say 'people', I mean people apart from the obvious favourites. Fans and exposure don't pay the bills, unless those fans actually contribute something in the way of Bandcamp purchases etc., which is definitely true with the favourites, but everyone else is practically screwed.
The legal agreement was meant to be binding insofar as people actually asked permission for these songs to be used in Geometry Dash. The intention, the spirit behind the agreement, was that NG artists wouldn't be screwed out of the CC licence when someone used their song without permission in Geometry Dash (as can often be the case). So really, the law is still being broken on this one.
Vitriol is a common-ish word, referring to hate spewed out in comments. It also refers to some bitter gall-like substance.
I am glad that you laid down as much as you knew for me, and I hope these address the concerns.