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Frequently asked questions

How do you remove music piracy?

We locate piracy via a combination of keyword scans, automated crawling of known piracy sites, and deep manual searches performed by our experienced staff.

Our scanners operate 24/7, and all links are verified by our staff up to 4 times daily. In this way, we can spot a leak within hours (or minutes, in many cases) and take immediate action.

When our system (or our investigators) find your work being shared, we issue a takedown notice to the site (also known as a DMCA Notice). The site is then legally obliged to remove the file and/or page.

Why do you use human searches? Can’t this all be automated by an algorithm?

Many anti-piracy services claim to have perfected an anti-piracy algorithm.

The truth is that it is very simple for a pirate site to trick an automated takedown bot; for example, it can change its domain name, it can use captcha codes or ad-sponsored holding pages to trick search bots, or it can simply re-upload the file, or even re-name it.

Manual human searches by experienced professionals can spot these tricks quickly and adapt to them; an automated search bot needs to be redeveloped, which is a slow and costly process.

At Leak Delete, we automate as much as we effectively can - and for everything else, we use intelligent professionals to ensure truly comprehensive takedown.

How long does it take to remove an infringing file?

Pirate sites utilise a loophole in the wording of copyright law, meaning that some will remove content instantly, others within 24 hours.

Our combination of skilled staff searches and purpose built reporting tools enable us to spot new leaks within hours (or minutes) of being published and take action.

We pro-actively enforce removal from any site that does not disable access to infringing files within a maximum of 48 hours, although these are extremely rare.

What happens if a site ignores a takedown notice?

With over 10 years experience at the front line of anti-piracy, we have established relationships with 1000s of major filesharing networks, and have instant takedown access for many of the most damaging sites.

However, on rare occasions, a site may try to ignore or avoid takedown. We have developed an effective solution which utilises an escalated series of demands to hosting providers, advertisers, and in very rare cases, the relevant legal authorities.

In all cases, we will remove infringing pages from Google search results, reducing public access to the site.

Do you takedown YouTube videos?

Different labels have different opinions on YouTube takedowns, so we don’t remove YouTube videos unless specifically requested. However, we do have instant takedown access for YouTube, should you require it.

We recommend that labels utilise YouTube’s Content ID system - we can then delete any videos that the YouTube system has not found.

How much does it cost to use Leak Delete?

We offer two campaign types: individual release scans, and customised label packages.

All campaigns are priced individually, to ensure maximum value for money. You can contact us with your release details and we'll get back to you with a series of options for you to consider, free of charge and with no obligation.

For all campaigns, we implement a free of charge Leak Alert system, meaning that your takedowns will only start when the release appears in full on pirate sites.