Another example of a YouTube reviewer being sued

For those following the Stefan Fischer saga where he is being sued by Deep Cycle Systems…here’s a similar example.

A YouTuber, channel name GoldenSound, was threatened with a lawsuit over a review of headphones made by, and you couldn’t make this up, a company called dCS. No relation to Deep Cycle Systems that I can see, other than a propensity for lawsuits.

Anyway, turns out an ex supporter of GoldenSound who got banned decided to stir up trouble by selectively editing a quote from GoldenSound and posting it on Twitter, amongst other matters.

The dCS VP of Sales and Marketing took it upon himself to send an absolute cracker of a letter which is reproduced below, never seen the like of it from a corporation. Now I’m not into audio, but a quick scan of GoldenSound seems like it’s a straight-up audio nerd proud of his independence, a fellow spirit indeed

The good news is that everything has been straightened out now, the VP has lost his job, the CEO of dCS has apologised publicly and is actively making amends.

https://dcs.community/…/goldensound-headphones-com…/6740

Nevertheless, the company should never have got to the point where a “7 figure lawsuit” was about to be laid on a one-person independent product reviewer with a YouTube channel….when the basis for the lawsuit was fundamentally incorrect, and the errors, such that they were, could have been corrected easily.

These incidents affect YOU.

The media landscape has shifted. Back in the day reviews were written by journalists who had their work published by magazines and newspapers, relatively large companies who had money, resources, lawyers and a wide audience reach. Companies who could fight back. The journalist was, by and large, protected by the publisher.

Today, magazines and newspapers are dead. Most content is created by creators working alone, or in small teams, with few resources, often as a labour of love. These creators are much easier to scare into compliance with a lawsuit. Most companies who create products are much, much larger.

If companies who are not happy with a review are allowed to throw around lawsuits, even if the review is fair, then guess what, reviews won’t happen, even informal Facebook posts written by you. Everyone values reviews of products, so that’s why these matters affect you. The other option is non-independent sponsorship which is of little value to a consumer trying to decide which product to buy, but it is lucrative and you won’t get sued if you’re complying with the sponsor’s wishes.

Now there is no excuse for anyone to make a malicious, fundamentally incorrect video about a product, or not to correct errors which do crop up from time to time. If anyone does that, then I fully support action to remedy the wrong.

When the Stefan case is over, I will be producing a video aimed seeing what can be learned for reviewers, product manufacturers, and the consumer. Input from experts is welcome, please message this page.

One clear lesson right now is the Streisand Effect (or Rhinehart Effect); I’d never heard of dCS the audio gear manufacturers, but I have now. Also seems dCS has revised their corporate oversight; there’s a reason why PR is a profession, it’s part of their job to take a cool and fair approach to any issues and a good PR can save you a lot of embarrassment.

If you are interested in the relationship between companies who create products and reviewers then please watch the GoldenSound video which is here.