Bob Tik / Vizavi Music

Submission 4,789

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About

Bob Tik refers to the name of a Russian TikTok and Instagram user who allegedly steals the copyright claims (known as copyright trolling) of viral audios from original creators on TikTok and YouTube in order to make a profit on Spotify and elsewhere. Although the claims against Bob Tik are not totally proven, TikTokers like @slamuri brought attention to Bob Tik in January 2023, warning other creators on the platform about his alleged habit of stealing TikTok sounds such as his own. Others on the app then led their own investigations, such as one TikToker who discovered Bob Tik's Instagram page and VK page for his purported music label Vizavi Music. Additionally, the creator of the DOOR STUCK video, YouTuber KinetiK001, brought attention to Bob Tik copyrighting his audio in July 2022. Bob Tik revealed his alleged real name, Vlad, on Instagram days later in a response to slamuri, however, in a follow-up video, slamari seemed to not have had any communication with Vlad.

History

On January 10th, 2023, TikToker^[1] slamuri posted a video that strayed from his normal content, prefacing the video with serious undertones and urging everyone to listen. He then discussed viral audios and the copyright laws associated with them, urging TikTokers who've had audios go viral to check and see if an entity has claimed their audio's copyright. He then namedropped a likely culprit named Bob Tik. TikToker slamuri stated that he created an audio called the "Slamuri original audio" that Bob Tik allegedly copyrighted and made $25,000 off of. TikToker slamuri ended the video by urging other TikTokers to help him find out Bob Tik's true identity, and in one day, the video received roughly 3 million plays and 506,700 likes (shown below).

Additionally, TikToker slamuri stated in the middle of his aforementioned video that there was a YouTuber who was also purportedly affected by Bob Tik's copyrighting. The YouTuber^[2] in question is named KinetiK001 and the video is the notorious DOOR STUCK clip that, over the course of 15 years, has received roughly 25 million views (shown below, left). Although the "DOOR STUCK" video was uploaded in 2007, YouTuber KinetiK001 posted a video in July 2022 about how a "copyright troll" had copyrighted the original video's audio. This led to a lot of KinetiK001's content being demonetized, resulting in him having to delete almost all of his videos in 2022. KinetiK001's video received roughly 216,000 views in six months (shown below, right). Additionally, KinetiK001 updated his video's description on July 31st, 2022, stating that the copyright troll was named Bob Tik in accordance with TikToker^[1] slamuri's claim.

Additionally, on July 27th, 2022, Redditor Jupiter0291 posted about KinetiK001's video regarding the copyright troll to /r/GlobalOffensive,^[3] earning over 420 upvotes in six months. The post also received 41 comments, like one from Redditor^[4] 3kliksphilip on July 29th that namedropped Bob Tik, reading, "Doubt that'll help- Bob Tik is claiming that they made the song 6 months before Door Stuck video's release date, so providing proof of the video's metadata will 'prove' Bob Tik's claimed publish date was first."

Developments

Discourse regarding Bob Tik became more prominent in January 2023 due to TikToker^[1] slamuri's video. Many creators stitched and dueted slamuri's video and went viral in their own posts. For instance, on January 10th, 2023, TikToker^[4] marissakathleen303 posted a stitch in which she gave advice on copyright law as a "professional photographer" and stated that Bob Tik was "definitely violating copyright law." Her stitch received roughly 135,300 plays and 3,500 likes in one day (shown below, left). Also on January 10th, TikToker^[5] thegreatlondini.com, who's an Anonymous variant, dueted slamuri's video, essentially hinting that they were going to investigate Bob Tik. In one day, the duet received roughly 1.5 million plays and 108,600 likes (shown below, right).

Inspired by the discourse, TikTokers began leading their own investigations. For instance, on January 10th, 2023, TikToker^[6] timcarambat posted a video in which he was green-screened over Bob Tik's Apple Music page, gaining roughly 269,200 plays and 8,900 likes in one day (shown below, left). Also on January 10th, TikToker^[7] louisville_slugger posted a video that purportedly traced Bob Tik to the Instagram^[8] page vizavi_music and other corresponding VK pages under the name Vizavi Music. TikToker louisville_slugger claimed to have found Bob Tik's identity, only discoverable based on the Russian name Визави. In one day, louisville_slugger's video received roughly 69,000 plays and 4,200 likes (shown below, right).

TikToker^[9] louisville_slugger posted a follow-up video on January 11th, 2023, that purportedly found Bob Tik's Facebook page under the name Sergiy Podolo.

Bob Tik's Response to Slamuri

On January 12th, 2023, the Instagram^[10] account of vizavi_music posted a photo of the account's owner named Vlad. In the post's decription, Vlad, a Russian citizen who's the alleged owner of the Vizavi Music label, addressed the allegations against him levied by TikToker slamuri and others. The post received over 50 likes in one day (shown below, click to enlarge).

In the post, Vlad stated that he'd "completely resolved the issue" with Slamuri. Vlad stated that he did not speak English and that might account for some mistranslations. Most of the caption consists of Vlad emphasizing different points that aim to prove that Vizavi Music is a legitimate, copyright business and has resolved the issue.

On the same day, January 12th, TikToker^[11] slamuri posted a video that followed up on his previous one, however, in it he did not mention any communication with Vlad from Vizavi Music. Instead, he spent the video talking about how he is being mass reported by anonymous users with unknown intent. He claimed that it might be the end of his channel and made many statements regarding how proud he is of his account which he believed might end soon. Over the course of one day, the TikTok received roughly 67,100 plays and 9,900 likes (shown below).