The case that started it all
In 2021, W. Joseph Johnson — a poet from Chattanooga performing as Heavy Comforter — released an album called "3" through an independent label. The songs were written in his home studio, recorded on tape, and released to a small but dedicated audience.
Two years later, someone took those recordings, slowed them down, renamed them, and uploaded them to Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube under a fake name. The tracks were identical — just slower. The fraudster didn't write a note. They just pressed a button and started collecting royalties.
The community found out when a Reddit user discovered the fake artist "Zebulon Sheridan" on a Spotify playlist. The tracks sounded familiar because they were familiar — they were Billy's songs, warped and stolen.
Read Billy's full story