The Downfall and Disappearance of Jeremy Soule
Summary
TLDRThe video provides a comprehensive look at Jeremy Soule, a significant figure in video game music, best known for his work on the Elder Scrolls series. It outlines his early life, rise to fame, and the controversies surrounding his music distribution platform DirectSong, which faced severe criticism for poor service. The video goes deeper into serious allegations of sexual misconduct made against Soule in 2019, leading to his abrupt disappearance from public life and social media. It highlights the impact these events have on fans' perceptions of his music and discusses the status of his unfinished Kickstarter project and recent ventures. The narrator aims to present the information factually while acknowledging the sensitivity of the topics discussed, inviting viewers to assess the implications of these issues on their appreciation of Soule's work.
Takeaways
- 🎶 Jeremy Soule is a prominent video game composer, especially known for the Elder Scrolls series.
- 📉 DirectSong faced significant criticism for poor customer service and failure to deliver products.
- 🚨 Serious allegations of misconduct against Soule surfaced in 2019, leading to his disappearance.
- ❗ The Kickstarter project 'The Northerner' has seen delays and unfulfilled obligations to backers.
- ⏳ Soule has remained completely absent from the public and social media since the allegations were made.
Timeline
- 00:00:00 - 00:05:00
The introduction covers the impact of composer Jeremy Soul in the Elder Scrolls video games, his well-known pieces, and hints at a troubling story about his disappearance from the scene.
- 00:05:00 - 00:10:00
The narrator warns of serious themes related to abuse and gives context about Jeremy's early life, musical career, and accomplishments, including awards and collaborations in the gaming industry.
- 00:10:00 - 00:15:00
As Jeremy's career flourished, Direct Song, his music vendor established with his brother Julian, faced significant issues and poor reputation due to delivery failures and anti-piracy stances, leading to growing customer dissatisfaction and potential legal threats.
- 00:15:00 - 00:20:00
Despite rising success, including a successful Kickstarter launch for an album, Jeremy faced mounting frustrations from backers over delays and communication issues, fueling accusations of fraud and mismanagement of funds.
- 00:20:00 - 00:25:00
Following first allegations of inappropriate behavior surfacing in 2019, Jeremy's reputation further deteriorated, culminating in the termination of business relationships and his subsequent social media disappearance.
- 00:25:00 - 00:34:11
The final segment reflects on the culmination of scandals, allegations, and ongoing frustrations from supporters, questioning Jeremy's return to the gaming industry while the broader impact of his actions tarnishes his earlier contributions.
Mind Map
Video Q&A
Who is Jeremy Soule?
Jeremy Soule is a famous video game composer known for soundtracks in the Elder Scrolls series and other notable games.
What are some of Jeremy Soule's famous works?
His notable works include soundtracks for Skyrim, Oblivion, and Guild Wars.
What issues did DirectSong face?
DirectSong had numerous complaints regarding undelivered orders and poor customer service, leading to a low rating on the Better Business Bureau.
What allegations were made against Jeremy Soule?
Multiple women accused Soule of sexual misconduct, which contributed to his disappearance from public life.
When did Jeremy Soule disappear?
He largely vanished from public view around 2019, following the allegations against him.
What happened with the Kickstarter project 'The Northerner'?
Jeremy Soule's Kickstarter for 'The Northerner' faced delays and complaints, with many backers not receiving their promised rewards.
Is Jeremy Soule still active on social media?
No, Jeremy Soule has deleted all of his social media accounts and currently has no public presence.
What is Roland Cloud?
Roland Cloud is a subscription-based software service for music production, which faced criticism related to customer support issues.
Are there any updates on Jeremy Soule since his disappearance?
As of now, there have been no updates or sightings of Jeremy Soule since early 2019.
How do fans view his works now?
Many fans feel conflicted about his music due to the serious allegations against him.
View more video summaries
- 00:00:00[Music]
- 00:00:01Jeremy soul I feel like he doesn't
- 00:00:03really need an introduction especially
- 00:00:04if you're already a fan of the Elder
- 00:00:06skull series many of you are very
- 00:00:08familiar with some of his most iconic
- 00:00:10works from Dragon
- 00:00:17Born to harvest
- 00:00:19on see you you too
- 00:00:24hail and Peaceful Waters
- 00:00:27[Music]
- 00:00:30sorry stranger my time is short so he's
- 00:00:34definitely been one of the key players
- 00:00:35in the memorability of the Elder Scrolls
- 00:00:37games whether that be from the relaxing
- 00:00:46soundtracks to memes I think it's
- 00:00:49disgusting that you're working at this
- 00:00:52time on a
- 00:00:54Sunday have you got nothing better to do
- 00:00:58or the iconic and distinctly memorable
- 00:01:00Melodies and motifs in his
- 00:01:16music but what happens when everyone
- 00:01:18knows where to find your music but
- 00:01:20doesn't know where to find you this is
- 00:01:23the story of the downfall and
- 00:01:25disappearance of Jeremy
- 00:01:27Soul hi everyone I'm AER
- 00:01:30I'm just some random person who loves
- 00:01:31the Elder Scrolls has a YouTube channel
- 00:01:34and has incredibly Mediocre video
- 00:01:35editing skills today I wanted to cover a
- 00:01:38very uncommon topic and a very
- 00:01:41controversial one at that if you've seen
- 00:01:43some of my other videos uh you might
- 00:01:45have notic I'm not in my regular outfit
- 00:01:47today and that's kind of because the
- 00:01:49topic that I'm covering is a little bit
- 00:01:51more serious and it's not as
- 00:01:53light-hearted and fun as I would have
- 00:01:54liked it to be I want to get this out of
- 00:01:56the way before we start um some of the
- 00:01:59subject matter in this video is going to
- 00:02:01cover some very serious real life topics
- 00:02:04um and some will involve mentions of sex
- 00:02:06assult and abuse if you are somebody who
- 00:02:09is sensitive to that I would probably
- 00:02:12give this video a pass but I will also
- 00:02:13be putting um time stamps and warnings
- 00:02:16um just in case you want to skip that
- 00:02:18part I also want to mention that I will
- 00:02:21be approaching this video with a very
- 00:02:23neutral lens um and that's because I
- 00:02:26just want to report on what has happened
- 00:02:29and the fact and everything that I have
- 00:02:31found um and I don't really want to
- 00:02:33interject my opinion or speculation into
- 00:02:36this video also YouTube probably isn't
- 00:02:38going to like this video very much um
- 00:02:40because of what of what I'm talking
- 00:02:42about so if you want to leave some
- 00:02:43support um please be sure to like And
- 00:02:46subscribe also I just want to apologize
- 00:02:49because if it looks like I'm reading off
- 00:02:50a script that's because I am um I dare
- 00:02:53you guys to memorize 16 pages of words
- 00:02:56but yeah I just wanted to get that out
- 00:02:58of the way you know before we start
- 00:03:06Jeremy Soul was born in Kook Iowa on
- 00:03:09December 19th
- 00:03:101975 he was born into what appears to be
- 00:03:13a very autistic family with his father
- 00:03:15being a music teacher and his mother
- 00:03:17being a graphic designer he has a
- 00:03:20brother Julian who also composes music
- 00:03:22for video games Jeremy seems to be very
- 00:03:25close with his brother as you will soon
- 00:03:27find out Jeremy seemed to have had a
- 00:03:29passion for music at a very young age
- 00:03:31and started his musical Journey almost
- 00:03:33from birth and later taking up piano
- 00:03:36lessons from professors at the Western
- 00:03:38Illinois University in the sixth grade
- 00:03:40and he claims that he had the equivalent
- 00:03:42of a master's degree in composition
- 00:03:44before even graduating high school he
- 00:03:47wanted to achieve the goal of becoming a
- 00:03:49concert pianist and composer however
- 00:03:51decided to go down the path of being a
- 00:03:53composer as he could not dedicate enough
- 00:03:55time to both Jeremy was very fond of
- 00:03:58video games growing up and observed how
- 00:04:00much of an impact music had on the
- 00:04:02enjoyment quality and engagement of the
- 00:04:04games that he played this interest from
- 00:04:06an early age clearly influenced his path
- 00:04:08later in life as he started to make a
- 00:04:10name for himself by breaking into the
- 00:04:12industry with the work that he did for
- 00:04:14the Japanese game Studio Square which
- 00:04:17most notably developed the first five
- 00:04:19Final Fantasy games before merging to
- 00:04:21become Square Enix Jeremy composed the
- 00:04:23soundtrack for secret of Evermore and
- 00:04:25then went on to do scores for various
- 00:04:27children's games including putt putt
- 00:04:29Pajama Sam and Freddy fish and yes I
- 00:04:33mean those children's games that you
- 00:04:35probably played back in kindergarten I
- 00:04:37don't know about you guys but I really
- 00:04:39fed that back in the day in later
- 00:04:42years he moved on to create the
- 00:04:43soundtracks for the Harry Potter games
- 00:04:46balers gate dark Alliance and a handful
- 00:04:48of other action adventure games Jeremy's
- 00:04:51success continued to grow with the
- 00:04:53soundtrack of morn winning him his
- 00:04:55second Academy Award and the Oblivion
- 00:04:57soundtrack being nominated for and
- 00:04:59winning multiple Awards Jeremy also
- 00:05:02composed the soundtracks for Guild Wars
- 00:05:04Star Wars nights of the Old Republic and
- 00:05:06Warhammer 40K dawn of War around the
- 00:05:09same time also around this time in 2005
- 00:05:12Jeremy and Julian started a website in
- 00:05:15company called direct song which sold
- 00:05:17DRM free downloads and hard copies of
- 00:05:20Jeremy's own compositions this website
- 00:05:23was allegedly very successful according
- 00:05:25to Soul however we will go into the
- 00:05:27details a little bit later success after
- 00:05:29success Jeremy's popularity continued to
- 00:05:32Skyrocket and with the release of Skyrim
- 00:05:34and Guild Wars 2 in the early 2010s
- 00:05:37Jeremy Soul almost became a household
- 00:05:39name he probably is one of the most
- 00:05:41well-known video game composers of his
- 00:05:44time he started a Kickstarter in 2013 to
- 00:05:47raise money for an album that he wanted
- 00:05:49to create called the northerner this was
- 00:05:51going to be a classical music
- 00:05:53composition featuring vocals in Old
- 00:05:55Norse originally the goal for the
- 00:05:57kickstarter was about $10,000 but he
- 00:05:59managed to raise
- 00:06:0212,227 by the end in the meantime Jeremy
- 00:06:05was hard at work composing music with
- 00:06:07his brother for other games such as Dota
- 00:06:092 everything seemed to be going great
- 00:06:12for Jeremy but in 2019 he disappeared
- 00:06:15vanished all of his social media all of
- 00:06:18his presence in the outside world had
- 00:06:20just disappeared you can't find anything
- 00:06:22about him now what could have caused
- 00:06:24such a successful man with huge
- 00:06:26notoriety and following just to vanish
- 00:06:29well let's start at the beginning
- 00:06:39again remember how I mentioned that
- 00:06:41Jeremy started a music vendor in 2005
- 00:06:43with his brother Julian well as much as
- 00:06:46Jeremy would like us to believe that
- 00:06:48this website was more popular than
- 00:06:49iTunes and some other large music
- 00:06:51vendors out there at the time direct
- 00:06:53song had a worse reputation than Jeremy
- 00:06:56would like to admit let's jump back to
- 00:06:58the early 2010s sometime between 20133
- 00:07:01and 2015 Jeremy was someone who was very
- 00:07:04anti-piracy he was very vocal about how
- 00:07:06detrimental piracy is to the author the
- 00:07:09artist and creator of the work from my
- 00:07:12understanding Jeremy began only selling
- 00:07:14physical copies of his work while direct
- 00:07:17song was presumably used to sell music
- 00:07:19from different composers and artists
- 00:07:22Jeremy used it as the only place where
- 00:07:24you could purchase his music Jeremy was
- 00:07:26so anti-piracy in fact that he compared
- 00:07:29piracy to the Holocaust in a now deleted
- 00:07:32quote from a WordPress post which I
- 00:07:34could only find on Reddit and through
- 00:07:37web archival he stated but forget the
- 00:07:40Pirate Bay piracy is now mainstream not
- 00:07:43since the Holocaust have we seen so many
- 00:07:45people of a select group forcibly
- 00:07:47stripped of their livelihoods and a
- 00:07:49public Euphoria of false morals as one
- 00:07:52who is of Jewish descent I can say that
- 00:07:54I make this statement in a very narrow
- 00:07:56fashion but there are similarities
- 00:07:59creators are being vilified laughed off
- 00:08:01and treated with indifference by scary
- 00:08:03multitudes of people who care not for
- 00:08:05artist lives or Liberties let alone the
- 00:08:08concerns involved in the making of art
- 00:08:10the new Norm is being heralded as
- 00:08:13Liberation from the contrived and unfair
- 00:08:15standards of fees and payments that have
- 00:08:17traditionally been worked out in a fair
- 00:08:19market Society Instead This is the new
- 00:08:22unfair Market Society the Jews in this
- 00:08:25valid analogy are creators we are losing
- 00:08:28our homes our Futures and our ability to
- 00:08:30take care of our children laugh I dare
- 00:08:33you and unlike the street lamplighters
- 00:08:35the world still needs
- 00:08:37creators I feel like it's worth noting
- 00:08:39that it was incredibly hard finding the
- 00:08:41original source of this quote as Jeremy
- 00:08:44or someone else seems to have forcibly
- 00:08:46removed his WordPress from web archives
- 00:08:49and the way back machine this may be
- 00:08:51because the statement was not received
- 00:08:53well by many people and possibly along
- 00:08:56with other things he said on there on
- 00:08:58top of making such a old statement
- 00:09:00direct song was failing to directly get
- 00:09:02songs to their paying customers the
- 00:09:04vendor was getting one bad review after
- 00:09:06another and this was because they were
- 00:09:08failing to deliver literally many
- 00:09:11customers were waiting months or longer
- 00:09:13for their orders to arrive if they were
- 00:09:15even fortunate enough to get it many did
- 00:09:18not receive their order they requested a
- 00:09:20refund and they didn't get one for
- 00:09:22months or at all in some cases this
- 00:09:25resulted in direct song getting a rating
- 00:09:28of 0.17 out of 10 or an F on the Better
- 00:09:31Business Bureau this is the lowest
- 00:09:34possible rating that you can get many
- 00:09:36fans of souls music who had tried to
- 00:09:38purchase things from direct songs
- 00:09:40started taking to the internet to call
- 00:09:42it out as a scam some people were even
- 00:09:44unable to contact customer support and
- 00:09:46get a refund and in an almost ironic
- 00:09:49turn of events some people on the
- 00:09:51internet were saying just too torrent or
- 00:09:53illegally download the music because
- 00:09:55that way they will actually get what
- 00:09:57they want kind of ironic huh
- 00:10:00many of these issues came to light when
- 00:10:01Guild Wars 2 players were trying to get
- 00:10:03their hands on a physical copy of the
- 00:10:05game soundtrack and there were actually
- 00:10:08threats of a class action lawsuit
- 00:10:10against direct song and Jeremy and
- 00:10:12Julian from The Guild Wars 2 Community I
- 00:10:14don't believe any action was actually
- 00:10:16taken against them however and it's
- 00:10:18uncertain how many of these people
- 00:10:20actually received their products or
- 00:10:22their
- 00:10:22refunds I'm under the impression that
- 00:10:25all these issues around orders
- 00:10:27deliveries and refunds were along long
- 00:10:29long standing issue with direct song for
- 00:10:31many years prior to the complaints and
- 00:10:33legal threats from The Guild Wars I
- 00:10:35Community there were cases where
- 00:10:37customers had to wait 4 years to receive
- 00:10:39their products and from what I found
- 00:10:42these were issues since the website's
- 00:10:43launch in 2005 direct song seems to have
- 00:10:47been shut down some point in the late
- 00:10:482010s around 2018 it appears that Jeremy
- 00:10:52was now offering digital downloads of
- 00:10:54his music for purchase by this point
- 00:10:56before it shut down completely you can
- 00:10:58still find his music on iTunes Amazon
- 00:11:02music and streamable on Spotify so while
- 00:11:05all this direct song drama seemed to be
- 00:11:06happening around 2013 Jeremy was very
- 00:11:09busy setting up his Kickstarter for his
- 00:11:11upcoming album The northerner Soul
- 00:11:14Symphony Number one he was trying to
- 00:11:16raise money so he could record a new
- 00:11:18album that was going to be a classical
- 00:11:20Symphony composition with lyrics in Old
- 00:11:22Norse maluca was allegedly going to be
- 00:11:25doing some vocals for it as he had
- 00:11:27worked with her in the past he was
- 00:11:29working with the record label Materia
- 00:11:31Collective a self-described boutique
- 00:11:34soundtrack label to publish and
- 00:11:36distribute it he announced the
- 00:11:38kickstarter in March of 2013 with the
- 00:11:40original goal of
- 00:11:41$10,000 this money was going to be used
- 00:11:44to produce and publish the album as well
- 00:11:46as develop software and other tools to
- 00:11:48help him in the composition the
- 00:11:51kickstarter ended up raising about 12
- 00:11:52times of the original goal raising a
- 00:11:55total of
- 00:11:58$121,200 the project was backed by over
- 00:12:004,000 people as many fans were very
- 00:12:03willing to support his project and were
- 00:12:05very excited to hear his new music a few
- 00:12:08months after it was launched Jeremy had
- 00:12:09started working on the album and would
- 00:12:11give somewhat regular updates to his
- 00:12:13backers he stated that all the writing
- 00:12:16of the four movements were almost done
- 00:12:18and they would be recording in September
- 00:12:19of 2013 later in the year he stated that
- 00:12:23there would be some delays due to
- 00:12:24scheduling due to collaborators on his
- 00:12:26project it did not release in 2013
- 00:12:30in 2014 Jeremy announced that he would
- 00:12:32be expanding the size of the album from
- 00:12:34four movements to 12 he had posted spaic
- 00:12:37updates when people started questioning
- 00:12:39him in which some of the updates
- 00:12:41included pictures of a few vacations
- 00:12:43that he had taken for
- 00:12:44inspiration at this point backers had
- 00:12:47already begun criticizing him and they
- 00:12:49were wondering why it was taking so long
- 00:12:51and if their money had started funding
- 00:12:52his vacations Jeremy had been traveling
- 00:12:55the world and upon his return he said he
- 00:12:57was going to start recording the album
- 00:12:59in November of 2014 November rolled
- 00:13:02around and Jeremy gave another update
- 00:13:05the album had not yet been recorded and
- 00:13:07he decided he's now expanding the
- 00:13:09project from not one album but to two he
- 00:13:12also announced that he would be
- 00:13:13recording in Iceland as he saw it as
- 00:13:15more fitting he also had a side Venture
- 00:13:18with his brother that he had taken up
- 00:13:20which was developing instrument software
- 00:13:22under the company roll in Virtual Sonics
- 00:13:25Jeremy and Julian had worked with
- 00:13:27developers to create roll in Cloud which
- 00:13:29is still used by producers and composers
- 00:13:31to this day according to them it's an
- 00:13:34evolving cloud-based Suite of software
- 00:13:36synthesizers drum machines and sampled
- 00:13:38instruments for modern creators Jeremy's
- 00:13:41Kickstarter backers were starting to
- 00:13:43worry that their money was going to the
- 00:13:44creation of Roland Cloud but Jeremy
- 00:13:47assured them in another update this was
- 00:13:49not the case also there will be a little
- 00:13:51bit more on Roland Cloud later in the
- 00:13:53video in 2016 he announced that the
- 00:13:56release of the album was now going to be
- 00:13:57pushed back to 2017
- 00:13:59and started offering refunds to backers
- 00:14:01who no longer wanted to support him many
- 00:14:04of the comments on this post expressed
- 00:14:06people's frustration and people started
- 00:14:08calling him a fraud and a scam artist
- 00:14:11while Jeremy was looking to the north
- 00:14:12things just seemed to keep going south
- 00:14:14it was allegedly very difficult for
- 00:14:16backers to get the money that they
- 00:14:18pledged to him many backers did not hear
- 00:14:20anything from Jeremy's management for
- 00:14:22months with one backer telling a
- 00:14:24journalist at
- 00:14:25vg247 I pledged $100 push shipping to
- 00:14:28get ass copy of this CD I requested my
- 00:14:31refund a few months after it was
- 00:14:33possible and after much prodding I
- 00:14:35received it a few months after that I
- 00:14:37gave up on waiting he continually posted
- 00:14:39about work that was ongoing with the
- 00:14:40deadlines that subsequently passed in
- 00:14:43another statement to vg247 Jeremy
- 00:14:45claimed that only 2% of backers of his
- 00:14:48project requested a refund with many
- 00:14:50still happy to support him despite the
- 00:14:52mass outrage and the kickstarter
- 00:14:53comments at that time only one of the
- 00:14:56five backers who pledged $1,500 had
- 00:14:58requested requested a refund it is also
- 00:15:00alleged that some people were
- 00:15:02considering taking legal action against
- 00:15:04soul but that appears not to have come
- 00:15:06to fruition the alleged release date in
- 00:15:082017 came and went with no updates on
- 00:15:11the kickstarter and no album was dropped
- 00:15:13many backers had still not receed their
- 00:15:15refunds and the outrage over the
- 00:15:17kickstarter seemed to have gained
- 00:15:18mainstream traction media Outlets
- 00:15:20started writing articles on Jeremy and
- 00:15:22the northerner and within mere days
- 00:15:25after these articles were published The
- 00:15:26Silence was broken Jeremy released some
- 00:15:29musical sketches whatever that's
- 00:15:31supposed to mean at the end of 2017
- 00:15:34which should have been available for his
- 00:15:36backers to download I say should have
- 00:15:38been uh because apparently many backers
- 00:15:41couldn't even download these songs many
- 00:15:43people resorted to sharing the songs
- 00:15:45amongst themselves via email or through
- 00:15:47other means which is a little ironic to
- 00:15:50me as Jeremy seems to have a reputation
- 00:15:52for being so anti-piracy but ends up
- 00:15:55having his music downloaded
- 00:15:56illegitimately because fans don't
- 00:15:58receive what they pay paid for it seems
- 00:16:00that these musical sketches are also
- 00:16:02available for free on YouTube and
- 00:16:04Spotify which again adds another layer
- 00:16:07of irony things were pretty quiet
- 00:16:09through 2018 and in January of 2019 the
- 00:16:12release dates of the two albums were
- 00:16:14announced the first album would be
- 00:16:16released in March of 2019 and the second
- 00:16:18in December of 2019 they promised the
- 00:16:21albums would be available for download
- 00:16:23on these dates for all backers and that
- 00:16:25physical copies would be signed and
- 00:16:27shipped accordingly to No One surprise
- 00:16:30these dates came and went with not a
- 00:16:31single peep from Jeremy or his
- 00:16:33management since then there's only been
- 00:16:35three backer only updates and from what
- 00:16:38I can tell they are two single releases
- 00:16:40from the first album that Jeremy had
- 00:16:42planned on releasing these are two
- 00:16:444minute songs which are available on
- 00:16:47Spotify and other platforms as well the
- 00:16:49last update on the kickstarter was
- 00:16:51February of 2020 and everything has been
- 00:16:53silent for the past 4 years judging from
- 00:16:57comments on the kickstarter page
- 00:16:58supporters are incredibly frustrated and
- 00:17:00they seem to check in regularly still to
- 00:17:02see if there's any updates the only work
- 00:17:05that he's shown for this time is an
- 00:17:06incomplete concept album which is not
- 00:17:09even what the actual release is supposed
- 00:17:11to sound like and two singles all in all
- 00:17:15not much has resulted from this
- 00:17:16Kickstarter and Jeremy's backers have no
- 00:17:18idea where that
- 00:17:20$120,000 went it's been almost 11 years
- 00:17:23total and basically nothing has resulted
- 00:17:25from this project and Jeremy has
- 00:17:27disappeared off the face of the Earth
- 00:17:29I know I said I was going to try avoid
- 00:17:31making assumptions and inserting my own
- 00:17:33opinion into this video but I have a
- 00:17:35very strong feeling many of these
- 00:17:36backers will not see a completed album
- 00:17:38or maybe even their money again I'd be
- 00:17:41really curious to hear if any of you
- 00:17:43watching this have pledged money to this
- 00:17:45project and if you've requested a refund
- 00:17:48or gotten one so please do tell me in
- 00:17:50the
- 00:17:51comments now let's take a short detour
- 00:17:53and move back to the topic of Roland
- 00:17:55cloud like I just mentioned it is a now
- 00:17:57cloud-based software were used for
- 00:17:59composing music from my understanding
- 00:18:01and trust me I have very little
- 00:18:03understanding because I know absolutely
- 00:18:05nothing about making music it is a cloud
- 00:18:08database of instruments syn and other
- 00:18:10music related things to be used for
- 00:18:12professional
- 00:18:13composition it is a subscription based
- 00:18:15model with monthly subscriptions
- 00:18:17starting from $22.99 a month to $1
- 00:18:19199.99 a month there are additional
- 00:18:21packages that you can purchase to for
- 00:18:23varying prices you can also get lifetime
- 00:18:26keys for various products too wait wait
- 00:18:29why am I even telling you guys this like
- 00:18:31it's not like I'm trying to make a sales
- 00:18:32pitch or anything anyways there isn't a
- 00:18:35whole lot of information I found on
- 00:18:36Roland cloud and from what I did find uh
- 00:18:39there's been quite a few criticisms from
- 00:18:41customers not really surprising at this
- 00:18:43point is it the first criticism I could
- 00:18:45find was the move to the subscription
- 00:18:47based model many users were very
- 00:18:50frustrated with this but there were some
- 00:18:52issues around the actual product itself
- 00:18:53as well one Reddit user explained how
- 00:18:56they were promised lifetime access to
- 00:18:57some products they received via a
- 00:18:59promotion and subsequently had their
- 00:19:01access to them revoked upon contacting
- 00:19:04support and showing them evidence that
- 00:19:06the promotion did exist Roland Cloud
- 00:19:08denied it and would not give this person
- 00:19:10access back to them despite them having
- 00:19:12purchased them in the first place
- 00:19:14multiple other Reddit users had the
- 00:19:16exact same experience and claimed that
- 00:19:18customer support was incredibly
- 00:19:19difficult to work with upon reading
- 00:19:21other various threads and for post the
- 00:19:23general consensus I discovered was that
- 00:19:25people were not happy with Jeremy's
- 00:19:27company and their customer support
- 00:19:28report some people were actually warning
- 00:19:30others about it due to the past issues
- 00:19:32with direct song and Jeremy's
- 00:19:34Kickstarter project slightly unrelated
- 00:19:37but one Forum user who was trying to
- 00:19:38warn others about rolling Cloud also
- 00:19:40pointed out that Jeremy had deleted
- 00:19:42every account of his off the internet
- 00:19:44except his patreon they pointed out that
- 00:19:47it has been long abandoned and from my
- 00:19:49research I found that he was still
- 00:19:51making money from his patrons in late
- 00:19:532021 and then it was shut down between
- 00:19:55then and
- 00:19:572023 and back on the topic of Roland
- 00:19:59Cloud I am totally aware that obviously
- 00:20:02Jeremy is not the only person running
- 00:20:03this company and he obviously doesn't
- 00:20:06deal with customer support directly he
- 00:20:08is not responsible for these issues that
- 00:20:10customers have had however with Jeremy
- 00:20:13and Julian both being co-directors of
- 00:20:15the company it's still not a good look
- 00:20:17for them and seeing their history with
- 00:20:19the stuff already have you guys noticed
- 00:20:21that there seems to be a pattern with
- 00:20:23anything that these two are involved
- 00:20:25with another little side note before we
- 00:20:28move on to the more serious stuff back
- 00:20:30in 2016 Jeremy tried to take a swing at
- 00:20:33Bethesda because they did not invite him
- 00:20:35to participate in Skyrim and concert a
- 00:20:37concert that was organized to celebrate
- 00:20:39the release of Skyrim's special edition
- 00:20:42in a now deleted Facebook post obviously
- 00:20:44because he's nuked all of his social
- 00:20:46media he expressed frustration upon
- 00:20:48hearing the concert announcement he
- 00:20:50apparently had never been informed of it
- 00:20:52before the announcement and was not
- 00:20:54invited to participate in it the reason
- 00:20:56remains unknown to everyone and I'm not
- 00:20:58going to make any speculations as to why
- 00:21:01Bethesda would exclude him from it he
- 00:21:03was angry because they were
- 00:21:05transcripting his work and however the
- 00:21:07music played in the concert was not a
- 00:21:09one toone of his work and this was
- 00:21:11intentional by Bethesda Jeremy called it
- 00:21:14inauthentic and motion fans not to
- 00:21:17support or attend the concert he saw the
- 00:21:19whole ordeal as a huge insult to him
- 00:21:23personally all right before we move on
- 00:21:25to the next section I want to make
- 00:21:27something abundantly clear this will be
- 00:21:29a complete account of all information
- 00:21:31that we currently have access to and
- 00:21:33will include statements and recounts
- 00:21:35from those involved in saying that there
- 00:21:37will be allegations which have not been
- 00:21:39proven nor disproven and I'm leaving it
- 00:21:41to you to use your own intuition and
- 00:21:43form your own thoughts and opinions on
- 00:21:45the situation and with that being said
- 00:21:48there are some very serious topics in
- 00:21:50this next section and I will be
- 00:21:51mentioning assult and rap so if you are
- 00:21:55someone who is sensitive to that sort of
- 00:21:56stuff I will leave the time stamp on on
- 00:21:58the screen now so you can skip
- 00:22:01ahead hey guys I just wanted to make it
- 00:22:03really clear that everything already
- 00:22:05discussed in this video happened prior
- 00:22:07to what we're about to discuss um I just
- 00:22:10want to make it really clear that
- 00:22:12there's already been issues and drama
- 00:22:14before all of this stuff happened as
- 00:22:16well so I assume many of you are very
- 00:22:19familiar with the allegations made
- 00:22:20against Jeremy by multiple women it is
- 00:22:23by far his most infamous Scandal out of
- 00:22:25everything that we've already discussed
- 00:22:27since we're going over his scandals in
- 00:22:29chronological order this will be the
- 00:22:31last one that we cover and some people
- 00:22:33attribute these allegations directly to
- 00:22:35his disappearance and the end of his
- 00:22:37career in August of 2019 more
- 00:22:40specifically August 26th a gain
- 00:22:43developer named Natalie lwad made a post
- 00:22:45on her blog detailing the abuse from
- 00:22:47Jeremy when she worked in a small indie
- 00:22:49game Studio she decided to call out his
- 00:22:52actions and behavior to ensure other
- 00:22:54women would not suffer at his hands she
- 00:22:56explained that she was hired to work on
- 00:22:58an r g by a company in Vancouver in
- 00:23:00November of 2008 she said that she took
- 00:23:03the job because she was hoping it' be
- 00:23:05her big break into the gaming industry
- 00:23:08she said that Jeremy knew that she
- 00:23:09needed this job and she would fear
- 00:23:11speaking out at the time and he took
- 00:23:13advantage of this Natalie met Jeremy at
- 00:23:16a company Christmas party in December as
- 00:23:19Jeremy was close friends with her boss
- 00:23:21and she said that they bonded over their
- 00:23:22love for arts and creativity they
- 00:23:25apparently quickly became friends and
- 00:23:27Jeremy took up the role of mentor to
- 00:23:29Natalie she would often express her
- 00:23:31frustrations and concerns about the
- 00:23:33position that she was in with her job
- 00:23:35and in the G video game industry and he
- 00:23:37knew how desperate she was to succeed
- 00:23:40she said they started hanging out on
- 00:23:41weekends and that she made it abundantly
- 00:23:43clear that it was just a friendship
- 00:23:44between the two of them she said she'd
- 00:23:46never reach out to him first and he
- 00:23:48would always come up with projects or
- 00:23:50excuses to hang out with Natalie and
- 00:23:52invite her out for dinner and the likes
- 00:23:54she realizes now how naive she was at
- 00:23:57the time and did not understand that
- 00:23:58Jeremy was trying to make advances she
- 00:24:00said a constant topic of discussion for
- 00:24:02Jeremy was expressing his
- 00:24:04dissatisfaction with women and the past
- 00:24:06relationships that he's had he would
- 00:24:08constantly complain about the women who
- 00:24:10have wronged him in the past things
- 00:24:12started becoming uncomfortable for
- 00:24:13Natalie and she felt that she could not
- 00:24:15reject his advances in fear of losing
- 00:24:18her job the things Jeremy would tell her
- 00:24:20were becoming more and more explicit as
- 00:24:22he expressed to her that he needs women
- 00:24:24to inspire him and that writing and
- 00:24:26composing music is inherently seual at
- 00:24:29this point she felt very afraid of
- 00:24:31rejecting him even though she
- 00:24:33continuously told him that she's not
- 00:24:35interested in a relationship only
- 00:24:37friendship he eventually got fed up and
- 00:24:39told her that it's him robust and he her
- 00:24:43in an interview with Kotaku she
- 00:24:44explained that it happened in 2009 at
- 00:24:47his house one evening when they were
- 00:24:49hanging out he was interrogating her on
- 00:24:52why she didn't want to have sex with him
- 00:24:53and he kept trying to make physical
- 00:24:55advances she kept telling him no but he
- 00:24:58ended up forcing himself onto her which
- 00:25:00caused her to freeze up she did not know
- 00:25:02what to do at the time and she was very
- 00:25:04scared and confused she did not want to
- 00:25:06come forward about it because she feared
- 00:25:08what the repercussions would be for her
- 00:25:10career she also told Kotaku that she
- 00:25:12didn't go to The Vancouver Police
- 00:25:14immediately and it's unclear if there
- 00:25:16was an investigation or not she
- 00:25:18continued to go to work and said that
- 00:25:20she would cry in the bathroom on her
- 00:25:21brakes but she tried pushing ahead
- 00:25:23anyways apparently Jeremy would come
- 00:25:25visit the office that she worked in
- 00:25:27quite frequently after this she remained
- 00:25:29friends with him after the whole ordeal
- 00:25:31because she was afraid of the Fallout
- 00:25:33and she had no one to turn to as she was
- 00:25:35living in a foreign country at the time
- 00:25:37she ended up moving back to California
- 00:25:39for a bit but Jeremy reached out to her
- 00:25:41for assistance in designing a website
- 00:25:43for him she ended up doing the work
- 00:25:45however there were issues with receiving
- 00:25:47payment for it after 30 days of being
- 00:25:49ghosted Natalie reached out to Jeremy
- 00:25:51Julian and the artists that they were
- 00:25:53designing the website for after a long
- 00:25:55back and forth Julian finally ended up
- 00:25:57paying that for her work she stated that
- 00:26:00she believes that by finally standing up
- 00:26:02for herself against Jeremy it might have
- 00:26:04been partially responsible for costing
- 00:26:06her her job at the game company that she
- 00:26:08was working with in the end she was
- 00:26:10dropped from the game a little while
- 00:26:12later and was not paid the final invoice
- 00:26:14for her work there as well her blog post
- 00:26:17is about a mile long detailing all the
- 00:26:19other issues that she had when she was
- 00:26:21working at this company along with some
- 00:26:23screenshots however I will not touch on
- 00:26:25it as it's not relevant to the situation
- 00:26:27with Jeremy it's unclear if any legal
- 00:26:29action was taken against Jeremy as these
- 00:26:32allegations have come out about 11 years
- 00:26:34after it actually
- 00:26:36happened about a day after Natalie
- 00:26:38published her blog post on August 28th a
- 00:26:41vocalist who also works in the video
- 00:26:43game industry and with Jeremy came
- 00:26:44forward to tell her story ER Brighton
- 00:26:47detailed her experience in a Facebook
- 00:26:49post and in an interview with Kotaku as
- 00:26:51well she said in her post that she also
- 00:26:54fell victim to Jeremy's predatory nature
- 00:26:56in 2014 and that Jeremy harassed her and
- 00:26:59emotionally violated her she stated that
- 00:27:02the abuse was not physical in nature but
- 00:27:04he made unwelcomed advances and sent her
- 00:27:07explicit videos of himself she said that
- 00:27:10she met Jeremy in 2014 when she moved to
- 00:27:12California and was living out of her car
- 00:27:14looking for work she was introduced to
- 00:27:16him by a mutual friend and she was very
- 00:27:19excited for this opportunity ER said she
- 00:27:21looked up to Jeremy as an idol as Skyrim
- 00:27:24and his music shaped her early gaming
- 00:27:26days Jeremy started offer her work and
- 00:27:29even invited her to work on his Northern
- 00:27:31Light Symphony and feature in music
- 00:27:32videos she said that the relationship
- 00:27:35between them was strictly professional
- 00:27:36and it started to turn weird after he
- 00:27:38told her that she needed to lose weight
- 00:27:40at the time she was in awe that he was
- 00:27:42paying attention to her and continued to
- 00:27:44listen to his advice according to
- 00:27:46transcripts and messages between ear and
- 00:27:48Jeremy shown to Kotaku their
- 00:27:50conversations had started becoming
- 00:27:51flirty and Jeremy would invite ear over
- 00:27:54to his house late in the night to work
- 00:27:56on recordings and vocals she started
- 00:27:58becoming uncomfortable with his behavior
- 00:28:00however as he started bashing women and
- 00:28:02talking about how many women want to
- 00:28:04have sex with him after this she started
- 00:28:07to deny his advances but he ended up
- 00:28:09sending her an explicit video of himself
- 00:28:12she said she was disgusted after
- 00:28:14reaching out to other female vocalists
- 00:28:16who had worked with Jeremy she learned
- 00:28:18that he was sexually inappropriate with
- 00:28:20other women too and she decided she
- 00:28:22wanted nothing to do with him ery was
- 00:28:25eventually dropped from the project for
- 00:28:26declining his advances
- 00:28:28apparently Kotaku had attempted to reach
- 00:28:30out to other women who had worked with
- 00:28:32Jeremy and had dealt with his
- 00:28:33inappropriate actions however none of
- 00:28:36them wanted to speak on the record about
- 00:28:37it it's unclear how many other women
- 00:28:40have been harassed by him Jeremy had
- 00:28:43responded to both of these allegations
- 00:28:45by denying them and saying that they are
- 00:28:47outrageous and on the topic of Natalie
- 00:28:49he apparently does not believe her point
- 00:28:51of view he told Kotaku that these
- 00:28:5411-year-old allegations are false I am
- 00:28:57shocked and sad and by the outrageous
- 00:28:59claims that have been made after these
- 00:29:01accusations came out the company that
- 00:29:03was working with Jeremy on its
- 00:29:04Kickstarter project Materia Collective
- 00:29:07also announced that they would be
- 00:29:08terminating their relationship with
- 00:29:10Jeremy they said that in a tweet they
- 00:29:12are no longer involved in any aspect of
- 00:29:14it very quickly after these accusations
- 00:29:17dropped Jeremy deleted all of his social
- 00:29:19media and vanished off the face of the
- 00:29:21Earth AR made a note of this on her
- 00:29:23Facebook post and stated that she finds
- 00:29:25it hard to believe that anybody who has
- 00:29:27nothing to hide would disappear from
- 00:29:29social media entirely minus a blank
- 00:29:31Instagram account this seems to have
- 00:29:34marked the end for Jeremy as no one's
- 00:29:36heard anything from him since as I
- 00:29:38mentioned previously his patreon was
- 00:29:40still taking donations until sometime
- 00:29:42between 2021 and 2023 according to
- 00:29:45captures from the way back machine all
- 00:29:47of his social media has been deleted and
- 00:29:49his website has been taken down the only
- 00:29:52thing that you can find now is his
- 00:29:53Kickstarter for the northerner and again
- 00:29:56like I mentioned before Jeremy or
- 00:29:58somebody else seems to have wiped his
- 00:29:59WordPress completely from the way back
- 00:30:02machine as a result of all this drama
- 00:30:04and his disappearance many fans of the
- 00:30:06Elder scrs franchise assume that he will
- 00:30:08not be returning for Elder scrs 6
- 00:30:10however before all of these allegations
- 00:30:12came out against him Jeremy stated in
- 00:30:15January of 2019 that he had not been
- 00:30:17asked to return to compose music for The
- 00:30:19Elder schr 6 it's unclear as to why this
- 00:30:22is the case some fans have stated that
- 00:30:25Bethesda will probably never work with
- 00:30:26him again due to the allegations and it
- 00:30:28would be a PR nightmare other fans have
- 00:30:31stated that since these have just been
- 00:30:33allegations and there's no legal case
- 00:30:35that has been held against him to our
- 00:30:37knowledge he should be invited back for
- 00:30:39the Elder SCH
- 00:30:456 so where are we now 5 years after his
- 00:30:49disappearance Jeremy has still not been
- 00:30:51seen nor heard from by anyone from my
- 00:30:54research I can assume that he's still
- 00:30:56involved with Roland cloud and has only
- 00:30:58ever released those two singles on his
- 00:31:00Kickstarter I'm not sure if we'll ever
- 00:31:02see Jeremy again especially after all
- 00:31:04the scandals that he's been involved
- 00:31:06with now on a side note while I stated
- 00:31:08that I wasn't going to be interjecting
- 00:31:10my own opinion into this video I just
- 00:31:12wanted to say I had absolutely no idea
- 00:31:14how deep the rabbit hole went for this
- 00:31:16whole thing before I started working on
- 00:31:18this project I'm not someone who ever
- 00:31:20followed Jeremy Soul closely but I
- 00:31:22always love the music that he made for
- 00:31:24The Elder skulls games I mean I even
- 00:31:26used a lot of his music music in my
- 00:31:28previous videos this project became huge
- 00:31:31like larger than I would have ever
- 00:31:33imagined the only thing I knew about
- 00:31:35Jeremy was the misconduct allegations
- 00:31:38and I assume that was why he disappeared
- 00:31:40it was absolutely crazy to learn about
- 00:31:43all the other stuff that he did in the
- 00:31:44past even before that like the issues
- 00:31:46with direct song his Kickstarter project
- 00:31:49and all the other companies that he's
- 00:31:50worked with in the past I actually had a
- 00:31:53lot of fun doing research for this video
- 00:31:55and a lot of information was very
- 00:31:57difficult to find without doing some
- 00:31:58digging I want to give a shout out to
- 00:32:00the internet archive and the way back
- 00:32:02machine because without it I honestly
- 00:32:04would not have some of this information
- 00:32:05that's available today and now with
- 00:32:07knowing all of the information that I
- 00:32:09now know I can honestly say that I have
- 00:32:11a very different impression and feeling
- 00:32:13when listening two soundtracks for The
- 00:32:15Elder skulls games after learning all of
- 00:32:17this stuff I can't help but be reminded
- 00:32:19of it when I play Elder skulls games it
- 00:32:22leaves a sour taste in my mouth almost
- 00:32:24and it's really not a nice feeling I
- 00:32:26don't think I'll ever be able to look
- 00:32:28his music the same ever again I want to
- 00:32:30know how all of you guys feel about this
- 00:32:32now are you glad that you learned
- 00:32:34everything you did or did this ruin the
- 00:32:36way that you look at all the soundtracks
- 00:32:37that Jeremy has worked on do you feel
- 00:32:40indifferent even like please just let me
- 00:32:42know in the comments and with all of
- 00:32:44that being said I want to thank you all
- 00:32:46for watching especially if you got this
- 00:32:48far I had no idea that this video was
- 00:32:51going to be as long as it was I also
- 00:32:53know that since I talked about some no
- 00:32:55no topics YouTube will probably not like
- 00:32:57this video so if you could please leave
- 00:32:59a like or subscribe just to show some
- 00:33:01support it means a lot and it does help
- 00:33:04this video gain some traction as always
- 00:33:06all sources are in the description and
- 00:33:08trust me there are a lot of sources for
- 00:33:10this one I also want to mention that I
- 00:33:12have a Discord server now the link is
- 00:33:15below as well as the link to my Twitter
- 00:33:17if you want to follow me over there so
- 00:33:20thank you for watching guys and have a
- 00:33:22good
- 00:33:22[Music]
- 00:33:26one and he claims that he has an
- 00:33:28equivalent of the M of the Master's the
- 00:33:31Master's sword and
- 00:33:36board too bad I can't put bloopers in
- 00:33:38this one it's a serious
- 00:33:41video Jeremy was very busy setting up
- 00:33:44his Kickstarter for his upcoming album
- 00:33:46The northerner Soul sympathy sympath
- 00:33:50sympathy nor Soul sympathy sympath syp
- 00:33:55Symphony Jeremy announced that he would
- 00:33:57be releasing some musical
- 00:34:00St her blog post is about a mile long
- 00:34:02detailing all the you know I just give
- 00:34:05up
- Jeremy Soule
- Elder Scrolls
- video game composer
- DirectSong
- Kickstarter
- music
- allegations
- disappearance
- Roland Cloud
- controversy