Josh Todd (Bark Cat Bark)
Eli et Papillon
Last night I received an interesting comment on an artist profile I wrote back in May on Bark Cat Bark, the now-defunct project of French songwriter/composer, Josh Todd.
The comment read:
Bark Cat Bark is actually making money with a song he stole from a friend of mine. The song is Coffre Fort, and according to him, he wrote the song and a girl called Béatrice Larouche sang it. He litteraly stole the song, without even bothering with changing anything to it and claimed it was his. 650 peoples already bought this song from iTunes* and I think Bark Cat Bark is a thief. The original player and composer of that is Eli et Papillon [MySpace] and the song can easily be found, under the same name.
Pass the word.
I think it’s plain artistic Rape.
I am obviously not quick to jump on a commenter’s word, especially about an artist we’ve profiled here on Knox Road and have had a past connection with, so I emailed Todd and told him about the comment. I asked if he could provide an explanation to clear everything up as the two songs do sound exactly the same.
I will attempt to paraphrase Todd here and offer a few direct quotes to help clarify the muddy situation.
Todd ended Bark Cat Bark about eight months ago (yeesh, harsh correlation with our blog post…). At the time, he handed over his Last.fm, Reverbnation, Sixtyone, and MySpace accounts over to close friends of his because he did not have time to control it anymore as the project had disbanded. From there, he went on with further business as a musician and in life, leaving Bark Cat Bark behind as his finished project.
Meanwhile, Todd told me he was just recently aware that “Coffre Fort” was available on the internet and iTunes under his name, which was shocking to him for a couple reasons: A) He never wrote any song called “Coffre Fort” and B) He has never put his songs on iTunes. Ever. He finds the whole thing absolutely incredulous:
Apparently I have been on Itunes which is ridiculous as I’ve NEVER been on Itunes when I was with Bark Cat Bark so only after many many months of ending Bark Cat Bark I am on Itunes. So it appears to me that somebody is posing over as Bark Cat Bark (Or has been). NOW. I did see the song ‘coffre-fort by bark cat bark’ on the internet a while ago now! And I didn’t think much of it because at the time I didn’t have speakers so yeah… I didn’t really know what it was. After time went on I forgot to check it out.
Only NOW. I’m hearing and reading much abuse to a song I’ve never known to be in existance.
SO! I have heard the song and maybe it might of been mistaken for a ‘Bark Cat Bark’ song because our compositions do sound quite similar but still that’s no excuse. ME personally, didn’t know about this until last night.
He went on to say
[Me being on iTunes] is absolutely absurd. Doesn’t the artist usually get paid if you’re on Itunes? If they do.
Who the hell is collecting money?* I don’t know who’s behind all of it but I have a few good ideas.
And if I do catch this out. There’s going to be some serious S**t going down.
The music that band have created sounds absolutely brilliant and for one of their songs to be out there for a wrong reason and to be looked back on from this mess…I feel incredibly sorry for them.
Hopefully this has shed some light on the situation. I will update this post with any further developments.
*Update (3/16/10) According to both Eli et Papillon and Todd, “Coffre Fort” was never on iTunes in the first place. The commenter was incorrect.
Im in no way confident in Bark Cat Bark anymore – people I know and myself have been burnt by him before. He didnt end BCB 8 months ago, in fact it was quite recently. He also still controls his facebook page (which has the stolen song for download) which he still posts regularly on.
In addition to this, I contacted Todd when i first heard his A Lifi record and asked if he had any copies, he emphatically replied yes and gave me instructions to pay him and i proceeded to send him 10 pounds (maybe i was naive) for a cd which I have never received. I have attempted to contact him several times yet he does not reply – funny how he is so quick to explain himself here, Josh if you are reading this how bout sending me a copy for the money i wasted.
But hey, I also have a friend who sent money and actually got a copy of A Lifi – too bad the case it was held in was cracked and there was no ‘hand made artwork’ as promised – hardly worth ten pounds! Fortunately Todd explained himself to this genteleman and said that it was an issue with his distributor! What distributor? What a sham.
Add to this the fake stories Todd makes up about himself, ‘organising’ shows that never happen, having ‘drunken’ discussions with people in the streets of France. I cannot take this guy seriously anymore.
mikki Reply:
May 16th, 2010 at 1:24 am
@ Alex, I was the exact same! Over two years ago now I sent him 15 pounds for the CD and for postage (from Australia, at the time equivilant to AU$35) and never got anything back! He made up all of these lies about the CD being sent back to him when he tried to send it to me and then he claimed he lost it. Shouldn’t he have a back up? I think he did steal the song too, he had it on his myspace two years ago. He is the biggest tool.
Alex Reply:
May 16th, 2010 at 3:44 am
Thanks for sharing that – crazy how the money he asked from both of us were different quantities. I emailed him twice and got absolutely no explenation whatsoever.
Super boycott this guy i reckon. as for him stealing other artists’ songs, it really does not suprise me.
Alex is right, the song was available on his facebook page wich ha regular update. I’m glad is facebook is now down.
I have no doubt in my mind that Josh Todd did in fact steal the song in question. Josh Todd was the original ‘I am Xray’ who stole my track ‘Pretty Rave Girl’. He ripped it from my MySpace (before it was signed 2 labels) and uploaded it with his name in place of mine. Because of his massive friend list, it was quickly spread around the internet and labelled as his own.
There was nothing that could have been done once it started 2 spread so even when I approached him and told him 2 fix it, it was 2 late.
I know lots of artists he has done the same thing 2 and I’m not surprised that he’s still doing it.
Holy shit could any of you people linked or provided any type of evidence? this is insane its comment after comment of people trashing him and no one can upload letters with his signatures or, hell if you knew these songs were stolen at the time maybe uploaded a screen shot? Maybe a link? I seriously cannot tell what to believe here.
I wish this thread was more recent. He’s a liar. The only instrument Josh Todd was capable of playing was drums. Other than that, nothing. He’s not from France, He’s from Leeds in the UK, hence his super strong accent, He stayed in Paris sometimes and decided it made him sound more musical profound….
I have no doubt that EVERY piece of music he posted over the years was stolen, as I cant figure out a way in which he composed any of it.
I knew the guy personally as I had classes with him every day for 2 years and he was in our friend group. His main goal in life was to be exactly like Zach Condon from the band Beirut, I dont think he succeeded as Zach is actually quite a talented guy. As the guy below pointed out he stole the I am Xray thing. He’s probably found another thing now that he can mooch off and call his own.
As a an artist and song-writer, this sickens me. I personally couldn’t sleep knowing that I am stealing somebody else’s music. What’s the point of even being a musicians?
It is also terrible to take advantage of people who actually want to buy the music, like the guys commenting above. It is so cool you actually wanna support an artist you enjoy, and I am sad to hear about your experience!