And oh boy do I have some words to say about it...
Hi from YouTube,
You might have heard about, or been impacted by an increase in copyright claims made on videos over the past week. We're getting in touch to explain what's happening and how you can get back to creating and monetizing great videos.
What's happening
Content ID is YouTube's system for scanning videos for copyrighted content and giving content owners choices on what they want us to do with them. Last week, we expanded the system to scan more channels, including those affiliated with a multi-channel network ("MCN"). As a result, some channels, including many gaming channels, saw claims appear against their videos from audio or video copyright holders.
Understanding Content ID claims
Keep in mind one video may contain multiple copyrighted works, any of which could potentially result in a claim. For example a record label may own music playing in the video (even in the background), a music distributor may own a game's soundtrack, or a game publisher may own in-game cinematic content.
Also, online rights are often resold to companies like music labels and aggregators. While you might not recognize the owner, this doesn't necessarily mean their claims are invalid.
Deciding what to do
When a claim is made, you'll see what's been claimed, who's claimed it, what type of claim it is (audio or video), and you can play back the part of your video that it matched. We want to make it as easy as possible for you to act on Content ID claims, and you can find out all your next steps, dispute options, and other troubleshooting resources here.
It's also important to know that most claims won't impact your account standing.
Tips for new videos
If you're creating videos with content from other people, remember that rights ownership can be complicated and different owners have different policies. Be aware of music. Many games allow you to turn off background music, while leaving sound effects enabled. And if you're looking for music you can freely use (and monetize!), check out our Audio Library.
Whether gaming, music or comedy is your passion, know that we love what you do. We've worked hard to design Content ID and other tools to give everyone — from individual creators to media companies — the opportunity to make great videos and earn money. As YouTube grows, we want to make sure we're providing the right product features to ensure that everyone continues to thrive.
Sincerely,
The YouTube team
Now I'm glad that Google has finally acknowledged that something is going on. That a minor state of havoc has been created...
But this message solves nothing. They don't even admit that there is a problem, instead taking a passive “Not our problem” approach. The message is somewhat patronising in tone, at least it sounds that way to me, and while it's not exactly scolding in nature, it's clear that Google is not on the side of the creators that helped make the site what it is today. The sentence “While you might not recognize the owner, this doesn't necessarily mean their claims are invalid” especially just feels like a slap to the face of someone who spent hours trying to make a good video and is now finding themselves dealing with having their hard work making money for someone else.
Game developers have (mostly) come out in support of those who make the gaming review videos for Youtube, and removing claims from the videos of those creators who have taken up the offer to e-mail the developers to get them removed is just putting a greater load of work onto companies who could be working on the games. The Youtubers themselves are now having to shoulder the burden of how they deal with the claims, with some channels electing to remove videos, hide them or in a few cases, leave Youtube for good. Of course, a good deal of the claims are related to music and while certain developers have been leaning on the music companies they use for their games' music, the music industry has a reputation for being inflexible about issues relating to copyrights and don't seem to be showing the same support as the game developers are to the Youtubers right now.
Unfortunately, what this message seems to confirm more than anything else is that Google has decided that it won't help its user base, leaving them and the developers shouldering a burden that came out of nowhere and has caused disruption to what is a large section of its website.
Stay tuned for more articles as this story continues to develop.
