Youtube Confessions
March 10, 2022
When I first discovered Youtube in 2005, the first videos I saw were pics of northern lights and pics of colorful formations in outer space. Great visuals, and the poster would use some commercial music like Enya as background.
Then I noticed videos playing past hit songs, using still pictures of the singer. This was clearly some form of copyright infringement but they just piled it on and kept doing it. So I took the idea and started presenting past records that were rarities but great, to make them better known to everyone. The idea was education and archiving.
Youtube was being run by the original entrepreneurs. After a couple of years it was bought by the Google people.
There was a major fight in society over this type of infringement.
The basic method that media owners had of fighting this was to invoke the federal law and give YT a Takedown Notice. Each notice cost the owners ~$150 to prepare. Also imagine what a ton of work would be involved in monitoring uploads and finding your particular works.
If a channel received three copyright strikes it would be permanently closed. There is a chance to appeal a strike and have it removed. One problem YT created was that on the third strike the channel would instantly vanish, so there was no way to communicate and appeal. It is in fact a violation of law to not allow an appeal.
Then Google used Yankee ingenuity and concocted an alternate system called Content ID. The owners would become Partners of YT and submit digital copies of the works they manage. By computer, each new upload is scanned and violations are identified. The owners decide whether to allow or to block. There are no Strikes involved in this system. The video remains in the channel inventory but cannot be shown. Or it may be shown but the owners get revenue from ads.
This can be win-win because publicity creates demand for retail purchases, and the channel is not closed.
Some smaller music companies do not go thru all the Partner process, and still use Takedown Notices.
Problems with the system:
Music companies employ teams to deal with YT. These are ordinary young workers who are likely not expert at law or politics. They can and do make bad judgements. When you appeal a content ID it is judged by the same people at the music company, not by Youtube. If the company rejects your appeal it simply stays blocked.
There are errors understanding what can be copyrighted, or what is fair use.
A Takedown Notice can be appealed and it works differently. If the owner does not respond in 30 days then you win by default. If owner disagrees and you still appeal, then the owner's only recourse is to go to court and get a court order. (This is my recollection from past years) He does not get his way by default. This is all according to federal law. If the channel feels sure the complaint is invalid then it may not fear a legal action, which is not likely to come.
A strike expires after six months.
Youtube music actually comes under a different law from the copyright law. It is streaming, which comes under state laws. I'm not sure how they are sorting that out now.
When thinking of royalties be aware that one play equals one listen by ONE person. It's far from one play on radio.
