Free YouTube Monetization Course – Lesson 6
On YouTube, 3.7 million videos are shared per day. This means that 2,500 videos are shared every minute. Despite so many videos being shared, how does YouTube protect the rights of content creators? In this lesson, you will learn both how copyrights are protected and which penalties are applied in case of copyright infringement.
What are copyrights (Copyright)? Why are they necessary?
Almost 99% of those trying to earn money from YouTube, YouTube channel owners, have encountered a copyright problem. Sometimes we may see a copyright notification due to any image included in the video, and sometimes due to the sound used in the video. YouTube has taken this step both to protect the rights of content owners and to prevent the YouTube platform from turning into a huge junkyard. On YouTube, copyrights are protected by the Content ID system. The Content ID system can detect whether there is a copyright infringement in a video by creating a digital fingerprint of videos (content) and comparing these fingerprints with other digital fingerprints in the database. I can explain this with the example below.
Example: Let’s assume that you shared a video on YouTube. After you share the video, Content ID bots divide your video into two parts: audio and visual, and create a separate digital fingerprint for each part. A separate digital fingerprint for audio, a separate digital fingerprint for visual. Then, these created digital fingerprints are compared with the digital fingerprints in the database. In other words, they are compared with the image and audio fingerprints of the videos shared on YouTube up to that day, that hour, that minute. If similarity is detected in the digital fingerprints during the comparison, it means that the copyright has been infringed. The Content ID system can detect whether copyrights have been infringed using this method.
What does Content ID do if copyright is infringed?
If copyright has been infringed in a video, a warning notification regarding copyright infringement is sent to that video. The same notification is also sent to the original owner of the content. At this stage, there are a few steps that both the original owner of the content and the party that shared the content can take.
What the party that infringed the copyright can do:
- They can object to the decision. (If they have the broadcasting rights of the relevant content)
- In YouTube Studio, they can cut the part of the video that received the copyright claim, remove its audio, or add another audio.
- They can delete the video and re-edit it, cut the part that received the warning in the video and replace it with another image or sound, and share it again.
- They can contact the original owner of the content, get permission from them, and obtain approval for publication. In 90% of cases, this option does not work.
What the original owner of the content can do:
- They allow the relevant notification to be removed from the video, add the channel to the whitelist, and do not request a share from the revenue obtained from that video.
- They allow the content to be shared but take a share from the revenue obtained. Generally, 50% of the revenue goes to the original owner of the content.
- They can request the video to be removed from YouTube.
The most dangerous option here is the third option. If the original owner of the content requests the video to be removed from YouTube, the Content ID system accepts this request and deletes the video. After the video is deleted, a penalty called a “Copyright Strike” is given to the channel. I can say that the copyright strike penalty is YouTube’s most dangerous penalty. In the next lesson after this lesson, I will give more detailed information about Copyright Strikes. Let’s continue with the Copyright lesson without changing the subject. When the content owner requests the deletion of the video, two more options are presented to them:
- Delete the video now
- Give 7 days for the video to be deleted
In both cases, the request of the claiming party is fulfilled, meaning the video is deleted. However, if the original owner of the content chooses the “delete the video now” option, the video is deleted immediately and a Copyright Strike penalty is given to the infringing channel. If 7 days are given for the video to be deleted and the infringing party deletes the video within these 7 days, no penalty is given. In most cases, content owners prefer the first option.
In which cases can copyright owners file a complaint?
This question has a short and clear answer. If a content (audio or visual) is shared without the permission of its owner, the original owner of the content, namely the author, has the right to file a complaint. If you are not the original owner of the content or do not have the broadcasting rights and a complaint is filed against you, you will be the losing party 100% here. Therefore, you should approach copyrights carefully.
Let’s assume that you are a musician. You play the piano, record it on video, and share this video on your own YouTube channel. In this case, can you encounter a copyright claim? Of course you can. Performing a piece of music does not mean that you have the broadcasting rights of that music. The original owner of the music, namely the composer of the work, the performer, or the company that holds the broadcasting rights, can make a copyright claim. Although such cases do not occur very frequently, they have occurred in practice and there is a possibility that they may occur. The incident I will describe below may be an example of this.
A user named Philip Pietrason, who shared the music of the movie “Tenet” by playing it on the piano on his YouTube channel, was complained about by Warner Bros. Upon this complaint, Content ID gave 7 days for all the music with copyright claims to be removed from the channel. Since Philip Pietrason did not have the broadcasting rights of the music, he had to delete the videos from his channel. Such cases are generally resolved within the framework of YouTube’s copyright policy, without applying to court.
How can I use someone else’s video and music without infringing copyrights?
Many content owners allow their content to be used. However, some content owners give this permission on the condition that the user directly associates the content with the content owner. In other words, let’s assume that you are using a piece of music in your video. You need to specify the owner of this music in the description section of your video. Some content owners do not require this. You can freely use content that does not have such conditions without specifying the content owner. You can see where you can find this content below.
Copyright-free music:
- YouTube Audio Library
- Channels on YouTube that share music under the title “no copyright sounds”
- Websites that sell paid and licensed music: Envato, Shutterstock, and similar websites
Websites that provide free and unlicensed music:
- pexels.com
- pixabay.com
- Audio and music that you create through artificial intelligence
Copyright-free visuals (video and image):
- pexels.com
- pixabay.com
- freepik.com
- canva.com
- Images that you create through artificial intelligence
For those who are new to YouTube and those who already own a channel, remember that unlike the real world, rights are fully protected in the virtual world.
