YouTube identifies user-uploaded videos that include media from other rights holders. To do this, rights holders deliver YouTube reference files audio-only or video of content they own, metadata describing that content, and policies on what they want YouTube to do when they find a match monetize, track, or block. YouTube compares videos uploaded to YouTube against those reference files. The Content ID system scans incoming video for “infringing” content. As more music and visual clips are indexed and claimed by copyright holders, and more incoming clips are scanned, a sizeable number of YouTube creators have started to receive notices claiming that their videos have been flagged as in violation of various copyrights.
The reality is that copyright is complicated. And it’s even further complicated by an extrajudicial system that allows the submission of materials without proof of copyright and algorithmically compares all indexed files to a massive volume of incoming content. YouTube’s Content ID is hard for indie musicians to break into; there are middlemen services like ContentID.com. They are a website owned by the stock music library Audio Micro and that also goes by the name “AdRev.” These middlemen will exploit your copyright by uploading your reference files to their company’s Content ID account, identifying your “content” as their own, placing ads on the YouTube videos, and giving you a percentage. Even though “ContendID.com” is not the same thing as YouTube’s Content ID program, their blog is using SEO tricks to be tied to the phrase, and they’re in the process of trying to trademark Content ID.
Receiving a claim means that either:
All or some of your content has been blocked either globally or in a specific region and you risk losing your account privileges;
Advertising revenue is diverted from the uploader directly to the claimant;
The analytics associated with your videos are now being monitored by the claimant. These effects have real teeth.
And there are flaws in the Content ID system that have resulted in improper claims, which is troubling to some of the creators who rely on advertising revenue as a source of income.
If you want to use music, gaming, TV, or film content in your monetized video, you must have the permission of the respective owners before you upload the video, or have a claim that it falls under fair use principles more about fair use later and be prepared to defend it. Videos can be flagged for infringement either through Content ID, or by an individual Copyright Infringement Notification to YouTube through a free-form notification or web-form.
Regardless of the source of the flag, the result is the same: Your video will be treated in accordance with the rights-holder’s wishes and either monetized with all revenue driven to the claimant, tracked video is unaffected except that viewership statistics appear in owner’s analytics account, or blocked either the video is no longer viewable or audio is muted. Obviously any of these situations should be avoided. However, if your video is blocked worldwide, you receive a “strike” on your account. Per YouTube, if a YouTuber receives three or more “strikes,” he or she will lose access to the platform’s partner features
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