questions on gaming and monetization

MarkRodriguez2012

MarkRodriguez2012

Youtube Reviewer
Hey guys, it took me a while but I finally found the kind of YT forum I was looking for. I was curious how this monetization works since it seems for every rule there's a billion exceptions.

I've been working on a show where I review videogames, but other than just show gameplay with someone talking over it like a Let's Play, I (try) to go for an all-out show, mixing in footage of the game, music and the reviewers themselves. I know that on one side there's rules where you can't monetize videos because there's gameplay and music, and yeah, legally we don't own the games and all that. The only vids I ever monetize are the ones of us just talking without any games or music in the background, like rant videos and the like. So... how come there's all these Let's Play shows and review shows that somehow still get monetized without their stuff getting taken down? Name a famous reviewer off the top of your head and you can bet he or she is monetized or partnered, and most probably use clips from game and movies and other whatnots.

I do enjoy working on my show, which is why I don't try to monetize because I'd like to continue to have fun with it and not risk Youtube taking it down or losing my account over monetization issues. I'd like to know how this works and possibly hear first hand experience from guys that had their stuff monetized and the hurdles they had to get through to do it.

Thanks guys, I appreciate any answers you can give me.
 
Once you become partnered the network owns the game play so you can post it. The network also has its own music library which you can choose from. All the videos from that library, the network owns meaning the videos can be monetised.
 
As non partner you are not allowed to monetize gameplay. Partner networks have the rights to monetize these. Also music is copyrighted. Many partnered networks offer Royalty free music to use for your video's but you can also search the internet and read a bit about Creative commons. A lot of royalty free music costs around 1-10$ or free if you credit the maker/website (Read the license). Besides all this you should also watch if you are allowed to monetize the video's if you use that pacific piece of music.

As long as you don't view to much of movies/games I think reviews are considered "Fair use" But not entirely sure. I try to avoid copyrighted material as much as possible.
 
I usually just go with music from the actual game being reviewed. I very rarely use actual music/songs, with the exception of anime music at times. Though, I do avoid Sony of Japan music since they started muting all videos that use their themes (Bleach music for example).

And yeah, like I said, I only monetize the videos in which it's basically just me or my friends talking, without any game or music or anything. Just us talking or ranting. I haven't monetized anything with gameplay yet.[DOUBLEPOST=1355607923,1355606067][/DOUBLEPOST]If I do become partnered or whatever, do I still own my video? I know there's gameplay, but I still do scripting and we're basically all 'characters' in our own show. I hope we don't lose that and have the right to continue making the episodes the way we've been doing it without pressure to change this or that or follow some sort of schedule. Work and life and all that usually prevents us from cranking them out constantly.
 
MarkRodriguez2012 said:
If I do become partnered or whatever, do I still own my video? I know there's gameplay, but I still do scripting and we're basically all 'characters' in our own show. I hope we don't lose that and have the right to continue making the episodes the way we've been doing it without pressure to change this or that or follow some sort of schedule. Work and life and all that usually prevents us from cranking them out constantly.
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Yes. I'm partnered with TGN, but still own the rights to my videos. They just own the rights to monetize, which they do and give you the majority of the money.
 
What network would be good for a channel like mine? Like I said, I have more of a review show, not just Lets Plays. And what requirements would I need to be accepted by them?
 
I highly recommend you to join RPM. Record Promote Monetize. They are good network and they aren't strong about copyright. you will be able to get partnered :)
 
Oh boy, this was a lifesaver, thank you. I read on another post (not here, just out and about online) that basically said you could monetize gaming videos with commentary, but you couldn't post simple cut-scenes or trailers etc without permission. I thought something appeared fishy about that. I've only been monetized for about a week (and only been on YouTube since late December) so I've just disabled it. If I ever get the views in I'll happily partner with TGS!
 
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