Radio Music

[Heather White]

I have some across many vlogs where the radio is playing in the background. But I have heard that playing music that is not yours in your videos is violating copyright laws. What are the guidelines here?

 

[Shakycow]

It, like most copyright laws and fair use, is a gray area.

There's a chance they could be flagged, silenced, or blocked in some countries/ devices, and there's a chance that nothing will ever happen to them. There's no way to know and, unless you're willing to go to court and fight for the right to have random background music playing, it's generally best to simply play it safe and refrain from using music you don't have the proper written rights to use.

With all of that said, there is a decent chance that, if it were to go to trial, the courts would rule in your favor as part of fair use, but the risk, time, and financial burden is hardly worth it without assistance... such was the case with Lenz v. Universal Music Corp.

 

[Julia and Claire]

Different songs have different copyright policies. Search "youtube's music policies" and you can see a list of songs with all their copyright regulations.

Hope this helped,
Julia and Claire

 

[MostShockingEP]

Short answer, if you want to keep 100% of profit to yourself, always use your own content. 100% free music to use in your videos you can find in youtube library.

Be aware of website and channels who say they provide free music, big part of them are lying and will monetize your video when it gets popular. If you choice to use them make sure they will send you written permission first.

 

[EVO]

From my own experiance & watching other creators. Background music will get you flagged if its of a long period of time. A full use of a song for example..
I have so far found that if I keep such things under 15 seconds use I have got away with it.