There is too much BS, need help.

[Road Apple]

Alright, so I'm pretty new to youtube and need to be educated on the "do's" and "don'ts". Such as using someone else's music at the end of my gaming video like "Sorry" by Justin Bieber. Another one would be pulling a picture from google and then photoshopping some parts of the photo to use for thumbnails for my videos. Lastly, recording games that I have personally bought like for example Portal 2.

Honestly, I'm trying to cover my tracks because I'm a college student. And I do not want a lawsuit or some crazy BS in the mail because I miss used some picture/music and didn't follow protocol.

If yall could help me out, that would be awesome!

 

[Kill'em FTW]

Alright, so I'm pretty new to youtube and need to be educated on the "do's" and "don'ts". Such as using someone else's music at the end of my gaming video like "Sorry" by Justin Bieber. Another one would be pulling a picture from google and then photoshopping some parts of the photo to use for thumbnails for my videos. Lastly, recording games that I have personally bought like for example Portal 2.

Honestly, I'm trying to cover my tracks because I'm a college student. And I do not want a lawsuit or some crazy BS in the mail because I miss used some picture/music and didn't follow protocol.

If yall could help me out, that would be awesome!

Hey!

The main thing is the music, it can be picked up easily by YouTubes system, never use copyrighted music, you must use royalty free music, or pay for the royalties of a song! I've never had an issue with images used from other websites in my thumbnails, also I do believe you can record any gameplay from a game, but I'm not 100% sure on that one!

I hope this helps

 

[Zachary Thomas]

As far as I know the only issue is music. I use sovndwave.com a lot for my music and sound effects and recently my network just got access to a pretty cool site for music and stuff so there's plenty out there if you need it! As far as images I use tons of images on my thumbnails but I make sure they're not like personalized. Like someone else's face or something. As far as games I'm not 100% but I've never had any trouble for the few game plays I've done. Also! For music there's a time limit for you to use copyrighted songs as well, recently I used "Barbie Girl" for a skit and OBVIOUSLY that song is majorly copyrighted. But since I only had it in like a 5-10sec scene, I didn't get hit for it.

 

[Shakycow]

For music there's a time limit for you to use copyrighted songs as well, recently I used "Barbie Girl" for a skit and OBVIOUSLY that song is majorly copyrighted. But since I only had it in like a 5-10sec scene, I didn't get hit for it.

...and if YouTube ever changes the algorithm to only require 3 seconds to flag a song, you're screwed.

Otherwise to answer the OP, the simplest rule is- if you didn't create it, don't use it.

If you use music you didn't create, make sure it's either royalty free (and that you're following any necessary protocols for it -typically properly crediting the creators of it) or that you purchased a license to use it.

For video, it's easier (and far safer) to just avoid using any that you didn't record yourself (ContentID is just as good at picking up video as it is with audio).

The same basic rule holds for pictures as well, although you're far less likely to get caught. Of course, if your channel does ever grow enough and the creator of the image happens to see it, they can flag you. Not worth the risk in my opinion.

As for games, Google ("Let's Play-friendly developers Wiki") to find a webpage that is regularly updated with game developers who allow their gameplay to be used, although it's up to you to regularly check developer websites to confirm it's allowed.

Also, it should go without saying, but mute all in-game music and avoid showing any cut scenes as those can also get your videos flagged.