Was this copyright claim fair? (Music Cover)

[CartoJaryGraphics]

Hey guys, recently, one of my videos got a copyright claim on it. It was a "cover" technically. I say technically because it was just me and my friend singing horribly to an instrumental karaoke version of Don't Stop Believing. It was supposed to sound bad, that's what made it funny. And the video, too. Monetization has been disabled on it now, of course, but it was on when I posted it. Anyway, I wanted to know if this is covered by fair use or not. All video was recorded by me and my friend, the vocals were also recorded by me and my friend, and I used the instrumental of the song in the background. Attached is a screenshot of the email.
Here's a link to the original video https : // www . youtube . com / watch?v=_fTLjwYwl8U

 

[MattyGreen]

Whenever I do covers I have the option to select that I recorded the cover, so since I own the performance rights, I can revenue share with the claimants. However, I record all parts of the song so none of the original recorded music is used or sampled. You may have the option to revenue share if you check your monetization settings for the video however if you're just singing over the original track or music they recorded you may not be able to since they would also own the backing track recording and composition rights.

In short, check to see if you can revenue share and if not there's not much you can do unfortunately.

 

[Suess]

I wouldnt risk a strike by monetising a cover. You could only really claim that you used the backing track as in the fair use act, however I believe that becomes void when you try to make revenue off of a video.

 

[Idec Sdawkminn]

I wouldnt risk a strike by monetising a cover. You could only really claim that you used the backing track as in the fair use act, however I believe that becomes void when you try to make revenue off of a video.

No, making money off it doesn't affect the likelihood of getting a claim, nor the type of claim.

 

[Shakycow]

Hey guys, recently, one of my videos got a copyright claim on it. It was a "cover" technically. I say technically because it was just me and my friend singing horribly to an instrumental karaoke version of Don't Stop Believing.

My guess is that you weren't flagged because you did a cover (which would likely allow you to share revenue), but because you don't hold any of the rights to use or post the instrumental karaoke song.

 

[subversiveasset]

There's already been a lot of great comments here, so I just want to amplify what a couple of posters have already said to clarify:

1) For valid covers, it's completely normal to get a content ID match. In fact, that's the only way you get the option to check the box saying it's a cover, which allows you to share revenue.

2) To be a valid cover, you have to own all rights to the master -- that is, that particular recording. When you use prepared track stems (as with an instrumental only karaoke version), you don't own the right to that instrumental. So, that wouldn't count as a valid cover (whereas, if you recorded or programmed the parts yourself, then that would be a cover.)

3) Keep in mind that revenue sharing allowed for valid covers is not the same thing as fair use. By their very nature, a cover song cannot be fair use. The revenue sharing is YouTube's streamlined way of allowing cover artists to pay royalties to the original copyright holders, so that they are compensating those copyright owners but still getting compensated for their own derivation on the original work.