Any legal issues involved in covering songs?

Cyath said:
Hmmmm I just really want to cover some songs because I want to, monetizing would simply be a side benefit. It sucks if I can't monetize AT ALL though...
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You can post them, just not monetize on YT. If you get popular, there are other monetary options besides YouTube (patreon, paypal, brand deals, selling merch etc) Most likely the vids would get claimed by the copyright holder... but copyright strikes are a possibility, to consider.
 
Tito Tims Videos said:
You can post them, just not monetize on YT. If you get popular, there are other monetary options besides YouTube (patreon, paypal, brand deals, selling merch etc) Most likely the vids would get claimed by the copyright holder... but copyright strikes are a possibility, to consider.
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That's actually not true. Money or no money, you can be sued for it. Not likely but if you're going to say copy right strikes are a possibility you should also recognize getting sued is also a possibility.
Youtube follows USA laws and USA laws include DMCA.

ps. I respect you, I just want to make sure he knows what he's getting himself into if he does do that. The risk maybe low but he could also be the world's most unlucky guy

Cyath said:
Has anyone ever actually been sued for that amount of money? Or YT just takes the stuff down?
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Youtuber Michelle Phan was sued by a music company for copyright infringement a couple years ago. That was a major deal when that happened.
 
Damn that sucks that all I want to do is post some videos and I can get sued for it? Boo. It's just covers because I want to share the love of music :(

But what I still don't get is why don't all the other popular YTers get seized? Do the companies like the publicity?
 
Don't worry about them, worry about your own channel. And from the first you stated that you wanted to monetize your covers; so no: it was defintely not "all I want to do is post some videos".

You wanted to both post some videos and also make money from them. I think you should read one of my latest posts to this forum.

Bad News For Those Continuing to Use Unlicensed Copyright Content on YouTube

Policy Update Important AdSense policy update coming soon Dear AdSense Publisher, We're writing to let you know about a change to Google's publisher policies for all of our publisher products that will affect your AdSense account.In September 2019, we’re launching changes to some of our...
yttalk.com yttalk.com
 
Is this the pertinent information?

Monetising content that falls under the Google Publisher Restrictions will no longer be a policy violation; instead, we will restrict advertising on that content as appropriate, based on the preferences of each advertising product and/or advertisers’ individual preferences. In some cases, this will mean that no advertising sources are bidding on your inventory and no ads will appear on this restricted content. So while you can choose to monetise content covered by the Google Publisher Restrictions, doing so will mean that you will likely receive less advertising on this restricted content than you would receive on other, non-restricted content.

Content that falls under the Google Publisher Policies is not allowed to be monetised and you should not place ads against that content. As with our current policies today, attempting to monetise policy-violating content may result in your account(s) being suspended or terminated.Please note that these policies and restrictions will apply in addition to any other policies governing your use of Google publisher products.

Yeah sorry I think I should have been more clear. Lack of sleep ahaha. I wanted to share my videos but also potentially make money from them.
 
To answer your question, this email minus the channel type list, was sent out to all AdSense Publishers three days ago; so yes, this is the pertinent information, along with the content types which fall into each category. Unlicenced copyrighted covers would be under "Intellectual Property Abuse"; a Google Publisher Policy violation. The "endangered channel list" is my own take on what channel types are likely to lose their AdSense accounts to disablement; and cover song channels without Master Sync licensing would be amongst them in the "other music channels depending on copyright media for their content" category.
 
Thanks for clarification. However from the information presented there is nothing about being sued...or is that under another aspect of law completely? That is under DMCA right?
 
Cyath said:
Thanks for clarification. However from the information presented there is nothing about being sued...or is that under another aspect of law completely? That is under DMCA right?
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Correct.

A copyright owner or owners would need to strike your video, removing it from YouTube as the first step in this legal process. The struck channel's owner has the right to counter-notify; but only if they own the right to have posted the struck content in the first place.

This is where many channel owners go astray; and either have their counter-notice rejected, or even their channels terminated for filing a fraudulent legal form. Filling out the form incorrectly will cause a rejection. Obviously having no rights to the content will also cause a rejection; and in some cases, YouTube has been known to see a counter-notice where the person claimed against has said they own the rights to the content in question, and immediately terminate the channel for abuse of the legal process.

There is a somewhat notorious thread from last year where this happened to a user, and many here got involved.

Account suspended after 'information within legal request was fraudulent'

So I received the email three weeks ago saying; We are concerned that some of the information within this legal request may be fraudulent. As a result, your YouTube account has been terminated. If you believe that all of the information you provided in this legal request was accurate, please...
yttalk.com

If however, the counter-notice is filed correctly and forwarded to the copyright claimant, they must sue the alleged violator within 10 business days, or YouTube must restore the video.
 
Wow this getting really complicated. Thanks for being so patient and explaining it though.

So in the case of the Michelle Pham thing, the copyright holder can sue you regardless of the video status right? Because you are using copyrighted content? I'm talking about being sued for money, not about the channel being taken down. Or are they two separate things?

What if you are not in the USA?
 
Cyath said:
I don't quite get it though...I still see channels which have millions of view based on third party content. Do you mean that YT is going to take those down as well? Or were they before YT started cracking down on things?
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use we are the hits. You can upload covers already licensed get paid directly by them and bypass youtube. You get a claim from We are The hits but they license it for you. Also it's not a master recording right. That's for using the original song recording.
 
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