Better video but not eligible for monetisation?

Joined
Jun 9, 2020
Messages
5
Reaction score
3
Age
36
Location
Yorkshire and Oxford, UK
Website
www.mattlawson.co.uk
Channel Type
Guru
Hi all,

First things first - I haven't joined YouTube as a creator to make money. I do it for enjoyment and to help others.

I'm fairly new to the YouTube game, but growing nicely (at 222 subscribers and 300-500 views a day) after a few days of uploading videos). My channel is music education, and mainly film music theory, which I know secondary school (high school) teachers and pupils are finding useful in the current climate. My day job is a university lecturer specialising in film music, so this is me giving back to schools.

Here's my conundrum: once I hit the threshold, I would of course like to monetise my channel, to get some pocket money as a bonus. However, the videos I produce will inevitably have short film or audio clips of the film/film music I'm discussing. So - what's for the best? Do I create videos about a particular scene and let the viewer see/hear the scene, but then almost 100% get a copyright claim (not strike), meaning that many of my popular videos won't make a penny. OR: do I discuss the scene and music in question without actually showing the scene or music, which to me would make an inferior video? I could mock up the soundtrack in my music notation software, and show stills from the film, which would probably escape copyright claims, but if it was a poorer viewer experience, what's the point?

An example: one of my next video ideas is 'The Best 10 Musical Themes from Star Wars' or similar - explaining why the character themes are so effective. The best viewing experience would be for me to show a 10 second clip of each. The result? Copyright claim and demonetisation. The other option would be to show a still image of Darth Vader, for example, and play a MIDI/mock up of the theme, but wouldn't this be a bit... garbage?

Anyone else have experience of their most popular videos - ironically - being ineligible for monetisation?