Videomakers, Check Software Licensing Terms if You Plan To Monetize!

UKHypnotist

UKHypnotist

I Love YTtalk
Yes, I know that most of us aren't millionaires yet, and want to produce videos as cheaply as possible.

The problem with this however, is that a lot of freeware programs have a clause in the fine print of the license, which a lot of people don't bother to read in its entirety; and that clause usually says, "Free for Personal, Non-Commercial Use Only".

What this means, is that for any commercial use (which usually includes using to produce videos for YouTube's Partner Program), one will have to contact the company involved and request to purchase a commercial license. If you go ahead and use the free version for monetized content, you may find something like this in your YouTube account's email box of record one day.

"Dear (Insert channel name here),

We have not been able to confirm your commercial use rights to all the elements of your video.

We may consider your video(s) for further review provided that you verify that you are authorised to commercially use all of the elements of your content. This includes all video, images, music, video game footage and any other audio or visual elements. Learn more

Please note that YouTube reserves the right to make the final decision whether to monetise a video, and we may disable monetisation for partners who repeatedly submit ineligible videos. All videos are subject to our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines, and may be removed from the site if they do not meet those standards.

Please submit your additional information below:

(Insert linked video title here)

Remember that a variety of factors, such as video performance, may affect review time. We may not be able to process every submission, but we continually monitor these factors and prioritise accordingly.

Thanks,

The YouTube Team"

These days, getting one of these letters just about guarantees that your video may never be re-reviewed for monetization. The above was was sent to one of my secondary channels on Sept. 29th of this year, and I not only had proof of commercial level licensing for all parts and tools, but two of the licenses had cost me dearly: A: the one for my video editor of choice, Magix Video Pro X 5, and B: the Mass Market License for the Royalty-Free background music used in the video. I am still waiting for approval after submission of all relevant proofs (including the license serial no. for the video editor), and it is coming up on 90 days since proof submission.

I am posting this warning because if you use free tools or assets which require a further paid license in order to commercialize the output of same, without obtaining the further licensing level, and you get such an email from YouTube, you will have no proof to give on your chosen software suite or asset; and in such a case, not only will you not get approval for monetization, but you risk the removal of your video from YouTube.

So...read those licenses in their entirety, before you start to record or edit!
 
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sickmind33 said:
Good thing I don't do YouTube for money
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Nor did I at first, sickmind33.

One of my videos went Viral in late 2010 however, and YouTube invited me to the Partner Program. In 2012, I became the first and possibly the only hypnotist to be contracted to a Multi Channel Network; and I found that I liked getting cheques in the mail, even if they are in US Dollars which then must be converted to Pounds Sterling. The video which drew the query is on my secondary YT income stream which is attached to my Adsense.

Improper licensing can also lead to Copyright issues for video posters who are not partners, by the way...so simply remaining unpartnered may not always be the answer. By the way, with your view rate, I think you should be partnered (not partnered, yet have pre-roll ads??)...
 
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For music sure, but it will pretty much never happen for software. You can't tell if something has been edited in Avidmux or Premiere :p
 
Styxie said:
For music sure, but it will pretty much never happen for software. You can't tell if something has been edited in Avidmux or Premiere :p
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I beg to differ; at least once, YouTube has asked me directly for all licensing evidence for software I used to make a video, whether audio or video based. In fact, in the case of NCH Software's ToneGen Pro, they even required me to forward my purchase receipt, while asking for a statement from the developer of the software that the generated tones could be used in commercial projects!

I do believe I still have the email NCH sent me to forward to YouTube admin and can paste it here if you would like to see it?
 
UKHypnotist said:
I beg to differ; at least once, YouTube has asked me directly for all licensing evidence for software I used to make a video, whether audio or video based. In fact, in the case of NCH Software's ToneGen Pro, they even required me to forward my purchase receipt, while asking for a statement from the developer of the software that the generated tones could be used in commercial projects!

I do believe I still have the email NCH sent me to forward to YouTube admin and can paste it here if you would like to see it?
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I have not heard about that before, I believe you, but the simple fact is you can say you edited your video with another program, unless you use something easy to recognise like some of the premade Magic Bullet stuff, you can just lie. Now some companies might do it like NCH as you said, but a larger majority most probably don't.
 
Styxie said:
I have not heard about that before, I believe you, but the simple fact is you can say you edited your video with another program, unless you use something easy to recognise like some of the premade Magic Bullet stuff, you can just lie. Now some companies might do it like NCH as you said, but a larger majority most probably don't.
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First of all, I don't like lying; probably did too much of it as a child...lol. Secondly, I like doing things the right way; so providing YouTube admin with what they were asking for wasn't that hard, more of an annoyance. And you might be surprised at what some companies will do when they see Google trying to crawl up the bum of one of their good customers.

The incident in question happened a half year after the video involved had been monetized in the first place; so why it happened at that point in time, and with such vehemence on the part of YouTube admin, is beyond me. They de-monetized three videos in my main Tonal Sound Healing series of that time, querying their commercial usage rights, yet left others in the same series alone. All had been made the same way, and with the same software, only a few weeks apart...go figure. It happened in early 2012, and the videos had been made near the end of 2011.
 
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