We Are The Hits (WATH) - Addressing cover song legality issues?

[WilliamRayWalters]

I would consider a concert anything that had sold tickets involved, or any payment to the musicians to perform

I would agree with your assessment, but that might not be what YT considers a concert when it comes to whether or not we can monetize it. Is a free Central park performance a concert? What about the ones that Simon and Garfunkel did that attracted hundreds of thousands of people? It's tough not knowing what they are thinking.

 

[offbeatbryce]

I would agree with your assessment, but that might not be what YT considers a concert when it comes to whether or not we can monetize it. Is a free Central park performance a concert? What about the ones that Simon and Garfunkel did that attracted hundreds of thousands of people? It's tough not knowing what they are thinking.

I know some musicians from YouTube who do concerts in backyards of fans homes. That can't be a real concert. The wording below the monetize button does that "This is my cover." Well if it's not mine and I filmed it but yet I still had permission to film that person I would think it would be fine. lol

 

[WilliamRayWalters]

The wording below the monetize button does that "This is my cover."

The way I see it, if Youtube invites me to monetize a cover that means it's been already claimed by the owner (according to their help page). They are providing you the functionality to monetize it and you should have no problem doing so. I'd go ahead and re-monetize it if I were you. They invited you to, after all.

 

[offbeatbryce]

The way I see it, if Youtube invites me to monetize a cover that means it's been already claimed by the owner (according to their help page). They are providing you the functionality to monetize it and you should have no problem doing so. I'd go ahead and re-monetize it if I were you. They invited you to, after all.

right but it says right below that you can't if it's a concert or performed by somebody else

 

[KatyAdelson]

I think there are multiple definitions of the word "concert.." To an audience, all of those things are concerts. To a musician, they usually aren't concerts...they're considered a gig or a show... I'm not exactly sure what YouTube thinks is a concert. Several of my videos were made in parks with people stopping to stare, but I don't consider them concerts. If a few thousand people showed up to stop and stare, I'd still not think of it as a concert..lol! : P But..then again..I guess if that many people showed up, I'd better get my blanket performance license figured out and make sure I have my butt covered -- which might lead me to considering it to be more like a concert. I would suspect that YouTube is primarily concerned about the royalty payments and licenses bought to put on the concert, but then also broadcasting it on their site with additional monetization. I still don't really see too much wrong with that, especially if YouTube has agreements in place with the songs played, but there's probably something obvious that I'm missing..

 

[offbeatbryce]

I think there are multiple definitions of the word "concert.." To an audience, all of those things are concerts. To a musician, they usually aren't concerts...they're considered a gig or a show... I'm not exactly sure what YouTube thinks is a concert. Several of my videos were made in parks with people stopping to stare, but I don't consider them concerts. If a few thousand people showed up to stop and stare, I'd still not think of it as a concert..lol! : P But..then again..I guess if that many people showed up, I'd better get my blanket performance license figured out and make sure I have my butt covered -- which might lead me to considering it to be more like a concert. I would suspect that YouTube is primarily concerned about the royalty payments and licenses bought to put on the concert, but then also broadcasting it on their site with additional monetization. I still don't really see too much wrong with that, especially if YouTube has agreements in place with the songs played, but there's probably something obvious that I'm missing..

Finally heard from we are the hits via email. They said that you upload the cover and you don't monetize it. They do. Well I tried that and there wasn't any ads on my video for a whole week.

 

[KatyAdelson]

Finally heard from we are the hits via email. They said that you upload the cover and you don't monetize it. They do. Well I tried that and there wasn't any ads on my video for a whole week.

That's about how long Nintendo took before they claimed their video after I submitted it to them... I guess it's a manual process, and they must be pretty busy claiming covers. At least they claimed it eventually! That process is a bit different than I thought it would be...to me, it sounded like they would upload the video for you, or claim it first through their website somehow, but I guess not. Nintendo made their creator terms and conditions say that they needed to approve the video before it was uploaded, but the only place that they let you upload your video is YouTube, and not some other approval site.. It sounds like WATH is sort of doing the same thing...

 

[offbeatbryce]

That's about how long Nintendo took before they claimed their video after I submitted it to them... I guess it's a manual process, and they must be pretty busy claiming covers. At least they claimed it eventually! That process is a bit different than I thought it would be...to me, it sounded like they would upload the video for you, or claim it first through their website somehow, but I guess not. Nintendo made their creator terms and conditions say that they needed to approve the video before it was uploaded, but the only place that they let you upload your video is YouTube, and not some other approval site.. It sounds like WATH is sort of doing the same thing...

You misunderstood. They never claimed and the support keeps taking forever for a reply.

Since YouTube offers revenue sharing anyway I'm just gonna stick to them. The worst is the video gets removed and I get a strike. If it happens I will then see about purchasing a license myself

 

[pseudonym]

Hello there!

As the question has already been asked about WATH, I'm wondering, 5-6 years later, if you guys have more feedback about it. It indeed seems quite vague. They told me we don't need a sync license to work with their library since they have partnerships, but aren't we required to have a sync license anyway?

Thanks