What can I get away with if I don't ever intend to monetize videos?

MGPT

MGPT

Member
There are a load of video ideas I have that would involve using other people's music and videos.
I have zero interest in making money out of it, it's purely to satisfy my creative instincts.

If I am not trying to monetize these videos will I generally be left alone? I recently made a video with a clip from a TV show in it and got this email:


'A copyright owner using Content ID claimed some material in your video.

This is just a heads up
Don't worry. You're not in trouble and your account standing is not affected by this.

There are either ads running on your video, with the revenue going to the copyright owner, or the copyright owner is receiving stats about your video's views. '


Does this mean the copyright owners are happy enough and will leave me alone? I would hate to get in any kind of legal trouble for doing something as a hobby!
 
It doesn't matter if you plan to monetize your videos or not. If you don't have the proper permissions to use the footage, you don't have the right to post it.

As for what the copyright owners may do? That's up to them. You could simply receive more 3rd party copyright notices and have them put ads on your videos or they could just as easily issue a copyright strike and block the video. They also have the ability to change their mind at any time if they chose to do so... so even the letter you received doesn't mean you're in the clear.
 
Yeah that's fair enough.

I'm guessing there's millions upon millions of youtube videos that have copyrighted material right? So in the vast majority of cases are they just left alone? Is it common for legal action to take place or are the videos and channels just eventually removed?
 
Realize that for every video you see, there are likely countless others which have already been blocked or removed.

Legal action is extremely rare, but 3 copyright strikes within a short period and bye-bye channel and lifetime ban from YouTube.
 
A common misunderstanding is that monetizing doesn't affect the chance of your video getting a copyright claim. The claims are based on the video content, not any monetization settings. The only thing monetizing would affect is a court's decision regarding whether your use was Fair Use or not.
 
MGPT said:
Yeah that's fair enough.

I'm guessing there's millions upon millions of youtube videos that have copyrighted material right? So in the vast majority of cases are they just left alone? Is it common for legal action to take place or are the videos and channels just eventually removed?
Click to expand...

In the opening post, you got a message for a content ID match. If someone doesn't have TubeBuddy or some other extension that allows them to see who is monetizing a video, they would have no idea that the monetization for many of your videos is going to someone else.

The same is true when you look at other videos. I think that you may watch many, many videos that already have been automatically matched in Content ID and which are generated ad revenue for the original copyright owner. But I also agree with what @Shakycow has written -- if a video is taken down, you wouldn't know about it in most cases.
 
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