This topic is still niggling me. I recently recorded a few lockdown, solo acoustic guitar pieces and I uploaded them to Facebook rather than YouTube due to the fair use, copyright situation. I have a range of material - Pink Floyd, Bach, Taylor Swift, Stevie Wonder, Green Day.... basically a range of styles. So many other of my musician friends are quite happily uploading their own videos of cover songs or even entire gigs to YouTube and getting loads of views and new subscribers.
I would like to add my acoustic guitar videos to YouTube, but I am thinking long term and keeping my content lesson based, original material and other helpful videos, although I feel that I am missing out on promotional possibilities.
The way I see it is that all online platforms seem to be adopting similar no cover song rules, although it is very hit and miss to whether content is blocked. It is a bit like playing live with somebody turning up at random gigs and shutting them down, but not worrying about the other bands playing gigs in the area. I decided to upload covers to FaceBook because if they are taken down, it doesn't really matter. If I get YouTube strikes, my channel could be removed.
The content ID situation confuses me too. The way I see it is that copyright material is automatically flagged up and it is pot luck as to whether the video is taken down, allowed with adverts earning revenue for the copyright owner or allowed with a split of revenue between the copyright owner and the content creator.
Am I correct in how I am thinking about all this?
What do I do? Should I upload my cover material to YouTube and gamble on it being allowed but without earning revenue or possibly a split revenue?
From what I have read, I need a sync license from the copyright holder to legally upload cover songs. If so, where do I find out who owns the copyright and how do I ask for permission? I still haven't worked out how to do this, if this is the best route to take.
Apologies for resurrecting this thread with similar questions, but I am still unsure of how to plan future content and where to put it.
Hi, IP Barrister here to offer my thoughts.
First off, there is no "fair use" blanked defence to a copyright claim ΓÇö it must fall within a (usually narrowly) defined purpose, such as news reporting, criticism, education or, rather novelly, parodies ΓÇö which have extended the area for critique as a defence.
Second, which will not be what you want to hear, is that your gut feeling is correct ΓÇö you are playing copyright roulette to do cover songs and hope they don't get flagged or get your channel strikes or removed. They may well never get taken down, depending on the artist, but you never know when that might change because copyright (and the beneficial ownership therein) can change. This Apple and the Beatles ΓÇö that will give you a couple of hours' of mind-blowing reading.
The only fireproof way of doing any kind of cover, arrangement, performance, etc, of a copyright is to get a licence from the copyright owner. You would also be advised to get it future-proofed because many licences will expire or be nullified if the copyright is sold.
A pragmatic approach (NOT a legal one) would be to find song covers that have millions of views but NOT from a huge YouTuber - this might indicate that the copyright owner doesn't mind covers being published. This is NOT a safe, legal approach, and can easily backfire.
The best way to find the copyright owner is to start tracing things backwards; i.e. the artist is usually 'signed' by a record company, who is very often the sole owner, but they will very often manage the ownership on behalf of many others who will have a stake in the material - songwriters, publishers, etc. To make matters worse, you would need consent from ALL of the copyright owners to make the licence valid!
The copyright systems on YouTube are changing all the time. One of the more recent changes is revenue sharing - where some copyright owners can opt to share revenue from ads on your video if you have done a cover of their song.
I suppose this is a much longer way of saying what
@Damon said - your best bet is to write your own material!
I hope that helps.
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