Your channel can face serious risks if you don’t comply with the copyright laws. When you don’t follow the right steps and add music to your YouTube videos without taking permission from the copyright owner, either of these two things could happen to your YouTube channel.
– The copyright owner can claim your video.
Copyright owners use YouTube’s manual claim tool to search for YouTube videos with music that’s being used without their permission and claim the video. This means, you cannot earn revenue from your video. All profits earned will go directly to the copyright owner.
– You could get a copyright strike.
If the copyright owner makes a legal request to YouTube, your video will be deleted. If you repeat the mistake and get three copyright strikes, your YouTube channel could face termination.
Which is why you need to take extra precaution while adding music in your videos to avoid unnecessary disputes.
– Here are 4 ways to use copyright music correctly.
1. Perform cover versions of a song
If you’re a music artist, consider doing a cover version of the song you want to use in your video, rather than using the original song. Some copyright owners let you perform covers if you share the video’s revenue cost with them. However, some songs are restricted from playing in certain countries so double check your usage rights before you dive in. An easy way to find songs that are available for covers is through the “Music Policy” library.
To find this feature, head over to your Creator Studio < Click “Create” from the left hand menu < choose “music policies” from the dropdown menu.
2. YouTube Audio Library
The safest way to use copyright music is through the YouTube Audio Library. There are enough royalty-free songs to cover every mood and genre you’re looking for. Most songs will have a disclaimer that says “you’re free to use this song in any of your videos without any restriction”. But some songs might prohibit you from using the song without giving credit to the copyright owner. In this case, you’ll simply have to copy and paste the copyright owner’s credentials into your video description.
You can find the YouTube music library feature on Creator Studio < Click “Create” from the left hand menu < choose “audio library” from the dropdown menu.
3. Contact the copyright owner
There are many sources you must credit if you’re using copyrighted music in your video, including the song name, artist, composer, lyricist and record label among others. Contact music publishers directly on the database of popular organisations like ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC. You can also reach out to music licensing companies like PRS and PPL that represent performers and record companies. Email the copyright owners and explain how and where you want to use your videos and whether they’re for commercial or non-commercial use. Smaller artists can charge less that $100 to license their songs but bigger artists can charge you in thousands. Once you get the copyright permission in writing, you’re good to go!
4. Reuse YouTube videos that have a Creative Commons license
Creators can mark their videos with a Creative Commons license to make their videos reusable for commercial or non-commercial purposes. Other YouTubers reuse these Creative Commons licensed videos without any copyright restrictions. Here’s how you can find Creative Commons videos on YouTube.
Type in a keyword and perform a search on YouTube.
On the top left corner click the “filter” tab > select “creative commons”.
Now if you click on any of the videos in the search results and check out their video description, you’ll find that they have a Creative Commons licence.
Be wary that any music detected in your video can be claimed, regardless of whether the music duration is 1 second long or 5 minutes long. Even if there’s music playing in the background and unintentionally appears in your video, the copyright owner can still claim rights. Just stick to the above tips and your YouTube channel will remain safe and sound from copyright infringement.
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