Nobody Agrees on What Counts as Fair Use for Music

“That is probably the cleanest route. Keep a note of the library and licence for anything you use, because “similar” is fine creatively but the usage rights still matter.”

“Hey everyone! I am a working game composer, and recently wanted to spend some time working on getting a Mario style sound. Rather than just sitting on these tracks, I thought I may as well share them with developers who may want to actually use them! Each track is loopable, and while I have named each track after a specific “biome”, feel free to use them any way you want! My only request is that if used, please ensure to credit me :) You can download the tracks and a text document which contains”

“would this be a good idea? i've been struggling with my work being stolen and shared, so i was thinking a ohysical watermark, even a small one the size of a postcard but still visible and unable to be blurred would work? has anyone tried this? submitted by /u/dontcrosby [link] [comments]”

“Hi! I was curious about those pop culture compilation channels. Are they actually monetized? Do the clips create copyright issues, or are they generally okay to use? I see that a lot of those videos get millions of views, but I'm not sure whether they're actually eligible for monetization or if copyright prevents them from earning revenue. Thank you! submitted by /u/Positive_Reindeer134 [link] [comments]”

“Looks like it resolved for you thankfully but I'll just comment to say I've experienced this with other royalty free music I have the rights to use. My video editor comes with Soundstripe which explicitly gives code to put in my YouTube description to avoid this exact issue. Even with that, sometimes I get marked. I just dispute and state I have the subscription, it's Soundstripe, and I have a code and every time so far the copyright claim has been taken back in very short time. Simp”

“There a bunch of sites you can Google, but there's one way that I do that no one evetr talks about. Just go to shows, and ask local bands to use their music. I've got thousands of free to use music from dudes who can barely run an Instagram page, but make great tracks.”

“Can I split videos in half and post it into a second channel, and rebrand the video without getting flagged for reused content? I have a shorts dominated mixed long/short channel, (1,000+ shorts, 100+ longs) but my long videos always struggled to breach 800 while shorts did OK. I created a second channel to test if my shorts ruined my long videos. submitted by /u/Top_Signal_1600 [link] [comments]”

“What is the proper way of making edits in capcut with yt shorts music ? How to import yt shorts sound while making edits by syncing them? submitted by /u/Inside_City_5327 [link] [comments]”

“Excluding creative games like Minecraft or Mario Paint where there could be some visible creative work made by the player, Someone recording gameplay of a video game they did not make would not have any claim of copyright to that footage. Does not mean there is zero risk of someone abusing the content ID systems and hassle you. Still also never hurts to ask or give credit, "legally right" is not always the same as "socially right".”

“Supporting independent artists is so important! This is actually at the heart of what we do, so many of Uppbeat’s top-downloaded contributors & earners are indie artists and composers. We totally get that not every creator has the budget or time in the day to source individual licenses for every single video, which is where we try to help. Our goal is to make great music accessible to creators of all sizes, while of course making sure our amazing artists are always paid fairly and supported”

“I've been there as well with my Dark Souls videos. It's very quiet game and the only real music in it is during boss fights, so I thought I had to add some music as well, and I did for the entirety of Dark Souls 1. With Dark Souls 2, I had the first 2 with music still, decided to ditch it now though since it had literally no impact on the videos performance. So now I got less things to worry about, I was afraid I'd run out of music to use eventually... But since you're asking whe”

“I don't know if this is the right place to ask this, but I'm new to youtube and I have question, so I guess it is? I want to make a youtube channel about deltarune theories. If I use sprites from the game in my thumbnails or profile picture, am I doing something wrong? What about in the videos itself? Under what circumstances is it allowed or not? Thanks in advance, and sorry if this is the wrong place to ask this. submitted by /u/Builder_Felix893 [link] [comments]”

“Hey everyone, I use Epidemic Sounds Pro Plan to soundtrack my videos. I’m a freelance video editor and I just picked up a client project to make 5 videos over the next month. These videos would go on their channel. Since I can’t whitelist their whole channel permanently on this tier, I want to use the individual video safelisting / link clearing feature. I have a few questions for anyone who has done this: Is there a hard limit on how many individual client video URLs I can clear on the Pro plan”

“Btw, l've done re-uploads of slightly altered (slowed/ reverb) songs before on my channel. I hadn't really thought it through back then, but, I think they are fine since they weren't taken down or anything. For this one though, I'd like to really put in the effort into the animation. I thought I should ask this subreddit before really starting anything. submitted by /u/Iamaqwerty [link] [comments]”

“So since my niche is gaming, movie, and series review, there's a big chance it would get copyright striked. my technique is, after editing my video, i upload a draft version and make it private, basically a the same version as finished but without effect, or transition, to see if it get copyright striked or not if there's a claim, or some parts get notified, i will change it, if not, then i continue editing like normal. after that, i deleted the private version from youtube, then reuploa”

Can i use YouTube audio library for study with me vedios?

“Yes, it is possible, though short game sound effects are less commonly flagged than music. The risk depends on the sound, the game company, how recognizable it is, and whether Content ID or a rights holder cares. Some effects are protected assets even if they are only a second long. If the sound is important to the joke or commentary, the practical risk may be low, but it is not zero. If you want to be safe, use licensed sound libraries or make/use similar original effects instead.”

Is it human-made or AI? Just wonderin'!

“What does “fair use is not a right” mean? I would have thought it was by most definitions of the words.”

“Long story short, if you don't care about monetizing / being in the YPP... since your country limits it, UPLOAD WHATEVER YOU WANT! :) What's the worst that can happen? You get copyright claims (NOT strikes!) for music. That's how Content ID works: it exists to make sure the artist/musician/rightsholders get paid for their music. People make music mixes all the time (lofi, pop mixes, etc). Go for it! That said... if you're ever looking for safe-to-use / FREE (no subscription) musi”

“I was thinking of spicing my videos up with some Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door menu sound effects because they're pretty fun to listen to. I sometimes have text boxes that pop up and I mostly want to use sound effects for those. But now I'm wondering if it's even safe to do that or not. Sound effects can be copyrighted, right? I'd love to use them but I don't think it's worth the risk of getting a strike. submitted by /u/CryptographerFar9679 [link]”

“The non-subscription options are always a killer option: Streambeats, Incompetech/Kevin Macleod, and hey, StreamKitty's always a good choice!”

“freemusicarchive.org , Filter for CC BY license. You have to mention the website and the creator in the description”

“FreeMusicArchive has loads of stuff, and you can sort songs by genre and copyright license. Read up on the Creative Commons licenses music artists tend to use -- they're pretty simple, and understanding them will make it possible to use more music (rather than Only stuff that's marked as "royalty free"). Might not be what you're looking for, but LoyaltyFreakMusic has a lot of free to use stuff on their site. Patricia Taxxon also releases most of her work under a very broad”

“i really don't like the idea of using those ai generated songs, and i also don't want to steal music from a real artist, and while i'm planning to make my own bg music in the near future that will take some time to happen. so i was wondering if there was any source of free music to play in videos, i am particularly interested in classical or neoclassical string music with a mysterious feel to it. submitted by /u/Sleeping-Moth-762 [link] [comments]”

“hello! Does using a (very short) clip from a movie or show at the very start of a video guarentee your vid will be copyright claimed? perhaps a dumb question but i'm trying to cover all my bases :) submitted by /u/Prestigious_Style859 [link] [comments]”

“YouTube studio It's all made by Kevin McCloud He has his own website where you can browse the music more easily Just upload your video Then edit it in YouTube studio There you can add music from studio and it's all good to go.”

“Just posted my first video, where I utilized what I thought was copyright free music. Which was, as it turns out, not quite true. Where can I find reliably copyright free music that I can download and use for free? submitted by /u/Plus_Solid5642 [link] [comments]”

“Hi everyone, I'm planning to start a YouTube Shorts channel focused on history and true crime. Each Short is around 20–35 seconds long. My workflow is roughly: I write the script myself after researching the topic. I use 11Labs for the voiceover. I edit everything in CapCut. I use historical photos or archive images relevant to the story. I add subtitles, sound effects, music, zooms, pans, and transitions. I know YouTube doesn't automatically reject AI voices, but I'm worried about t”

“Hi I plan to use one of the popular pop songs for trailer on youtube only. (Will not use in game or steam trailer). Is this ok? I know that YouTube has some content claim system so they will only claim the video revenue but allow it to stay up so its fine right? submitted by /u/Burning_magic [link] [comments]”

“I'm a music producer making type beat instrumentals (e.g. "Drake Type Beat") and uploading to YouTube. I'm trying to understand how ranking actually works for this niche, title structure, tags, thumbnails, description formatting, upload consistency, etc. Has anyone here had success getting their type beats to show up on the first page for competitive searches? Would love to hear what's actually worked for you, or any resources/guides you'd recommend. Happy to share more”

“You don't have to upload anything to YouTube. Post your videos elsewhere if you don't want ads to be in them”

“Thanks for the answer. Weird but seems like japanese companies react the strongest then”

hahaha i think so yeah XD

“trying to find where to download the sound displayed youtube. com/shorts/7SGGYn_Vda0 in the first few seconds, as the brick is flying to the block Thanks! submitted by /u/Otherwise_Yam1121 [link] [comments]”

“YouTube's audio library is safe but limited - you can't really edit or keyframe those tracks. Pixabay is still fine to use, but some creators upload their music to both Pixabay and ContentID, which causes false claims. You can dispute those with the Pixabay license.”

“honestly til this was even an option, so thanks for posting it. and real props to the game companies chill enough to let people use their music like this. this is the good kind of creation to me, folks getting to build their own thing on top of stuff they grew up loving. copyright wears you down after a while, so it's genuinely nice seeing companies that just let the community run with it.”

submitted by /u/TerrorTown77 [link] [comments]

“Currently disputing a copyright claim for a song that did not have ContentID. I'm seeing the rec from other posts that people encourage using the YT audio library. While I have found several songs to use there, I'm not able to do any editing to the audio (adding voice overs, key framing, etc). Am I missing something or is the audio editing SUPER limited and simple within YT studio? Any recs on better sites to use where I can feel confident I won't have any copyright issues? sub”

“The annoying part isn’t even just strikes, it’s Content ID matching weirdly. A 2 second reaction clip can get claimed and then that video’s revenue/settings get messy even if the rest is all yours. For a gameplay channel, I’d rather make the joke with editing, subtitles, zooms, soundalikes, stuff you fully control.”

“Fair use isn’t a right, it’s a defensive plea in a courtroom. Only a judge can rule if it was fair use or not. Writing “fair use” in your video description doesn’t get you off the hook.”

“If you sell someone a video , they then watch it , are they entitled to then download that video and keep it forever ? submitted by /u/swirlyjesse [link] [comments]”

“any specific music suggestions from youtube library or other no copyright music for vlogs? I spent an while searching YouTube library and i don’t find the correct vibe or music that would fit a chill video. If you can’t suggest specific songs, what kind of music vibe do u enjoy on vlogs? acoustic/instrumental/beats etc submitted by /u/No-Army4242 [link] [comments]”

“I'm not sure how it is now but I saw a video test years ago where they uploaded the same clip to two different channels with no edits. The large channel received no content ID flag while the small channel did. At least at that time, different rules for different people depending on the revenue you brought.”

“Regarding rights, concert videos are fully owned by the music companies so yea that makes sense. It's the same thing when someone would use music in their video they don't own and it gets claimed by a label”

“So I took a copyright and trademark law class while in film school. Your legal defenses could be… De minimus use . You can use a small clip, no exact number. But maybe 5-6 seconds is generally accepted. You can look up case precedent for more info. Transformative use. You are adding something to the material, like commentary, analysis. Fair use has four prongs. Purpose and Character of the Use: Non-profit, educational, or transformative uses (e.g., adding new meaning, commentary, or parody) are”

“There are a lot of workarounds for this that I've seen mentioned in the comments already, but I see anything from mirroring, adjusting playback speed, adjusting audio pitch, and combinations of the three! It always helps to keep scenes shorter for sure since that makes them less likely to be copyright striked.”

“I make gaming videos and I use game soundtracks for my BGM (particularly Nintendo ones) and for what it's worth, in the 3 years I've had my channel, I haven't gotten a single copyright notice.”

“Nice find. The biggest thing with any “public domain” clipart site is verifying that the uploads are actually CC0 and not just copied from somewhere else with the license stripped off. I’d still keep a record of where you got important assets from. Same idea as keeping a domain at dynadot instead of bundling everything together: having a clear paper trail saves headaches later. For personal projects I'd use it, but for commercial work I'd spend a few minutes checking the source and licen”

“Any usage of copyrighted material could be claimed or struck by its owner, let's make that clear. Even gaming content technically could be hit (often Nintendo still does this). That said, it's more a question of if the owners would even find out, and if they did, would they care? For video game OST, probably not, but it depends on the game. Runescape music for instance, people use that all over the place even in non-gaming content, vlogging, opinion pieces, etc... So, use your own judgem”

“Any rights holder can, at any time, revoke any rights at any time. A creator has an inalienable right to terminate previous transfers or licenses of their copyright.”

“You’re probably fine, as long as you’re not just reuploading the music. They could change their mind at any time and mass strike a bunch of videos, but they probably won’t. Could you imagine the outcry if thousands of videos from very popular creators were taken down?”

“I'd rather use video game music for my videos than generic copyright free music and I constantly hear video game OSTs like Undertale, Minecraft or Pokemon in videos but I'm still not quite sure if it's alright for me to use it in my videos as background music. Is it safe? What if the rightsholders change their mind and start striking videos that use their music? And what OSTs are considered safe to use? Thanks a ton! submitted by /u/itsadamello [link] [comments]”

“They don’t. It’s SUPPOSED to be fair use but YouTube is really bad at respecting its. So they have to just take the gamble and hope Youtube won’t strike them”

“I use about 30 seconds of a trailer or clip in my reviews and have never had any issues. I mute the volume of the trailer so my voice is heard over the top of the video”

“Short answer is they don't. They will get claimed and shut down at some point. They just avoid automatic detection.”

“I’ve always wondered how YouTube channels that use lots of clips from movies, TV shows, documentaries, or interviews deal with copyright. Do they get permission, rely on fair use, or just risk getting claimed? How does it actually work? submitted by /u/Sad_Culture3285 [link] [comments]”

“Hello, I’ve been wanting to make my first ever video for some while - an analysis video of a YouTube ARG, and I was wondering.. What are the copyright rules if I include some video snippets that are a few seconds long each? Do I have to ask permission, or should I distort the snippet in some way? What will happen, and can I just include photos instead? submitted by /u/bucephalusbouncing28 [link] [comments]”

“On one of my channels I talk about social issues. I regularly use other people’s shorts and comment on them. It falls under the fair use doctrine. So I’m not worried. That being said the fair use doctrine is a legal issue. YouTube can do whatever they want. They aren’t required to give you any credit for your fair use claim. If the originator has enough leverage they could maybe get your video taken down but it’s very rare. They will threaten but some guy with 50,000 subs isn’t Disney. He thinks”