Image Credit: YouTube

YouTube has revealed insider information about how copyright protection works on the site and how many videos are claimed, updated for 2022.

YouTube has published its 2022 Copyright Transparency Report, shedding a little light on YouTube copyright rules for music. The report reveals how many YouTube videos get claimed on the platform and explains a little about how the process works.

According to YouTube, only 1% of Content ID claims on the platform are challenged by content creators. Copyright management on YouTube is split into several different areas, with the vast majority of claims and takedown requests coming from the Webform tool, Copyright Match Tool and YouTube’s Content ID system.

The Webform tool is a public tool available to everyone, primarily used by rightsholders who hold limited copyrights and rarely ask for takedowns. There’s also the Copyright Match Tool, which supports channels finding reposted content.

If content has been stolen and re-uploaded by someone else, Copyright Match gives the rightsholder the chance to take action against the uploader, whether that’s messaging them to ask for it to be taken down or sending a legal request to YouTube to remove the video. Over two million channels on YouTube have access to the Copyright Match Tool.

Finally, Content ID is YouTube’s automatic detection technology that it uses to find content like music on the platform, to check that creators’ copyrights are protected and they’re receiving the correct ad revenues. It’s not a copyright strike, so the video will remain on YouTube – but the uploader won’t earn money.

YouTube said: “Our partnerships with major record labels, performing rights organizations, a multitude of independent labels and music publishers, television networks, and movie studios generate substantial revenues for the creative industries.”

“Because of Content ID, YouTube has created an entirely new revenue stream from ad-supported, user generated content.”

In the first half of 2022, over 757,000,000 claims were made through Content ID, up by 5% from 2021. YouTube says that’s 98.9% of all the copyright actions taken on the platform, the remaining 1.1% coming from Copyright Match and Webform. YouTube reports that only 0.5% of Content ID claims were disputed. And when disputes arise, 59.2% are resolved in favour of the uploader.

9,186 partners can access Content ID, though in the first half of 2022 only 4,773 actively used the system. And more than 90% of all Content ID claims were monetised.

RouteNote offers YouTube Content ID for your songs when you upload them for release on online platforms. That means that any time your music is used in a YouTube video, wherever it is on the site and even if it’s just a small clip, YouTube will find it and make sure that you’re getting the royalties you deserve. RouteNote offers this service for free!

YouTube’s full 2022 Copyright Transparency Report is available to read here via Music Ally.

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