Ooh, my first copyright dispute!

[Tadpui]

I feel special now. I woke up this morning to a notification from YouTube that CMRRA (Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency) filed a copyright claim on my latest video.

In the video, I composed a short song as illustration for doing a complete project with the interface that I was reviewing. It's such a generic 3-chord progression, it could be used any number of times in the history of recorded music. But they claim that it was written by one of their artists, Michael W Smith. Apparently he's some Christian contemporary artist. I sought out the song in question "I Lay Me Down" and it sounds nothing like my short song, apart from being downtempo and it has acoustic guitars in it. Different chord progression, of course different lyrics since mine is instrumental with some "ooh" and "aah" vocals. There are pretty much no similarities.

So, I filed a dispute. They have 30 days (!!!) to reply, so any ad revenue that I make is held in limbo until the dispute is settled. It sucks that some random match by an algorithm can hold up revenue for some tiny YouTube channel for an entire month! It's a silly system that definitely doesn't favor me unless the CMRRA admits their error. I'm not super hopeful that they will. And if they don't, I'm screwed out of ad revenue in perpetuity.

[Greg_L]

Youtube is quickly becoming the devil. All I ever hear about is people getting fucked over by their algorithms and de-monetization.

[Tadpui]

Yeah it's a crappy system. I understand a label or agency wanting to protect their artists, but c'mon! They've at least gotta create an algorithm that doesn't just randomly flag things as their property!

[Lt. Bob]

so your $1.86 is gonna be held up a month?
My understanding is ( I may be wrong so please enlighten me ) that everyone makes pennies from these streams.

And how would it be possible for you to lose if it's not even the same chord progressions?

[WhiskeyJack]

I am a proud Canadian but i will gladly say that the CRTC, CMRRA and all other outfits like it within these borders are fucking horrible gestapo like agencies i can't wait someone steps in to rein them in.

That stinks Tad buddy. Hopefully a human get's involved and get's it sorted. So when you say all revenue in perpetutiy does thta mean for just that video in particular or ALL your content?

Also for shits you should throw up your video with the finished song and the song in question. I'm quite curious.

[rayc]

The truth is CMRRA has to prove theft.
Utub is just being a supportive, we'll make money while holding your money, evil thing.
Don't let it go.
Write to the CMRRA and insist they prove their case or you'll go to the media, (not social)!
BUT you can post something about it on their & his websites.

[Tadpui]

so your $1.86 is gonna be held up a month?
My understanding is ( I may be wrong so please enlighten me ) that everyone makes pennies from these streams.

And how would it be possible for you to lose if it's not even the same chord progressions?

For most of my videos, $1.86 would be a good month

I've got a couple of videos that make about $20 per month each (down from $40 each). Those 2 vids are the only reason my channel makes any appreciable amount of money. And every month, they still rake in thousands of views, even nearly 2 years later! It's kind of amazing. Every time I think they're finally dying off, another wave of new viewers comes along. I assume that they're getting shared on some website or another, bringing a new set of eyeballs every few months.

But most of my content gets a few hundred to maybe a few thousand views, then they die off. Those are the ones that are making pennies, and not very many pennies at that. At this time last year, I was getting about $80/month in total. Now I'm getting more like $40/month.

I can't imagine what those guys with millions of subs and tens of millions of views on every video are making in a month.

[Lt. Bob]

At this time last year, I was getting about $80/month in total. Now I'm getting more like $40/month.

well actually that's pretty cool to get that much

[rayc]

[BBvideo=560,315]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIZxULvlAt4[/BBvideo]

VERSUS

[BBvideo=560,315]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfK4RXI0gSc[/BBvideo]

[JD01]

so your $1.86 is gonna be held up a month?
My understanding is ( I may be wrong so please enlighten me ) that everyone makes pennies from these streams.

And how would it be possible for you to lose if it's not even the same chord progressions?

For most of my videos, $1.86 would be a good month

I've got a couple of videos that make about $20 per month each (down from $40 each). Those 2 vids are the only reason my channel makes any appreciable amount of money. And every month, they still rake in thousands of views, even nearly 2 years later! It's kind of amazing. Every time I think they're finally dying off, another wave of new viewers comes along. I assume that they're getting shared on some website or another, bringing a new set of eyeballs every few months.

But most of my content gets a few hundred to maybe a few thousand views, then they die off. Those are the ones that are making pennies, and not very many pennies at that. At this time last year, I was getting about $80/month in total. Now I'm getting more like $40/month.

I can't imagine what those guys with millions of subs and tens of millions of views on every video are making in a month.

It’s just me, mate. I’m really forgetful so I just watch them on a loop.

[Tadpui]

I am a proud Canadian but i will gladly say that the CRTC, CMRRA and all other outfits like it within these borders are fucking horrible gestapo like agencies i can't wait someone steps in to rein them in.

That stinks Tad buddy. Hopefully a human get's involved and get's it sorted. So when you say all revenue in perpetutiy does thta mean for just that video in particular or ALL your content?

Also for shits you should throw up your video with the finished song and the song in question. I'm quite curious.

Oh that'd be just for this video. But if previous patterns hold true, this one video is destined to be a considerable contributor to my monthly ad revenue. It's a really popular interface (Scarlett 2i2) that a lot of people search for, so I usually get an order of magnitude more hits when posting content related to popular gear.

[Tadpui]

The truth is CMRRA has to prove theft.
Utub is just being a supportive, we'll make money while holding your money, evil thing.
Don't let it go.
Write to the CMRRA and insist they prove their case or you'll go to the media, (not social)!
BUT you can post something about it on their & his websites.

That's what I'm thinking as well too, Ray. Hopefully as soon as actual human ears listen, they'll realize how wrong their matching algorithm is!

Yeah I've been to their website and I might just drop a friendly little note to them to bring it to their attention.

[Tadpui]

It’s just me, mate. I’m really forgetful so I just watch them on a loop.

LOL

Well, keep it up man! Papa needs some new shoes!

[Lt. Bob]

if previous patterns hold true, this one video is destined to be a considerable contributor to my monthly ad revenue. It's a really popular interface (Scarlett 2i2) that a lot of people search for, so I usually get an order of magnitude more hits when posting content related to popular gear.

so could you toss together another tune and replace the disputed one on the vid?
I didn't watch the whole vid ..... does the tune pop in more than just the beginning?

[Tadpui]

so could you toss together another tune and replace the disputed one on the vid?
I didn't watch the whole vid ..... does the tune pop in more than just the beginning?

Yeah, I can pull the video and re-upload another one. But the making of that song was integral to the entire thing so I'd have to re-shoot the whole video and try to act like it's a brand new experience

I don't blame you a bit for not watching the whole video...it's super long. The tune is only about a minute long and occurs near the end of the video. I just put that bit of the song at the front to draw in a little interest since almost nobody is still gonna be watching at the 26 minute mark.

[Lt. Bob]

well, I don't use interfaces so one thing I don't care about at all is the subject of the vid.
But lemme go listen at the 26 minute mark































Still sounds nothing like that other song

[WhiskeyJack]

well, I don't use interfaces so one thing I don't care about at all is the subject of the vid.
But lemme go listen at the 26 minute mark































Still sounds nothing like that other song

I applaud the composition of this post. I almost lost my coffee.

[vomitHatSteve]

Somebody should file a takedown against MWS for making a CCM song that sounds like every single other CCM song that came out in the decade prior to that one.

The truth is CMRRA has to prove theft.

IANaLb, that's only if they want to collect legal damages. If they want YT to withhold funds - barring Tad having a contract saying otherwise - they just have to convince YT to do it.

[rayc]

Somebody should file a takedown against MWS for making a CCM song that sounds like every single other CCM song that came out in the decade prior to that one.

THIS - it's awful generic stuff that brings scorn upon a genre that doesn't need further burial.

[Tadpui]

Well that was anticlimactic. The copyright dispute was due to end on Nov 15th. There was no response, no alert or notification, but my video is now monitized again and there are no asterisks saying anything about it. I don't even have a way to check whether they simply let it expire like a bunch of lazy jerks, or if they rescinded it at the last minute. At least the dispute is over, but I'm pretty disappointed in the lack of transparency about the whole issue.

I really don't like that these companies can hold up revenue for a whole month just because a robot thought that there might be a similarity between 2 songs on the internet. If a human being had spent 60 seconds investigating the issue, it would have been over by the end of the first day. Instead they just let it sit there and fester. If they're going to have a robot do their work for them, they'd damn well better have a human there to check its work.