After a musical release, it is very important that our work is available on all digital platforms; either to increase our exposure, for a successful digital strategy, etc.
But, it’s also important to know under which conditions our royalties are being monetized in each of these platforms.
YouTube is one of the most attractive platforms, since there’s endless content, it’s super easy to use, besides being the most profitable platform so far.
Although, specifically on the subject of music, there are some concepts that are not entirely clear; less how they work or what they’re about.
That is why today we will talk about what YouTube CONTENT ID is and how it works.
Let’s start by understanding that CONTENT ID is a code that Google provides to the musical content uploaded and registered on this platform to protect and manage copyright, monitoring all creators’ content using it for their own.
We can see it as the fingerprint of our track, thus, YouTube finds our music in other videos and/or channels, in order to give notice that this material will be monetized by the copyright owner, it’s a massive license to generate revenue and also promotion.
To obtain CONTENT ID on YouTube, there are two ways:
The first way is by requesting it directly with YouTube. This process is very complex and involves a lot of time for the series of credentials that YouTube requests to consider us as allies, it is not impossible, but keep in mind that the approval time can be delayed, by the time it’s approved we could already be monetizing it by way #2.
The second way is by having a digital distribution service like Indiefy (know our plans and let worrying about CONTENT ID) since these usually include monetization by YouTube CONTENT ID automatically.
Keep in mind that not all tracks are eligible for CONTENT ID and get monetized.
Here’s some information about CONTENT ID restrictions.
✓ Instrumental karaoke tracks.
✓ Free loops and beats.
✓ Remastering or reversals.
✓ Sampling.
✓ Fragments or samples in the public domain or with open licenses.
In the event that loops or beats are purchased for the works, we must verify what the conditions for the licenses are, to avoid a serious legal issue.
Now, talking about legality, there is an action that’s usually recurring for musicians and that could cause some questions and concerns: the claim for CONTENT ID. This is the most complicated part to handle as it is often confused with copyright infringement; These concepts are completely different, one is just a monetization notice and the other is penalized according to the number of warnings or “strikes” as they’re known.
As we said at the beginning of this text, one of the ways to obtain the CONTENT ID code is through a distributor, by delivering our music to them, we assign the license and the right of monetization on YouTube, so this ID is generated under the name of who provides us with the distribution, this data may be visible even in the “video description” section.
When YouTube´s system detects this track on our artist channel, it does not identify the name of the distributor, It sends us an email indicating who owns the copyright and therefore, who is going to monetize that material. This claim does not imply a legal fault, nor does it result in the blocking or elimination of the channel, it only indicates that the distribution platform manages correctly its service.
If you wish, you can request the help of our distributor, so that they place you on a “white list” and ignore this notice.
On the other hand, the owners of each channel can manage their Copyright as they see fit, completely restrict the use of their works, or manage under the copyright notice by means of the CONTENT ID, which we’ve already shared in the text above.
When the total restriction of a track occurs, YouTube identifies it and issues a series of warnings indicating that the content cannot be used. The omission of these warnings is penalized in a serious way, by blocking or eliminating a channel.
YouTube, allows three infractions before making a final decision, prior to this final decision they send us a notification, like an attention call, which if repeated, will be accompanied by a first infraction or “strike”.
This warning will also disable tools on our channel for a week, such as uploading videos, broadcasting live, publishing in the community, creating a playlist, etc, this “strike” has a duration of 90 days and YouTube will recommend going to its course section and take the one that explains Copyright, as well as those that indicate how the platform works.
If at the end of this period we re-incur, the tools on our channel are disabled for two weeks and if there’s a third occasion, the channel is disabled and an email is received detailing what content has been blocked, which guidelines were violated, and if there’s a solution to the infraction by appealing.
The appeal gives us the opportunity to analyze the case and solve it favorably, although beware, it does not guarantee a resolution in favor of the channel. Consider that if the channel is eliminated it cannot be recovered.
Why could my content be penalized? Here are the reasons:
For explicit content and not suitable for the platform.
Plagiarism of existing content, this implies UGC and covers.
For artificial traffic or use of BOTS.
For clickbate.
It is important to know that deleting the video DOES NOT REMOVE THE WARNING.
The YouTube Studio tool allows us to monitor complaints and violations, as well as check the status and visibility of the videos of our channel.
As we can see, the existence of the CONTENT ID is of the utmost importance, if you still do not have it you could be losing serious income. Apply at Indiefy, in addition to providing you with a free music distribution service, we can help you solve your doubts, contact us!
