Wednesday, May 24, 2023

YouTube Copyright Strikes

 

Al Jolson in Wonder Bar 1934

Al Jolson in Wonder Bar 1934

I run a YouTube channel that hosts clips of major stars wearing blackface in movies and TV. These clips are important because of their historical and cultural value, and should be available to the general public. Most of them are available now, but for how long? At any time the studios can change their minds about allowing these clips and take down my entire channel with a series of copyright strikes. 

After getting a copyright strike, you can argue it should be considered "Fair Use for Educational Purposes" but that won't change YouTube's mind, because they don't want to get in the middle. You can also appeal to the owners of the media who file the claim, but they have no incentive to agree to any Fair Use. 

The only other option is to dispute the claim with YouTube and then prepare for a copyright lawsuit from a media company. Testing your claim in court would likely not go well, because the media corporations have tailored the copyright laws and especially "Fair Use" to give themselves maximum protection and benefits from their properties.

How do you avoid copyright strikes in the first place?

The problem for creators of this type of channel is, how can one know if a video they've uploaded will be able to avoid a copyright strike?  YouTube's Content ID system is very good during uploads at tagging videos with copyright claims and allowing short clips on channels that are not monetized. With a Content ID claim, there are no consequences for uploading a video that is rejected, or as YouTube terms it, "Your video cannot be seen anywhere."

Unfortunately that's only the beginning.  Your video can pass the Content ID checks and be public for months without any concerns till one day you get a notice that you've received a copyright strike because someone sent them a take-down notice. 

YouTube takedown notice

 

YouTube has a simple-minded solution for this problem; don't ever upload any videos that you don't have the rights to, or that you don't have written permission to use. If I followed that advice, there would be nothing on my channel. 

iKachina YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/@ikachina

 
Because I'm trying to educate the public as to the history and the full extent of blackface in film and TV, my YouTube channel is in constant danger of being shut down over copyright claims.

It takes 90 days for this one copyright strike to go away -- and that's assuming I don't get any other strikes in the mean time for videos I've already uploaded. I can't risk losing all the money and effort I've put into my channel over the past 13 years, so I won't be uploading any new videos until after the one strike is removed.

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