Youtube’s infamous digital copyright scanner has been causing a lot of problems recently. The content ID has recently broadened it’s search horizons; it now tracks videos uploaded for video game footage and scores as well as the usual songs and movies.
The range of “consequences” the users are suffering vary in severity. The luckiest of the users are simply receiving an annoyingly large amount of emails informing them about the infringement and the possible consequences which may follow. However, on the opposite end of the spectrum, other users have reportedly had their videos deleted or received notification that the normal revenue they receive from their videos is being forwarded to the owner of the copyrighted content.
The main controversy however stems from the fact that the content scanner has been taking videos down for relatively minor levels of infringements. Thus, people who have a some video game footage or soundtrack in their video are having their video taken down or their main source of income taken away- despite the fact that they spent countless hours filming and editing the movie.
You’re probably reading this wondering how this relates to music law- and I will respectfully remind you that patience is a virtue.
A majority of the video game industry has done something that the music industry (and even the movie industry for that matter) rarely does- it has gone out of its way to show support for its core audience. Large publishers the likes of Ubisoft and Paradox have gone out of their way to to show support for uploaders; and others are expected to follow suit. If this was the music or movie industry, I doubt we would really be receiving a response at all- let alone a response supporting the potential infringers.
As I mentioned in a previous blog post, the music & movie industry can learn a thing or too from the gaming industry. By no means is the video game industry perfect, but at least they can make the right step from time to time when necessary.
Source:
http://kotaku.com/youtube-channels-crippled-by-copyright-claims-1480717110
http://kotaku.com/youtube-copyright-chaos-continues-game-publishers-to-t-1481517758
