Key Takeaways:

YouTube creators should understand and respect copyright laws to avoid claims and strikes.
Safeguard your content from copyright claims by asking for proper permissions for copyrighted materials and utilizing royalty-free resources.
Learn the concept of Fair Use, although it’s often a gray area that should always be approached with caution.

Understanding the complexities of copyright law is both a challenging and essential part of being a YouTube content creator. If you get a copyright strike for the first time, you will need to go through Copyright School. If you get 3 copyright strikes, your channel will be terminated and you cannot create new channels.

Here’s how you can avoid copyright claims on YouTube.

1. Understanding Copyright Law

If you use music, images, or video clips that someone else created in your YouTube videos, you could receive a copyright claim notification. The copyright law protects the rights of original content creators, preventing unauthorized use of their work by others.

2. Use of Royalty-Free and Licensed Content

Use royalty-free or appropriately licensed content. Numerous websites such as Artlist, Epidemic Sound, and even Pixabay provide royalty-free music, images, and video clips that can be legally used without encountering copyright issues. Even if YouTube’s copyright claim is triggered, you can register content ID and clear the copyright claim if you are using services such as Artlist and Epidemic Sound.

3. Seeking Permissions and Licenses

In case you intend to use copyrighted material in your video, you must obtain explicit permission or purchase a license. For example, if a YouTuber wants to use a popular song in their video, they must seek permission from the copyright holder, which might involve paying for a license. Services such as Lickd and Musicbed can help you get these licenses.

4. The Fair Use Doctrine

The concept of Fair Use holds is very important for YouTube creators. It allows limited use of copyrighted material without permission for contents such as commentary, news reporting, teaching, and parody. However, Fair Use is subjective and determined on a case-to-case basis that often leads to disputes. For example, a video critiquing a film, might use short clips under Fair Use for commentary purposes, but this isn’t a guaranteed protection against claims. We recommend you use shorter than 5 seconds at a time.

5. Creating Original Content

The most straightforward way to make your channel unique and avoid copyright issues is to create original content. Original content includes original music, footage, animations, and scripts.

6. Proper Attribution

Proper attribution is needed when using content under Creative Commons licenses or other forms of permissible use. This involves crediting the original creator in your video or its description.

7. Staying Informed and Up-to-Date

YouTube’s policies and copyright laws may change at any time so staying updated with these changes is very important for content creators to avoid unintended violations.

Our team at Vimerse takes copyright claim issues seriously. We use only royalty-free music and stock footage. Further, we make sure to avoid copyright claims by using just a short clip when needed.

Conclusion

In summary, avoiding copyright claims on YouTube involves a careful mix of understanding legalities, using royalty-free resources, and embracing originality. By respecting copyright laws and using materials appropriately, creators can ensure their channels are safe from copyright claims and help create a respectful creative environment.

Navigating Copyright on YouTube: A Creator’s Guide to Avoiding Claims

Hyunjae Lee

Updated 3/25/2024

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