Here’s another example of why music copyright is broken and I hope it motivates you to vote against any political party that doesn’t agree that it needs to be fixed.
Rick Beato has a 5 year old YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/c/RickBeato) with over 3 million subscribers, where he discusses all things music. He started out teaching chords and ear training and then used existing published music to help inform viewers about music theory, music styles, specific brand or model of instruments’ effect on music, and so much more. Then he launched a series called “What makes this song great?” and that’s not only when he became popular, but also attracted the attention of the copyright Nazis. The way YouTube handles pieces of copyrighted music on other peoples’ videos is that they demonetize the video. What this means is that instead of the video creator getting a share of ad revenue based on clicks and visits, the money instead goes to the copyright holder. It’s not a death blow to the video creator, but you end up making the video for nothing, but at least your audience can still watch it. Even if you only used a short sample of the song. Another thing that can happen is that YouTube can just entirely block the video from being available. Now you’ve made the video for nothing, period. People can’t even watch it once it has been blocked.
But where things get really stupid is when the RIAA sends a ‘strike’ notice. You only get 3 strikes according to copyright law. What happens once you get 3 strikes? YouTube shuts down your video channel. Let’s back up a bit. The reason 3 strikes exists is to motivate people not to UPLOAD copyrighted music. But Rick Beato doesn’t do this. Let me be clear. Rick plays the parts of the song, and not the whole song in one movement, himself, on his own instruments. He is in fact not breaking any laws, because he’s not performing copyrighted material as a paid performance, he’s teaching music theory and music appreciation. It is the basis for every video he has made. By the way, there is no recourse to 3 strikes. If they gave Rick 3 strikes, whether they’re valid or not, it’s over. You can also get a copyright strike if you dispute a demonetize decision or block and lose the dispute, which is why Rick has never bothered to file any disputes. It’s just too risky because the RIAA, the publishers and the artists have all the power here. Which is insanity, because it’s self-defeating. When someone makes videos about why an artist’s music is great and gives a complete explanation as to why, this is what I would call FREE ADVERTISING! It introduces older music to younger audiences. Also, most of the artists he showcases in fact LOVE what he’s doing and support him 100%. Rick even said he has no issue with a claimant getting the money from the YouTube views. In his case, a million views pays about $1,200.
If you visit Rick Beato’s channel and do a search on the word copyright, you’ll find a treasure trove of his complaints about blocks, take-downs and demonetization of his videos and even discusses copyright claims from one artist to another, a topic that always gets me hot. Here’s Rick talking about one of the ridiculous scenarios he found himself in recently:
The description reads: “My latest video was demonetized (claimed) by 16 record labels for using 10-20 second clips for demonstration and teaching purposes. It is a clear case of Fair Use but impossible to fight.”
There is no real transgression here because people are not going to Rick’s channel to listen to entire songs by the original artists - they don’t exist. He’s simply teaching, showcasing and demonstrating master musicianship in the most fair way possible and getting punished for it. Seriously, rights holders need to give their heads a shake. And we need to start electing people that see this law for what it really is.
Bullshit.
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