YouTube wants to make it easier for creators to make money while fighting copyright claims

LOS ANGELES — YouTube said Thursday that it's rolling out a new system that will help creators earn revenue even as a Content ID claim is being disputed.

Normally, YouTube will take a clip down if they consider it to be a "valid copyright takedown notification." That means its creator can't make any more money off that video, even before they have a chance to fight the takedown. 

Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), YouTube isn't responsible for the copyright violations of its users, as long as the company removes that content when notified by the rights holders. 

Separately, YouTube has its own content detection system known as Content ID, which helps rights holders to identify content that is comprised partially or entirely of their intellectual property and manage or monetize it. 

While the takedown process and Content ID processes are different, complaints over how YouTube handles copyright as a whole have become increasingly common.

"The point is, your content ID, copyright claims, and so much more in your system is heavily flawed," one user wrote in YouTube's Help Forum.. "The false claimants are not getting punished for their actions. Instead, we are, which isn't right...This needs to be fixed immediately. Stop relying on an automated system and demand proof of the object being claimed. You are letting this site die...You should listen to ALL of us."

Listening is exactly what YouTube is trying to do.

Under this new system, which will become available to partners in the coming months, YouTube said it will continue to run ads on the flagged creator video and "hold the resulting revenue separately." 

Then, once the Content ID claim or dispute is resolved, YouTube will "pay out that revenue to the appropriate party."

That means the monetization process for Content ID will work for creators too.

"Making sure our Content ID tools are being used properly is deeply important to us."

"Making sure our Content ID tools are being used properly is deeply important to us, so we've built a dedicated team to monitor this," YouTube said.

"Using a combination of algorithms and manual review, this team has resolved millions of invalid claims in the last year alone, and acted on millions more before they impacted creators. The team also restricts feature access and even terminates a partner's access to Content ID tools if we find they are repeatedly abusing these tools.

In addition to the new system, the platform also recently pledged financial and legal resources to help creators combat unwarranted copyright claims and takedown notices.

"We strongly believe in fair use and believe that this improvement to Content ID will make a real difference," YouTube said in its blog. "We're also paying close attention to creators' concerns about copyright claims on videos they believe may be fair use. We want to help both the YouTube community and copyright owners alike better understand what fair use looks like online."

Creators have already responded positively to the post:

Reporter's note: This post has been updated to include reactions to the news.

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Source: YouTube wants to make it easier for creators to make money while fighting copyright claims