YouTube’s system for dealing with copyright claims is famed for giving users huge headaches. But things are about to change, big time.
YouTube uses something known as “Content ID”, a framework that grants uploads a unique digital fingerprint. If a YouTube channel uploads a video, and the automated system flags it with a digital fingerprint that is already in use, then the newly uploaded video will likely gain something known as a Content ID claim. From there, the owners of the original Content ID can choose to monetise the new video for themselves, if not outright block the video.
It’s a good idea in theory, except that users have figured out how to game the system to claim videos that they have no business in owning. Worse, while Content ID disputes are up in the air, the original video uploader can’t make any money off their video. For people who make a living off of YouTube, that’s a huge problem. Time and time again, YouTubers have had to watch a video blow up, only to get caught up in a faulty Content ID claim that strips them of any earnings. It sucks.
Thankfully, however, YouTube has announced that it will soon change the way Content ID claims work:
From now on, if a video is caught up in a Content ID claim, it will continue to earn revenue during the dispute period. Once things are resolved, YouTube will simply give the money to whoever ends up owning the video. Here’s YouTube, breaking down how it will work:
When both a creator and someone making a claim choose to monetise a video, we will continue to run ads on that video and hold the resulting revenue separately. Once the Content ID claim or dispute is resolved, we’ll pay out that revenue to the appropriate party.
Even with this change, the Content ID system will still retain some issues. But in my experience, YouTubers often considered the older monetisation aspect as one of the worst parts of the experience, so it’s great that YouTube is finally listening to the community here. This change will likely make a lot of people very happy.
Unfortunately, there’s no specific date for the new system, but YouTube notes that it will drop sometime within the “coming months”. You can read more about it here.
Comments
14 responses to “YouTube’s Content ID System Gets One Much-Needed Fix”
Which should have been the case from the get go!
Agreed. How someone as big as Google didn’t come to this from day dot is incomprehensible.
Better late than never.
In this case though it is too freaking little way too ****ing late.
Now if only they could punish people for false claiming; and then everyone would be okay.
Courts have actually made it so that false/malicious claims CAN be punished if they are submitted without ‘due consideration’ as to whether the content falls within a copyright claim.
Sadly, the content ID algorithm used by YouTube for their automated claims is considered to be ‘due consideration’ due to the so-called intelligence involved in its creation.
One step forward, one step back.
It makes sense.
Youtube/Google had to placate and make nice with the corporates in the first place, so this weird stipulation was probably the saving grace for the men in suits.
But as Youtube/Youtubers have been able to basically disrupt the old model, this is in Youtube’s best interest now, not cowtowing to traditional media.
I remember discussing this option over a year ago. It’s so basic that I cannot understand why it’s taken this long to implement.
Still a huge hole for people who are trying to make a living of youtube. Looking at the Jim Sterling video from earlier in the week it seems a large number of the larger corps just say can’t be monitised. http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_original/kes0hxwx6nrtvd5pmgfd.jpg
So based on that I assume that the nothing has changed here so if it gets flagged, the uploaded stops getting money right away?
From the linked blog post, it says “when both a creator and someone making a claim choose to monetize a video, we will continue to run ads on that video and hold the resulting revenue separately”. So if the claimant chooses not to monetise, then there will be no ads during the dispute phase.
So the person making the content claim will still make money up to the point where the video’s creator disputes. It’s great that they’ve shortened the window, but it’d be better if they removed it all together by starting escrow right away and giving the creator time to respond.
Ideally there should be zero financial benefit to a spurious content ID claim.
Does whoever wins the claim get any interest earned on the revenue while it is being held by youtube? Or does youtube keep that interest? They could be making a killing from thousands (or more) of these claims and dragging them out over a few months ‘to investigate the claim thoroughly’.
You’d hope they wouldn’t do that – that would go pretty heavily against Google’s corporate motto.
Google’s motto might be “Do no evil” but sometimes you have to wonder just who’s moral system they are judging “evil” by though.