Before you watch this video I wanted to explain the “why?”.
A little over a week ago I received a copyright claim on my account for a video that’s near
and dear to my heart.
Obviously the claim is bogus and I have no worries that I will in fact win my appeal
as I’m batting 100% when it comes to fighting copyright claims on my channel.
My issue is that chink in YouTube’s armor.
I don’t believe that the company that made the claim has the rights to the material and
I don’t believe they’re acting as an agent the the studio who does.
I think it’s bogus company and they only put a claim on my video because they thought
I was small YouTuber since I hide my subscriber count and I wouldn’t make noise if they
tried to steal my video.
This is wrong.
and the fact that they’ve probably have gotten away with it in the past is even more
wrong.
Hello to those that know me and to those that don’t my name is Couch
Tomato and I do 24 Reasons your favorite movies are the same as your least favorite movie.
I started my YouTube channel because I love movies and in my circles, I don’t often
have a group of friends that enjoy the movies or shows I like to watch so I’ve been able
to connect with other movie fans like myself on YouTube.
That makes YouTube worthwhile and there are no regrets.
If you’ve read the title of the video.
It’s obvious I’m a little upset with YouTube.
#WTFU is a hashtag started by Doug Walker a.k.a the Nostalgia Critic.
If you’re subscribed to other movie channels and not just Couch Tomato, you’ve heard
other YouTubers speak out about the unfair practices of YouTube and their sometimes disregard
for fair use.
Fair Use is the biggest grey for any content creator.
My 24 reason videos are protected by fair use because I’m able to use copyrighted
material for transformative purposes.
What that means is I use the footage to comment, criticize, and in come cases parodies.
YouTubers aren’t the only people protected by fair use.
Shows like SNL, Chappelle Show, and Key and Peele are no strangers to using fair use to
get their point across.
So what’s my issue?
Man of Steel is one of my favorite comic book movies?
I like it a lot more than most people because of sentimental reasons.
Back in 2013, I taught a lesson to a group of young kids about how anybody could be a
superhero.
#1: It was the first time I taught in a structured setting and I’m sort of proud of myself
for that opportunity.
#2: the message that was taught would eventually go on to be the 24 Reasons The Passion of
Christ & Man of Steel Are The Same Movie video.
That’s my favorite video, without that video there is no Couch Tomato and with no Couch
Tomato, I have no YouTube channel.
A couple of days ago, I got a copyright claim.
For those guys out there who have never uploaded a YouTube video.
What that means is an owner of copyrighted material (for example Warner Brothers) feels
that I’ve illegal used their copyrighted material and I’m profiting off of that material.
So they could either take down the video or leave it up, but redirect the benefits back
to them.
Which in my opinion makes perfect sense.
Backstory, I’ve gotten copyright claims from Warner Brothers lots of times in the
past.
It’s not them, YouTube’s content ID system automatically flags my videos to DC, but to
their credit, once I explain to they, hey this is satire, no biggie, you can’t take
my videos serious, they’ve always respected fair use and removed the claim.
This is my problem.
I got dinged by a company that doesn’t own the rights to Man of Steel or Passion of Christ.
Even bigger problem, this was a manual detection, and even worst the company is using an automated
system so when you contact them, you can’t reason with them because everything is automated.
Who’s fault is this?
It’s not Jesus fault, that’s for sure.
It’s not Clark or Superman’s fault either.
You’re going to be surprised, but I’m not even blaming YouTube.
Earlier in this video when I used examples of fair use.
I used examples of popular TV shows.
These shows do the same thing most YouTubers do and are rarely contacted by lawyers or
threatened with copyright claims.
In some cases, the copyright owners actually thank the content creators for the extra exposure.
If you were a bully, would you bully someone stronger than you.
Someone bigger than you?
No.
You pick the fight against people who don’t have the means to defend themselves.
Don’t bully Siskel or Ebert bully Chris Stuckmann.
Why would you bully cartoon network, just bully nostalgia critic.
Bully Couch Tomato.
The companies that put in copyright claims, most of them are wrong, but I understand why they do it.
At the end of the day.
I can’t afford the legal fees to state my case over and over again in a court of law.
I just pray that the person or company that put in a claim is just and when I state my
case outside of court, they listen and that’s all that I could do.
In some cases, I think that YouTube is getting bullied.
They’re only 11 years old in the grand scheme of things, as much as content creators yell
and scream that we want things to change, they have companies that are almost 100 years
old, with more money, more power, and more experience telling an 11 year old YouTube,
give me my money now!
That’s scary.
I’m scared when I get copyright claims so I could imagine YouTube is scared in their
position too.
YouTube, I understand your plight, but I don’t agree with your actions!
You should let fear dictate company operations.
A wise noun once said Fear is the path to the dark side.
Fear leads to suffering.
Only YouTube isn’t suffering, it’s content creators are.
I want to explain how YouTube’s copyright system work.
Don’t worry, I’ll be laymen as hell because I for one hate legal jargon.
First you have a claimant.
If illegal copyright use takes place a claimant makes a claim against a defendant (a YouTuber,
me in this case).
When a defendant gets a claim on their account, they could do nothing or they could agree
with the claimant and take the video down or give the claimant the money they deserve,
or they could tell the claimant why they think the claim is wrong.
If the claimant is wrong, in some cases, a claimant could agree with the defendant and
say “sorry, my bad” and drop the claim and everyone goes about their business.
You want to know why this whole system doesn’t make any kind of sense whatsoever?
No need to answer, it’s a rhetorical question.
Let me Explain.
I’m going to use one of my favorite legal movies.
A Few Good Men.
If you never seen it, no problem I won’t spoil anything.
Pretend Lance Corporal Dawson and Private Downey did something illegal.
Captain Jack Ross notices they’ve done something wrong so he puts in a claim.
In this example.
Captain Jack Ross and or America is the claimant.
Just like the Hollywood companies.
Dawson and Downey are the defendants.
The YouTubers basically.
The Defendants state their case and the Claimant listens.
Just like YouTube’s system.
Not so much.
In this example there’s a Judge.
The Judge is there to make sure everyone is on their best behavior.
On YouTube, a lot of YouTuber do this for a living, guilty as charged.
So a judge helps keep the system clean and makes sure claimants don’t operate out of
passion or prejudice (audio).
Without a judge though, a claimant can operate out of passion or prejudice.
It’s easy for a company to target videos with a lot of views to get additional revenue.
i.e. prejudice because they’re targeting bigger YouTubers. or they can target smaller
YouTubers too because they know they don’t have enough reach and no one would hear them
when they scream help, I’m being targeted.
Lastly, after the defendant and claimant states there case.
A jury makes a decision who’s right or wrong.
YouTube has no judges, YouTube has no juries.
As a defendant, a claimant is judge, jury and executioner.
That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.
My video, my favorite video got a copyright claim and I wanted to get my thoughts together
before I made a video.
I didn’t want to come off angry and more importantly I didn’t want to be angry when
I made this video.
I also wanted to think it over and offer a solution rather than just complain.
I’m thankful for YouTube.
A young organization that pays creators when they don’t have to.
So I want to keep things in perspective.
To help you keep things in perspective, because I know a lot of people watching will say.
Well, Couch Tomato you get paid and it’s all about the money for you.
To those people.
I’m probably scheduled to make $2-$5 max from my Passion of Christ
v. Man of Steel video this year.
The video is 2 years old and videos usually make all of their money during the first 2
months so it’s literally not about the money here.
What a company like Lasso does is they stack their deck.
They figure.
If I could get $3 from Couch Tomato, $16 from CinemaSins, $12 from ScreenJunkies, $4 from
SchmoesKnow, $6 from JeremyJahns, $10 from Nostalgia Critic, I could make a decent living.
I think that’s pathetic. and if you hit me, I’m going to send a message that I’ll
push back.
My hopes are they stop, YouTube changes, or they just take Couch Tomato out of their equations
altogether.
That’s all.
To Lasso, you should be ashamed of yourself.
I’ve set my video to private so I’m keeping my $2-5.
Either have WB ask for the video or I’m forced to believe that you’re just a bogus
company trying to pay your electric bill this month.
To my fans, 2 things.
The first thing: I’ve reuploaded the video on Facebook.
They’re a better destination when it comes to fair use and my video is on my Facebook
page where you all could still enjoy it.
I will be posting there often during issues like these and I ask that you like my page
and set your Facebook notifications to keep up with me there.
The second thing: if you’ve ever watched and enjoyed one of my videos, if you’ve
ever wanted to be a content creator, if you are a content creator.
Share the hell out of this video.
#WTFU where ever you can.
Please and thank you.
To YouTube.
Thank you for all that you’ve done in the past and I know you’re listening and for
that, I thank you again.
My ask, is that stop standing on the sidelines and letting this false claimants have their
way with us YouTube creators.
Give us a judge, and give us a jury.
Give us a judge and give us a jury.
#WTFU.
Couch Tomato out.