- So if you don't like this video, are you gonna claim it?
- I can't say that now, we haven't started yet.
That depends how it ends.
- Hello, Insiders, I am Rene Ritchie,
your friendly neighborhood YouTube creator liaison,
and I am here with Dave Rosenstein.
Dave, what do you do at YouTube?
- So, I am responsible for product
for Content ID and copyright.
- We're talking about Creator Music today,
but I'm really interested in,
how did we get to Creator Music?
Because you've been here since People Press Play.
What is the story of music and creators?
- When I started working on Content ID,
the first question I would get
every time I talk to any creator was,
"Explain to me why it is that every time I use music,
"I lose all my revenue.
"Like, I made my video, I spent weeks working on it,
"I just used this one little bit of music
"and now all of the revenue goes to somebody else.
"How's that fair?"
So, you know, I think that's really been the inspiration
behind Creator Music from the beginning.
And we're trying to think about,
how do we create an opportunity for creators to, you know,
get access to commercial music,
some of the music that they listen to, that they wanna use,
and also give an opportunity for the music industry
to get access to our creators who have,
you know, built such a strong following with their audience.
- And just to make sure I'm clear on it,
Content ID is a process whereby YouTube identifies the music
or other like, rights that are in my video?
- Yeah, so Content ID is the system that we use
to allow rights holders to declare what they own.
They send us reference material,
so it could be visual or audio,
and then we match that to content in uploaded videos.
And then when we find a match, we go back,
it comes to the rights holders policy,
whichever they configured to.
Usually, they monetize things.
Sometimes, in some cases, they would block things
and the policies are pretty flexible and configurable,
so that you can have like,
if more than half of the video
contains more than a quarter of my reference content,
then do this, otherwise do that.
It's a pretty flexible system.
- As a creator, I always feel like,
I'm using your stuff, but I'm creating value.
It's my video and you are in it,
and I'm sort of uplifting you,
but the right holder is like,
"Oh, you are using me to get value on your video."
Like, we have just such different world views.
- You know, I guess there's two sides to that.
One is there's exceptions to copyright where, you know,
content can be used without authorization,
and you know, in the US, that's mostly fair use
and outside the US, it's often fair dealing
or other defined exceptions.
And then you've got these other situations
where you are building new content
and you just wanna use it to make your content more awesome.
And that's really where, you know,
Creator Music is sort of the beginning of that opportunity
to say, like, "Look, we actually,
"both sides really do wanna work together,
"and both sides can add value to each other."
And that's kind of the win-win that we're trying to achieve.
- As a creator, we also have a lot of anxiety,
because we might put this out there and then think,
"Oh no," like, "Maybe I didn't have the rights,"
or, "Maybe I did, but now I have to make this assertive,
"like, defense that it is fair."
Like, it's just,
we want more dependability, want more liability.
- Absolutely. - And to me,
that's what it feels like Creator Music is solving for.
- That's exactly right.
So with Creator Music,
we're really trying to come up with models
that let you create a license
between the creator and the music
that it gives you that level of certainty.
So in Creator Music, different tracks
are available under different models,
and under a license model,
there's different license terms.
And once you buy a track for a licensed term, you're set,
you know, you shouldn't have any other issues
for the duration of that term.
And at the end of that term,
you would have the option to renew your license
if you wanted to at that point.
But you don't have this uncertainty as to like,
well, what might happen tomorrow
if the rights holder who owns that song
sells that catalog to somebody else
who has a different opinion
about what they want to do on YouTube?
Or maybe my video will go too viral and somebody would say,
you know, that now they wanna claim it.
- And I love that there are different options,
because like, it's a different value prop to me.
Maybe I think, I really want to use this song to degree
that I will give up, like, I'll RevShare or something.
Or maybe it's like, I don't want to share my money,
because I think this video's gonna be so big
that I'm gonna get a ton of money,
so I wanna get like, a fixed price license,
and not have to worry about it.
And I'm sure, like from from rights holder's sides,
they enjoy the flexibility too,
because maybe they have preferences
between RevSharing and licensing.
- That's exactly right.
And so, you know, some tracks are available
only under one license or the other,
some tracks are available with a little bit of both.
You know, in some cases, it might make sense to say,
"Look, this is a video that I absolutely,
"positively wanna use this particular song.
"It means something to me."
And RevShare license means
that I will be giving up a fraction of my revenue,
you know, as long as that video is up,
as long as that video is making money.
And so that might end up being more money
than the outright license purchase,
but in some cases, that gives you access to content
that you wouldn't have otherwise had access to.
Trying to give creator, put as much control
in creator's hands to decide like,
what makes the most sense for their video
and for the song that they wanna use.
And then make sure that if the model that they, you know,
if the song that they want is not available
under the model they want,
to try as much as possible, to say,
"Well, here's some things that might be also interesting."
Giving, you know, proper tools to find other tracks.
- If creators, like there are music creators, as well,
if they want to get in on the Creator Music action,
how can they do that?
- Yeah, absolutely.
So this is a question I get all the time.
Creator Music is built on top of Content ID,
and so he same way you get into Content ID
and the same way is also the same way
you get into any of the music streaming services.
So, you know, YouTube Music or any of the other ones,
is usually through a digital distributor or a label.
And so those are the people who bring content to us,
bring it to the music service and to Content ID,
and that music can be opted into Creator Music
through those distributors.
- Awesome, so if you get into streaming,
you can get into Creator Music.
- Exactly. - Amazing.
Where would you say we are
on like, the journey of Creator Music?
I know it's been announced and rolled out in the US
and there's some track,
but maybe not the exact track I want is available
in like, the place that I want it yet.
- Yeah, and we're obviously very early on.
We just, you know,
launched to all of the US monetizing creators
in February of this year.
We are very actively talking
to pretty much all of the music industry.
We have various degrees of progress on that,
and so we're seeing new catalogs show up all the time.
We're excited for some of the things
that are coming up in the next few months, I hope.
We're very excited to get beyond the US
and to really open up in the rest of the world,
just wanna make sure that we take the time
to get all of the kinks worked out
with a smaller set of variables
and make sure that the product is working the way we want it
and that creators can understand it,
and then adding in the complexity of going international.
- I saw some creators wondering,
like, can I use it if I have a sponsor spot in a video
or can I use it if it's a completely sponsored video?
Like, there's all these different edge cases
that creators keep seeming to come up with.
- Yeah, for sure.
I think there's a learning curve for creators
and there's a learning curve for us
to figure out how do we easily communicate that,
so that, you know, make sure that people understand.
You absolutely can use it in videos that are sponsored
as long as it's your video with a sponsor
as opposed to, you know, if you're making an ad,
then the licenses would be different,
and so we don't support that today.
But, you know, if you're doing a video
and you're sponsored by whoever
and want to use Creator Music, that's totally fine.
- Creators, with licensing terms, we're never sure like,
I'm gonna license this,
the license says it's gonna be for a year.
Is that track still gonna be available?
What's gonna happen to my video?
Am I gonna have to like, redo the video?
Those sorts of things.
- The way it would work is,
if you take a term less than perpetual,
because the track you want is less than perpetual,
you're set for that term, price won't change,
and no matter what happens
between YouTube and that music industry partner,
your video is fine.
At the end of the term,
you would have the option to renew the license.
And if, you know, at the time you renew the license,
the license prices are,
they can be tiered based on the size of the channel,
so if your channel has grown, it might be more expensive
to renew that license at that time.
But you know, at least, there should always be a path.
- What are sort of the success metrics that you think about
when it comes to Creator Music?
Is it just getting the word out? Is it like, adoption rate?
- You know, I wanna see adoption,
I wanna see creators finding the music that they want.
I think it's fine if it happens in all different terms.
You know, some of it is absolutely gonna be free.
I don't have a particular like, revenue target in mind
where it has to be at some level.
I just wanna make sure that we're doing, you know,
the best job possible to match creators and music up.
So sometimes, you know, that's gonna mean
a really popular track might be a little more expensive
because that's what it takes.
And if that's the right track for your video,
then you know, I wanna give you that option to choose it.
And if you say, "Well geez, that's just just too much."
I want to, you know, give you, fine,
we have less expensive options.
So, yeah, for me, success is creators
able to find the right music at the right price
for what they're doing,
and getting momentum
so that we are kind of breaking this history
of the creators on one side of the dance floor
and the music industry and the other,
and you know, not working together.
'Cause I think, you know,
this is where the magic happens, right?
We've got like, just this huge opportunity,
and that's that's really the goal.
- And where do you see Creator Music going from here?
I know you've talked about international expansion,
you've talked about catalog expansion.
What about things like sound effects libraries
or a way to put people together for original compositions
or subscription services?
Like, I could just rattle off a dozen ideas now.
What's the best way to like, think about that?
- I mean, these are all really exciting ideas
and obviously, we want to hear creator feedback
from people who are, you know,
exploring the Creator Music service.
Some of those things like sound effects
are already in Audio Library
and that will definitely be coming across,
some of those other things, you know, too soon to say.
But definitely love to hear your feedback, so let us know.
- So you know what to do, Insiders,
you just go right down there,
you leave a comment, you ask a question.
Thank you so much for watching,
Dave, thank you so much for joining us.
- Thanks for having me.
- And keep it real.
- Keep it real.