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Hey, guys, my name is Tim Schmoyer.
And just like we do every Thursday,
I'm going to take a question from one of you guys
and do my best to answer it to help you out
with the audiences and the channels
that you are growing here on YouTube.
This question is from ChristineDoesDrama on Twitter,
and she tweeted me and asked this.
You probably get this question a lot,
but is it true that you can use 30 seconds
of any song in your YouTube video?
Christine, I know that is a common thing
that a lot of people talk and believe to be true.
But it is absolutely 100% percent not true.
Whoever tells you that is clearly not
familiar with copyright law, and you could definitely
get into trouble even just for using
one second of a copyrighted music
or sound effect or anything that doesn't actually belong to you.
However, instead of just leaving you
hanging with that big disappointment,
someone from the video creators community here,
B. Chambers from the Alloy Seven Video YouTube channel,
is here with us to tell you how you can use copyrighted
content, whether it's music or gaming footage or movie
clips, whatever the case may be, how you can actually
use those legally and be in the clear on your YouTube channel.
Here he is.
Hey, what's up, fellow creators?
My name is B. Chambers from Alloy Seven Video.
And I'm mostly known for doing gaming reviews, gaming
editorials, and also tutorials for people
on how to run a gaming channel here on YouTube.
So the first step in monetizing the videos
that you create that use material that's
copyrighted by someone else is very simply
to determine who the copyright owner is.
And in the realm of games, movies, and TV,
that's usually pretty easy.
With games it's usually the game's developer
or the game's publisher that owns the copyright.
When it's not, usually a Google search
will figure that out for you, or even Wikipedia.
I've also done some legwork on alloyseven.com.
I'll have a link to the specific page in the video description
that shows you all of the copyright owners
that I reached out to and what their answers were.
When it comes to movies and TV shows,
it's usually very easy to determine that.
Because the people that own the movie or the TV show,
it's found on their website.
When you step into the realm of music,
it gets a little bit more complicated.
And this is actually why I don't recommend
trying to use other people's copyrighted
music in your videos.
Let's say a bunch of artists came together and made the song
that you're trying to use in your video.
Who owns the copyright?
Is it the record label?
Both artists may come from a different record label.
Do the writers, do the composers,
do the people performing the song own the rights?
A lot of times that's nigh impossible to determine.
And to take it a step further, when
you start talking about content ID matches, take for instance
the album that I put out about two years ago.
Even if I gave you written permission today signed by me
that said you could use every song on my album in your video,
I can guarantee you that you would get a content ID
match from cdbaby.com.
That's who I went through to publish and to distribute
my album.
You'd have permission from me, but then you'd
still have to deal with CD Baby in your back end, which
means you'd have to get in touch with me
and then get me to deal with CD Baby.
It's a pain.
So unless you're just really brave
or for whatever reason just can't get away
from using somebody's music in your video,
I'd recommend that you just leave it alone.
OK, now that you've determined who the copyright owner is,
the second step-- and I'll admit that this second step is
more related to gaming video creators
than anyone else-- but the second step
is to go to the copyright owner's website,
look to see if they have a terms of use that gives you
permission to make and monetize YouTube videos.
A great example of this is Microsoft
and Activision Blizzard.
Microsoft, in their terms of use online,
gives you permission to make videos using their content,
as long as they're not offensive,
but not to monetize the content.
Activision Blizzard's website, on the other hand,
gives you permission not only to make the videos
but also to monetize them.
So if you're a gaming video creator that's
trying to do something with an Activision Blizzard game,
your work's done.
It's right there online.
I actually have links where you can
find that on the alloyseven.com website.
But look around.
If you've found a game that maybe isn't on my website
that you want to use, see if there's
a terms of use out there that answers the mail.
OK, so you've determined who your copyright owner is.
And in step two, let's say you were not
able to find any terms of use that give you
the permission you were looking for.
Your third step in that case is going
to be to find the best way to contact the copyright owner.
And this is usually going to be through their website.
They'll either have an email address
to their PR or legal teams.
That's the one you'll want to look for.
Or they'll have an online form that you
can fill out and direct to their legal or PR team.
Or maybe it's just a generic form
that you fill out and send off to them.
And that's usually what happens in the gaming world.
I've found that with movies and TV shows,
say like Universal Studios-- if you go to Universal Studios,
they actually have a website dedicated to people like us
who are trying to use their footage for commercial means.
And you'd sign up on that website.
You'd fill out the necessary forms, get access.
And it's almost like an Amazon shopping
cart where you go in and pick, I'd
like to get permission to use Jaws footage in my video.
And you'd check out.
And that's where I start talking about things
like it may cost money.
I've not going all the way through that process,
so I don't know if it costs or how much it costs.
But that's the way a lot of the movie studios do it.
And once you have all that knocked out,
your next step is to actually contact your copyright
owner via email, via the online form, or via the a
la carte shopping line on universalstudios.com,
and tell them that you'd like to use footage in your videos
to put on YouTube and potentially
to monetize that video using YouTube's partner program.
I will have a link where you can find the email that I actually
use to reach out to copyright owners.
It's been very successful over the course of time
that I've been using it.
And you can take that email, and you can slice it and dice it.
Do whatever you need to do with it
to make it appropriate to the person
that you're requesting a copyright from.
OK, brief side note, understand that most
of what I've been talking about here thus far
centers around asking copyright owners for permission
to use their materials via email.
Understand that YouTube's automated system will not
accept an email as proof of permission
should you get a content ID match or a copyright strike.
So here's what I suggest you do.
When you request permission from the copyright owners,
ask them to do one of two things.
One, to post the permission on their websites.
Get them to put something in a public space
that YouTube's system can go out and search
and say, Roger that, good to go.
Or ask them to send you actual signed documentation via email.
Having not gone through the process with movie production
companies, I'm going to assume that a la carte shopping
line that I was telling you about probably
doles out some type of documentation.
For those of you out there who have been through that process,
be sure to leave us some commentary in the comments
section confirming or denying that.
OK, and the fifth and final step is follow up.
I think a lot of you are going to be surprised
by just how responsive some of these companies
that you reach out to are.
I know I was.
Getting emails from people at Square Enix
and a lot of the big name game producing companies out
there was a surprise to me.
But every once in awhile, you're going to run into a company
where they either don't get right back to you,
or they'll get back to you and say, hey,
we need more information.
And when you give them that information,
they may not get back to you.
So the next thing to do is just simple,
good old-fashioned follow up via email or via the online form
that they have available to you.
And that's pretty much it, friends.
That's how I usually walk people through how
to monetize their channels.
Again, I mostly focus on the gaming world.
If any of you guys out there have questions specifically
about gaming or any of the other stuff that I've talked about
today, feel free to hit me up.
I want to thank Tim Schmoyer for giving me the opportunity
to come here to the video creators community
and give you this information.
I pray that you find it oh so useful in your endeavors
out there.
But I'd like, before I let you go, to ask you all a question.
Are any of you out there having success getting permission
from copyright owners and monetizing your channels
using methods different from what I've shown here?
If so, I would very much appreciate it
if you would write in the comments section the steps
that you've used to reach this conclusion successfully.
Hopefully we'll see you guys on the next Alloy Seven video
and especially on the next video creators show.
Until then, until [INAUDIBLE], this
is BC from A7 Video signing off.
Peace and godspeed.