Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages! Welcome back to the Assassin's Den!
With Youtube rolling out changes to their system that absolve them from all liability when it comes to copyright claims, it is important for content creators, particularly those who use Youtube to make a living to understand what is going on. I'm going to be straight on this right now; the days of milk and honey are over. If you are trying to make a living from making videos on the internet, you're going to have to do like those who saw this coming a long time ago; by switching to blip or springboard. These two sites are made specifically for those who are trying to make shows on the internet, particularly content that Youtube is scared of now. Furthermore, these two sites know their rights as distributors and your rights as a content creator, and are better equipped to fight for your rights.
However, since Youtube is the easiest to use, I have a few tips for people when doing their videos.
1. Familiarize yourself with Fair Use. I already posted a blog entry on this recently, so no need to go more into this.
2. Know that, if you are part of a network, they will no longer to go bat for you, more than likely. According to many content creators on Youtube right now, networks are being forced to have Managed and Affiliate members. I won't go into details, because a LOT of the affected youtubers explain it better, but most of the networks are putting all of their people on Affiliate status, absolving them from all legal liability. So if you get a copyright claim on your video, it's yours to fight. And if you get sued, you're screwed.
3. Know how big the company is for the game you want to do on Youtube. The smaller the game company, the more they are going to appreciate the exposure, and not give you shit for making money off their game. Team Meat, the makers of Super Meat Boy, for example, put a small time Let's Player's drunken LP of their game ON THEIR WEBSITE. That exposure benefited their company, and drummed up revenue for their company. Mojang, the company behind Minecraft, loves the free exposure it gets from Youtube, because it drums up revenue!
4. Know if the game you are doing is still capable of making revenue for a company. Nintendo has a bug up their butts about this one, since they finally have a way to make their old games available for digital download now. But, there ARE games that Nintendo, and other companies as well, don't care about anymore. Which is why you aren't likely to see people doing LPs of the newest Mario games, but those who do games like Super Mario 3 aren't getting hassled. But games from defunct companies, like Sierra? You're not going to get crap for those; even if someone still holds a copyright to King's Quest 1 on DOS, it would be too much trouble for them to dig up the copyright and then attack a small Youtuber. However, Fair Use applies here, so again, know what you are getting into.
5. If you are doing an MMO, be careful. Most companies who run MMOs understand that free positive exposure is good exposure. Especially ones that are running the free to play model. Most people who make videos for Star Wars: The Old Republic are being left alone, except for the copyright claim on the Star Wars opening theme, which is being flagged by another copyright claim, despite it being part of the game's soundtrack. (Figure that one out.)
6. Know how the appeal process works, and how to dispute a claim. I am not a content creator, so I don't know the specifics, but I've read that this is a relatively simple process.
And finally, 7. Know that this change is brand new, and buggy as hell. Things will get better when the new program adapts to what is going on. Yes, it is frustrated when hundreds of your videos are suddenly being blocked and you are unable to make money from them. Especially now, with Christmas coming in 2 weeks. But it will get better. This clusterfuck was going to happen eventually, but we're finally getting word from game companies are finally coming out of the woodwork and saying "Yes, you can make money off our games!" It is going to get better when things get sorted out.
Lastly, if you want a LOT more info on this, check out the links below. These provide most of the info I presented here, and they explain exactly what is happening. Also, follow Angry Joe and TotalBiscuits, and ask them questions about what your rights are if there's any confusion. He's actually considered a journalist among the gaming developer community; he's been to E3, Magfest and other shows, and is one the the pillars of Channel Awesome.
http://www.youtube.com/user/AngryJoeShow
http://angryjoeshow.com/
https://twitter.com/angryjoeshow
http://www.incgamers.com/2013/12/youtube-chaos-lets-play-channels-copyright-claims-flood
http://www.tubefilter.com/2013/12/06/youtube-affiliate-channels-monetization-copyright-review/
http://www.tubefilter.com/2013/12/10/youtube-contentid-flag-gaming-videos/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JqjDhuPFaQ
Happy creating everybody, and be ready to migrate to other video distributors before it's too late. Also, I'm updating the links as people putting out more information.
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