INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightPaul DavidsImage caption
Paul Davids can normally be found on YouTube explaining guitar techniques
Paul Davids thought he had seen it all when it came to YouTube's copyright protection system.The Dutch YouTuber's most popular
videos include him playing famous guitar riffs, comparing different instruments and teaching various guitar skills and techniques."Just like
probably all the music YouTubers out there," he explained in a video to his 625,000 subscribers, "once in a while I get an email stating I'm
infringing on someone's copyrighted material."Paul had been contacted by YouTube to advise him that one of his videos had been flagged for
copyright infringement, but in his own words, "this was a little different".The copyright he had apparently infringed upon was his own
"It said what song I was infringing on, and what I found was quite shocking," said Paul."Someone took my track, added vocals and guitar to
make their own track, and uploaded it to YouTube, but I got the copyright infringement notice!" Paul had been accused of plagiarising his
own music - and worse, all the money that video was earning would now be directed towards the person who copied his content.How do people
make money from YouTube videosImage copyrightPaul DavidsImage caption
Paul's most popular video with almost eight
million views features him playing famous guitar riffs
A video can be "monetised" if a YouTube channel has at least 1,000
subscribers, and more than 4,000 hours of their content has been watched in the past 12 monthsSo long as the channel fits these
requirements, users can apply to join the YouTube Partner Programme and have adverts attached to their videosOften YouTubers will make money
in other ways, through working with brands, merchandising and crowdfunding'That's quite odd'Despite being faced with a claim of copyright
infringement and demonetisation, Paul remained calm."I looked up the guy on Facebook," he said
"I wrote him a message."I asked: 'Are you aware that you used one of my tracks to publish as your own track Let me know'."A few hours later
'Hey, I don't know', he said
'I did download a couple of guitar licks somewhere off YouTube
Would you consider letting me still use this'"I wrote him back saying, 'You can't just rip a track off YouTube and then claim it is your own
Did you know I got a copyright notice from YouTube about that track Claiming that I was infringing on your track' "That's quite odd, since I
wrote and recorded it."Image copyrightPaul DavidsImage caption
Paul also makes a series of popular videos where he
teaches people how to play different riffs
In the end, Paul decided to do the nicest thing he could think of - he let the
copycat keep using his song."It's not like he will make tons of money with it," Paul said
It probably happens all the time."The TheIndianSubcontinent has approached YouTube for comment.You may also like:This is not the first time
there has been such an issue with YouTube's copyright systems
In 2015, Mitch Martinez had monetisation removed from a video after Sony filed a copyright claim against the video he licensed them.And in
2010, pop artist Justin Bieber was caught up in a row with the platform when they temporarily would not allow him to upload his new song -
because someone else had uploaded it first.Why does this keep happeningImage copyrightSteven BridgesImage caption
Steven
Bridges has had his own share of issues with Content ID on YouTube
At the heart of the controversy is YouTube's Content ID
system - the automatic process which decides whether a video contains copyright infringement.Steven Bridges, a magician with more than
178,000 subscribers on YouTube, tells the TheIndianSubcontinent how this might have happened."Content ID is in place to make sure people
don't use content without permission of the original creator," Steven explained."YouTube's systems automatically scan videos and detect if
they've got, for example, a pop song in the background
"If the video does, then the owner of the song could be notified, and they can choose whether they want the video to be left online, or
whether they want to monetise the video themselves."It's a great system but it has its faults
For example, sometimes content can be wrongly demonetised or taken down
Certain companies can 'claim' videos if they find copyrighted material in them, regardless of whether YouTube's Content ID detected it."The
creator has to go through an appeal process if they think it's been unjustly claimed."It's a complicated thing."By Tom Gerken,
TheIndianSubcontinent UGC Social News team
