A Fed Up Musician Demands That YouTube Fix Its Broken Content ID System. More Than 100,000 People Have Signed His Petition.

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Christian Buettner aka TheFatRat.

YouTube’s Content ID has a major copyright infringement problem.  Now, people have urged Google to fix it.

As part of the video platform’s large-scale protest against the EU’s Copyright Directive, YouTube has pointed to its Content ID as an existing viable solution.

According to YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki and YouTube Music chief Lyor Cohen, Content ID already does enough to protect owners.

Protesting a bill that would force the video platform to establish strict controls against infringing content, Wojcicki wrote,

We realize the importance of all rights holders being fairly compensated, which is why we built Content ID and a platform to pay out all types of content owners.

Yet, company executives have clearly overlooked the copyright system’s major flaws.

Now, over a hundred thousand users have urged the video platform to fix Content ID.

A sad tale of copyright infringement and YouTube inaction.

Christian Buettner loves to write and share music online.

On YouTube, he posts new songs under the name TheFatRat.  Buettner has over three million subscribers.

Recently, a relatively unknown company called ‘Ramjets’ stole his song, ‘The Calling.’  Per month, the track earns $3,000 in ad revenue.  Despite writing and uploading the track, YouTube transferred the song’s rights to Ramjets.

The video platform has largely denied Buettner’s claim.  When Buettner reached out to YouTube, the company responded that it doesn’t “mediate copyright disputes.”  The solution?  “Resolve the issue with the claimant.”

Unfortunately, that hasn’t worked.

Reaching out to Ramjets, the company has cleverly chosen not to respond.  YouTube has also refused to provide Buettner with additional contact information.

According to TheFatRat, musicians and content creators on the video platform regularly fall prey to false copyright claims.  Companies like Ramjets and other anonymous users claim people’s original works without using music at all, clearly infringing on their rights.

Buettner lists three errors YouTube frequently commits.

First, the video platform’s Content ID favors claimants over content creators, automatically assuming their claims are factually correct.

Second, YouTube flat out refuses to mediate disputes.

Third, the video platform doesn’t provide claimants’ much-needed contact information to content creators and musicians.

Buettner has set up an online petition urging YouTube to fix its broken Content ID system.

The petition urges the video platform to treat claimants and content creators equally.  It also demands that the company remove ‘obviously false’ claims.  YouTube should also penalize false claims and accept claims from validated and credible claimants.

Finally, the company should give out contact information in case of doubt.  This, adds Buettner, would finally allow content creators and musicians to ‘solve the issue’ with the claimant.

So far, the petition has 100,911 signatures, with a target goal of 200,000.

Calling on people to share his story on social media, he concludes,

Please share this petition as much as you can.  Let’s stop the content ID abuse and urge YouTube to fix their copyright protection system.  Thank you very much!

 


Featured image by TheFatRat (YouTube screengrab).

3 Responses

  1. Will Buckley

    What other industry refuses to deal directly with individual complaints? These black box companies, like Google and Facebook, are only concerned in making money otherwise you’re sol.

    • Anonymous

      “Only concerned with making money”

      -everyone

      What other industry refuses to deal directly with individual complaints

      Everyone music food internet companies everyone hahaha

  2. Second Time Around

    LIAR zio-thief Cohen strikes again. And people wonder why they are hated…