Today I´m going to talk about how to avoid copyright on YouTube for you to not be claimed by other people and get your channel taken down.

There are a few things you have to consider before you get into the different copyright nuances, and that´s what I´ll be talking about here, among other things.

Now, without much further ado, let´s start!

1. Better Understand Fair Use

Legal advice for content creators is one of those things that surely needs further development and recognition as things can get complicated for some people that don´t have the necessary education or information available to know how to act at any given situation.

While the Internet is the main source of income for more and more people THIS should be one of those things most of you must pay attention to in order to avoid future problems.

Okay then, now let´s get into it, first things first, you have to know that copyright (or fair use) law has been created by lawyers and the courts, not YouTube.

YouTube uses copyright law as a guideline to make sure that the content that´s being uploaded every single minute to YouTube is legitimate and it does not affect in any way advertisers and original content creators.

YouTube is not a court, is a company, and they decide whether they take down a video or not based upon if they could potentially get sued by the rightful owner or not. That´s it.

As a result of this, you have to be super careful to comply with YouTube guidelines and fair use law and doctrine so that you don´t get copyright strikes, and eventually (if you get three copyright strikes) get your channel canceled.

So, how can you make content without getting slammed by YouTube with copyright strikes?

Let me tell you…

1. Transform the content. In order to reuse copyright-protected material, you have to transform the content. Basically, this means that you have to create something new out of the video clips that you are using, whether that is by adding a voice-over, maybe rearranging the order of the clips, mixing things up a bit, using effects and alternating copyright-protected video clips with some of your own. This is why Reaction Videos like “My Reaction To Final Episode Of Game Of Thrones” are considered under fair use guidelines.
2. Substantial Portion. As YouTube Team says: “The amount of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole”. As you may have guessed it, this means that you can´t use a substantial portion of the original content. Make it short in order to make sure that you don´t get into trouble. How short you are wondering, well, as YouTube itself says, it depends, how long can the clip be depended in relation to the copyrighted work considered as a whole.
3. Disclaimer or credit is not enough. Finally, most people think that if they give credit to the copyright owner then the content is free to use, or that if they post a disclaimer on their video then it is fair use… WRONG! Neither of these strategies will let you off the hook. In order to avoid copyright claims, you have to read if there´s any information whether the owner does allow (or doesn´t) the use of his / her material if you post a disclaimer or give credit.

Although there are a few other points you might want to consider these are the KEY ones that can really make a difference whether you get a strike or not, so be aware of them.

2. Take Advantage Of Video Editing

Although there are many things that you can do to avoid YouTube copyright detection here are the most effective tips and “tricks” that I´ve applied my self in the last few years.

In order to bypass YouTube copyright you must create something new both to the algorithm as well as the copyright law eyes.

There are (probably) many more things you could do in order to accomplish this, but I´m going to talk ONLY about the ones that I have found work the best.

So, here´s how to edit your video to avoid copyright claims:

• Zoom in & out. As simple as it may sound if you can zoom in your video clip a bit you´ll be able to not be claimed by the rightful owner of the original clip as it´s seen as a way of transforming it into a different thing. But this is just the first step, after that, you can…
• Add effects. Whether that is text, overlays, filters, videos on top of each other, some music to give the video a more dramatic feel. As long as you create something that could be interpreted in (almost) any shape or form as brand new content you´re set.
• Speed up or slow down. You can speed things up a bit or slow it down (if the fps is high enough) in order to make the clip unrecognizable for the ID matching software. In fact, you can do the exact same thing with your audio clip!

However, these are just mere examples of some things many YouTubers do, take them as guidelines for future videos but do not just zoom in your video, add a few effects to it and speed up your audio, get creative with it!

The more original your work is the fewer chances of getting caught you´ll have.

Plus! If you get a copyright claim there are different things you can do to not get penalized or fight the claim itself.

Check out my post on How To Make Compilation Videos On YouTube Without Copyright, for more information on this.

3. Copyrighted Audio Strategies

YouTube copyright music is another common problem most newbies have to deal with when getting started on YouTube.

The truth is that we all would LOVE to be able to use that great song from our favorites movies, but we can´t.

So, what can you do about that?

Well, there are a few ways you can get around audio copyright when it comes to uploading content online, especially on YouTube.

Here´s what you can do:

• Create a Mash-Up. Yep, if you want to use that hit that is (for sure) going to get you in trouble then create your own mash-up, edit the best parts of it, use other copyrighted songs, and create a new one!
• Make it Short! I´ve found that you use very short clips of the song you can get right pass through algorithm recognition, the only downside of this is that, well, you have to use just about 10 to 15 seconds of it.
• Audio Library. It is a YouTube channel that has official releases of great royalty music that is perfect for Vlogs and all sort of video content. Check it out and find great tracks you can use without paying a dime!

• SoundCloud. Another really popular site where you can find lots of great small artists that upload their most recent creations for you to listen, download, and use however you want. Of course, you´ll spend a lot of time going through the tracks but the truth is that you can find great songs that nobody else is probably using. You can easily search for songs through bands or artists tags in the search bar, as well as categories and types of music.
• ReverbNation. This is another platform that offers free music downloads from a variety of genres and it is where many great artists begin to upload their tracks in order to build a loyal fanbase. If you’d like to discover more songs you can do so through the music website’s discover section which brings a good collection of audio songs you can download for free.
• Visit the YouTube Library. Last but not least, you can simply use the HUGE library that YouTube itself provides for content creators and it´s constantly reviewing with brand new songs and audio content. You can sort by most popular and get ready to listen to a few dozen songs until you find the right one for your video.

Of course, there are also paid sites like Epidemic Sound, which is, by far, the most popular site most YouTubers use to edit their videos and add some great music in the background.

Now, although Audio Library is a great channel that offers many copyright-free songs for content creators there are many other channels that have (even) specific music for different types of videos.

For example, there are channels that have created a large following just by making music for Vloggers.

Go ahead and check it out, you´ll find tons of examples of how easy it is to find the right type of song or music for your videos right now.

Related Questions

How many seconds of copyrighted music can I use on youtube? As I´ve said before there are no hard and fast rules about exactly how many seconds of a song you can use to avoid a copyright claim, the shorter the better. That being said, I´ve experienced that between 10 to 15 seconds per clip can work rather well as long as you follow the tips I´ve laid out in this post in order to not get penalized in any sort of way if you modify and transform the content properly.

How to put music on youtube videos without copyright issues? There are several ways to do this. First, you can simply use music that´s free to use, I´ve already laid out the best sources where you can find them. Another way is to create a mash-up or edit the music by speeding up the tempo or simply putting different layers of clips of music and sounds on top of each other.