Today I´m going to talk about how to make compilation video on youtube without EVER worrying about copyright.
There are a few things you have to know first in order to make your compilation channel a real success.
That being said, this is not a bulletproof method you can set and forget.
The purpose is ALWAYS to make every piece of video and audio content you use on your videos rightfully yours by transforming it into something new.
1. Understand Fair Use On YouTube
First things first, understanding copyright on YouTube is key for succeeding as a compilator on the platform.
Have you ever wanted to use someone else´s video clip or audio clip in your own YouTube video but you´re worried that it could backfire?
Well, I had the same problem, and although there are many YouTubers that have done a good job at explaining fair use I did my own research just to make sure. 😉
Fair use law is a creation of lawyers and the courts, YouTube uses it just as a guideline for determining whether or not they take down a video or not.
Remember, YouTube is a company, not a court, its main motivating force is to not get sued, so it´s in your own best interest and theirs to comply with fair use.
Here´s what I learned:
- Make it short. Listen, there are no hard-and-fast rules for how long the clip should be, the shorter the better, one second, two seconds, ten seconds, or even thirty seconds it can all work, just make sure to follow the tips that I´m going to discuss later on and you´ll be safe.
- Transform it. You HAVE TO transform copyrighted work in order to qualify under fair use guidelines. Whenever you use someone else´s video clip just add some comments on top, use your own audio clip, or use it as a tiny clip within a larger whole made of different video clips from various sources.
- Out of context. As long as you change a video clip original meaning and use it to your own advantage, whatever that maybe, you´ll be transforming it and therefore you shouldn´t be allowed to get a YouTube copyright strike.
- Change it! Similar to transform but with the difference that you´ll modify the original clip by making a remix, a mash-up, or any sort of new expression of the copyrighted art that works as a totally new creation. A good example of this would be The Shape Of Sickness, which is a mash-up between Ed Sheeran and Disturbed.
- Attribution. A decent defense against a YouTube copyright strike, when used in combination with some of the other tips that I´ve talked about and many others that I´m about to, is simply citing to the original work in your description.
If you use these tips as your main guidelines and follow some of the techniques that I´m going to talk about in a second then you´ll be protected.
2. How To Make Money With Compilation Videos?
Yep, you´ve probably seen those compilation videos about sport fails, funny vine type of videos, and so on, and with the number of views, those videos get you could easily picture a clear image of how much money they are making.
But, for the sake of argument, here´s a good example of a compilation channel Adsense revenue:
This is a fair estimate that the site Social Blade does on YouTube channels according to the number of views they get, the niche they are in, and several other factors.
Therefore, Adsense usually is one of the main sources of revenue, being the second option (obviously) affiliate marketing.
Due to the fact that, once you´ve mastered the art of making these compilations, these videos don´t take much time to be made you can easily produce one video a day and grow exponentially over time.
Both Adsense and affiliate marketing, usually through the Amazon Associates program, you can grow a sizeable amount of money if done correctly.
3. Find The Best Content!
Here´s where the fun starts.
I´m going to give you a few great places where you can find content that almost nobody else uses, at least not many people.
So, be mindful about sharing this with others.
There are three places where I´ve found great videos to use for my compilation channel.
Here they are:
- Prelinger Archive. A great source to explore in order to find old video footage that is now public domain. It is a vast archive with lots of clips that are free to download and use at will without a problem. Just go to Prelinger Archives and check it out!
- Vimeo. Yep, Vimeo is another great source of free footage, of course not every video uploaded to the platform will be free to download and use but you´ll probably find more than enough options to choose from. Just make sure to check out for any copyright notices.
- Flickr. Last but not least, Flickr is another platform where I usually go to search for inspiration and clips that I can use on any of my videos. It is a very diverse library as there are people constantly uploading videos to it for FREE. You can pretty much use anything you find on Flickr and there are times where you can even find really high-quality footage that you would have to pay for in anywhere else.
Of course, there are other sources where you can find videos that you can easily use to make money and build a profitable channel.
A good example of this is Amazon product-related videos that manufacturers make to promote their products.
You just have to go to Amazon and simply find products with videos, as simple as that.
Here´s how:
First, go to Google and type “site:amazon.com” then hit space and type the product that you are looking for.
After that, you´ll click on “Videos” to check out the results and tada!
Like this.
Hundreds if not thousands of videos available from sellers that want to promote their products.
The best part?
They are FREE to use as sellers want to get more sells and they won´t make a fuzz if you use their videos.
That´s what the Divraksha channel does and makes tons of money with, both from Adsense and Amazon as well.
Now, I didn´t even mention YouTube Creative Common videos because I assumed that most of you are already pretty familiarized with that option, but just in case, for those that didn´t know.
YouTube is another very large source of free video clips that you can easily use.
Just by filtering out videos close to the search bar you can find videos in any sort of topic you like, and they´ll be 100% cost-free.
Here´s how:
Yep, as simple as that, just click on “Filter” after you´ve typed your search and then on “Creative Commons” and let the YouTube algorithm do the rest!
4. Make Your “Own” Audio Clips
The first important step you should take is to edit your audio.
You can get a copyright claim both for your audio as well as your video clip, so make sure you edit both if you don´t want to have problems when you want to monetize your channel.
Now, to make your “own” audio clip from another person´s audio or simply use audio that you know can get a copyright claim here´s what you can do.
- First, take that audio clip and speed it up a bit, it doesn´t need to be that much, the point is to make it unrecognizable for the detection software.
- Then, you can start adding effects, other audio clips, maybe even using a song that is free to use to create a mash-up. The point is to create something new, different, unique in order to avoid any sort of claim later on.
If you don´t want to have any issue with your audio then I would suggest you use creative commons licensed material, there are great audio clips that are 100% free to use.
You can find that with audio there are much more free options you can take advantage of to take your compilation videos to the next level.
5. Simple Yet Effective Video Editing
Now that you have the content you want to use for your next video and you´ve selected the audio you know it can work with your type of content it´s time to start working on your video clips.
Keep in mind that the YouTube algorithm is constantly evolving and it will get better over time but I think the techniques that I´m about to teach will still work for a long time.
The main purpose of making compilation videos from other videos from the Internet is to create something that is identified as NEW, not used, get it?
Meaning that you´ll use the content you´ve found online in such a way that you make it 100% unidentifiable for the algorithm.
Now, that doesn´t mean that you won´t get from time to time a warning from YouTube itself but I promise you won´t get penalized if you do this right and follow the steps I´m sharing with you.
Here´s what to do:
- ID Match. Prevent getting a claim by simply making the right edits into your clips so that you don´t get what is called an ID match with another person´s video. You can do that just by zooming into your clip a bit, any editing software can do that. Also, you can add black bars on the top and bottom of your clip or zoom out (if possible) a bit.
- Add Effects. Another thing you can do is add some effects, text, or even your own water stamp to “transform” the video and make it your own. Remember what I told you about fair use.
- Make Them Short. As I´ve already said, you want to make your clips short, as long as you use several clips and clap them together to make your video without using several minutes of a single uncut clip you´ll be fine.
These are three simple yet effective things you can do to prevent copyright claims and it will take you just a few minutes to make the necessary changes.
Remember, you can get claimed both for video as well as audio separately, so edit both if you want to be able to monetize your videos and don´t get into trouble.
¿What To Do If You Get a Copyright Claim?
There are a few things you can do if you receive a copyright claim for your video, and the first thing you should do is to see what time stamp was your video copyrighted at, meaning the exact portion of your clip that is being claimed.
That way you´ll be able to fix it rather quickly, and if it doesn´t show you what you can do is simply contact YouTube directly to find out.
Sometimes there´s even what is called a false copyright claim, which means that the person behind the claim doesn´t have the actual right to make a claim about it.
And, as YouTube takes time to check this out, you can accelerate the entire process by getting in contact with them directly or, at least, minimize the damage by editing that part of your video out.
Anyways, I hope you found this content helpful.
You can check out some of my videos on YouTube for more information.
Have a great one!
Matt Porta