YouTube removes Content ID claim revenue block

One of the main criticisms of YouTube’s Content ID system has been addressed by the video service.

Content makers have for a long time bemoaned the fact that once a claim had been made on a video, they were locked out of making money from it for the duration of the dispute. This, they argued, invited abuse, as anyone was free to lodge an illegitimate complaint, knowing that it would lead to a money block.

Now YouTube has said that ads can continue to run on videos while disputes are ongoing. Upon resolution of the claim, the money raised will either go to the content maker or the copyright holder.

The changes are due to roll out ‘in the coming months’.

We understand just how important revenue is to our creator community, and we’ve been listening closely to concerns about the loss of monetization during the Content ID dispute process,” YouTube said.

Currently videos that are claimed and disputed don’t earn revenue for anyone, which is an especially frustrating experience for creators if that claim ends up being incorrect while a video racks up views in its first few days.

We strongly believe in fair use and believe that this improvement to Content ID will make a real difference. In addition to our work on the Content ID dispute process, we’re also paying close attention to creators’ concerns about copyright claims on videos they believe may be fair use.

Even though Content ID claims are disputed less than one per cent of the time, we agree that this process could be better. Making sure our Content ID tools are being used properly is deeply important to us, so we’ve built a dedicated team to monitor this. Using a combination of algorithms and manual review, this team has resolved millions of invalid claims in the last year alone, and acted on millions more before they impacted creators.

We will continue to invest in both people and technology to make sure that Content ID keeps working for creators and rightsholders. We want to thank everyone who’s shared their concerns about unintended effects from Content ID claims. It’s allowed us to create a better system for everyone and we hope to share more updates soon.”