Violation of YouTube Content ID's Monetization Policy

YouTube has very specific guidelines on how you may monetize your music through Content ID, and any violation of these guidelines may lead to the removal of your sound recording from Content ID and/or restrictions placed on your distribution to Content ID, up to a complete block. 

This article is meant to highlight key aspects of YouTube's guidelines, and it is NOT meant to be taken as an exhaustive list. Please further note that in addition to the guidelines indicated below, YouTube further requires that you abide by multiple other policies: YouTube’s Community Guidelines, Terms of Service, Copyright, Rights Clearance Adjustment policies, and AdSense program policies. 

Key Violations Include:

1. Attempts to circumvent the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) (YouTube monetization program) to monetize content that YouTube has not approved for monetization. For example:
   • By embedding music in Shorts from channels which have not been accepted into YPP, such as channels which are mainly remixing/reusing third party content without substantive added value, or channels mainly presenting repetitive or low effort content.
   • Content that is produced at scale, with low effort, that looks like it’s made with a template with little to no variation across videos. Examples.
   • Content reused from other sources/creators without adding significant original commentary, substantive modifications, or educational or entertainment value. Examples.
   • Content that uses hacks/exploits such as embedding music in a video in an inaudible, or barely audible, manner.
2. Making parasitic usage of other people’s content. For example:
   • Embedding your music in unrelated popular third party content. For example:
     • Inserting your sound recording into a Simpsons episode or a motivational speaker’s video.
     • Creating a compilation video with famous musician’s songs and inserting your sound recording as an uncredited intro or outro.
     • Overlaying your music on a scene from a popular movie.
   • Deceiving YouTube's audience and using popular videos as click-bait. For example:
     • Using misleading thumbnails and/or titles and/or logos such as the VEVO logo to get users to click on your video.
     • Videos where the video title, or the thumbnail, or both, make reference to popular 3rd party content not owned by you.

How to promote your music without violating Content ID's Monetization Guidelines:

The use of your music in videos should mainly come from organic sources rather than be a deliberate campaign orchestrated by you. You may create some videos in order to promote your music, however the majority of videos should remain true user generated content (UGC).

If you do create some compilation videos to help YouTube's audience discover your music by associating it to other content, make sure that:

• The content you use fits your music.
• You clearly identify your music in the video's title and/or credits so that you are not deceiving YouTube's audience about the content of the video— this is very IMPORTANT.
• You do not create multiple very similar videos. Do not pollute YouTube with a dozen copies or close variants of the same video content.