Living in the modern world, it is difficult to imagine our life without music. When browsing various music sites on YouTube, one of the most common questions you come across is the difference between “royalty-free music” and “copyright-free music.”
People really don’t understand why they buy music for their projects on some sites, spend a lot of money on it, but still lose monetization and get claims for copyright infringement. And today we will try to figure it out.
I have been closely involved with Internet music and its implementation on various music streaming platforms for almost a decade now. I know the reason why this is happening, and I will try to explain it to you:
Royalty Music sites don’t prioritize your monetization.
Of course, now we will talk in general, and not just some specific site, since I cannot speak on behalf of all sites, and some work a little differently, but I would like to share my experience with you about how the copyright removal process works in major music venues royalty-free.
You were advised or found some popular royalty free music sites yourself and bought a track there that suits you. But there is a problem, posting a video with this track on YouTube, you will be banned, as you will receive a complaint about copyright infringement.
Of course, you can dispute this claim in your YouTube account (the waiting period is approximately 30 days, but it may be less), but no one guarantees that you will win this case.
You can also send a message to the support team of the site where you bought this track. They will most likely redirect you to the author of that track to add your video to the Content ID whitelist of the system they are using. The author may either not answer you or add to the whitelist. But why? Because many creators make more money from Content ID systems than from selling music. It is more profitable for them to take your monetization than to return it to you. But these are not all music creators, there are honest guys too (at least, I hope so).
The main problems of Royalty Free Music sites:
- They allow authors to independently use and control the Content ID system. (The Content ID system is a music identification system that allows track owners to control the use of their works in YouTube videos, as well as receive monetization from these videos.)
- These sites leave you alone with the track’s creator or YouTube support. We can only hope for the decency of the author or the attentiveness of this YouTube support itself.
- Restoring monetization and removing copyrights can take months. You need to send a lot of messages to report the problem to people who can help you.
- These sites are too big. The support team is slow as they receive hundreds or thousands of emails a day. Often, royalty free music sites also sell videos, website templates, etc.
Why “No Copyright Music” sites are the future?
Because sites of this type own 100% of their content. You can contact support directly and they will help you get your monetization back if there was an error or case of fraud.
How Non-Copyright Music Sites Deal With It There are 2 types of non-copyright music sites:
- The site invites musicians to upload tracks to their library, while the site gets the right to add the music of these authors to its Content ID system, but does not own the copyright for these works. This allows non-copyright music sites to control the monetization of their customers and have the ability to quickly whitelist their videos on their own. No need to wait for the author of this track or YouTube support to answer you.
You are also not immune to problems with claims, as the author of the music may add these tracks elsewhere or sell the rights to them in the future. Fraudsters can also steal a track from music authors and upload it to the Content ID system. What happens in this case? The site will refund your monetization and remove the first claim, but you will immediately receive a second claim from the scammer. You will need to write a message to the musician to block this scammer. But these sites work well and are more reliable.
- The frequently used system is inaudio.org. In this case, the library is filled only with the music that the site owns 100% itself. They do not add this music to the Content ID system. Because all copyrights belong to them, the management and administration of such sites can independently block scammers and return monetization to you. Such companies always respond as quickly as possible to errors or cases of fraud.
The big advantage is that this music is difficult to steal. These guys have developed their track protection system. Moreover, they constantly monitor the copyright for their tracks themselves. Such a company has developed a whole strategy for quickly blocking fraudsters, which has not failed for many years.
Conclusion
At the end of this article, I would like to say that in 2021, using non-copyright music sites will be safer than the classic old royalty-free music sites. You are never immune to YouTube Content ID errors or fraud. Unfortunately, this is reality. But sites without music copyright solve these problems much faster and more efficiently. For these sites, your monetization is their number one priority as they put your safety first.
