Navigating the Complexities of Online Video Rights

The Ultimate Guide to YouTube Copyright

Richard Bennett

Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions

0

One of the trickiest terrains for new YouTubers to navigate is the land of copyright rules.

We get it, it’s confusing and stressful, especially when what you want to focus on is making videos, but instead, you are worried about getting your account terminated or being sued.

Can you or can’t you use that song or that clip from the movie? That’s all you want to know.

In this article, we are going to address the key areas that YouTubers need to understand when it comes to YouTube copyright. What is okay and what isn’t? What may be considered risky or what would be worth taking a chance?

Remember that everything discussed in this article is only best practices and shouldn’t be taken as definitive legal advice.

Now that we are set, let’s dive in:

Part 1: What is Fair Use?

When we talk about YouTube copyright, we have to talk about fair use.

Without fair use, there wouldn’t be any flexibility for creators. There wouldn’t be mashups, parodies, or lip dubs. Without fair use, any video with copyright content such as music in the background or a reference to a scene from a famous movie will require approval from the content owner and can be removed. Because of fair use, you can publish a video with copyrighted material in it and not have to ask anyone.

Think of fair use as exceptions to copyright rules.

Part 2: What YouTube Considers Fair Use

There are a few aspects YouTube looks at when it comes to determining whether creators are using copyrighted content that meets the fair use exceptions.

1. Is the copyrighted content being creatively or purposefully used?
2. Are there more original content used than copyrighted content in the video?
3. Will your video benefit the original copyrighted content?

Part 3: Types of Content That Meet Fair Use

Some acceptable styles of videos that allow you to exercise fair use are:

Critiques and Reviews: You can use clips of a movie that you review or play a chorus from a song that you are analyzing in a video and it will be okay to use because it’s serving a purpose of educating the viewer.

Tutorials and Commentary: A YouTube gamer streaming the video games and making comments throughout, that is within fair use, because it can be said that it is giving the video game exposure. Additionally, anything that can be classified as tutorials can also fall under fair use. If you have a video teaching people how to play a famous song, like The Beatles’ Let It Be , on piano, that’s fine!

Mashups: Mashups tend to be built entirely out of copyrighted material, but when done well this style of videos are very creative and often serve to promote the original work as opposed to replacing it.

There couldn’t be two more different movies than Toy Story and Fight Club, but somehow thanks the the creativity of a YouTube creator, there is a now a mashup of it. Some might call it an abomination, but this type of recycled art takes skills and planning, and it wouldn’t exist without fair use.

Parody: Imitation for comedic or dramatic effect is an artistic pursuit as long as it is done in a transformative manner. What does transformative mean? It means in some way, the original is being examined.

In this example from The Hillywood Show, we see a parody of both BBC’s Sherlock Holmes and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’s Thrift Shop. The nuisance of the show and song recreated are there, but nobody who enjoys the originals will sit down and appreciate it in the same way. A parody is in no way trying to replace the original, but rather using the subject, structure, and style of the original as a vessel to another creative work.

Part 4: What To Do When You Get a YouTube Copyright Strike

If you are reading this, you may have already gotten a YouTube copyright strike.

This may have surprised you. Don’t be too concerned. If it was a mistake, the copyright strike merely acts as a warning, letting you know that the content in your video is copyrighted material.

However, if you were to get 3 copyright strikes in 90 days, you may be penalized by:

- Having all your accounts and videos removed

- Not being able to create a new channel

So what should you do? Here are the steps to take after you receive a copyright strike:

1. Review the copyright strike by going into Creator Studio > Video Manager > Copyright notice

1. Click on the “Copyright Strike” link beside the flagged video to see details
2. Decide how to respond to the strike:
   1. Allow the strike to expire after 90 days and complete the YouTube’s copyright school
   2. Contact the person who reported your video and get the claim retracted
   3. Dispute the claim with a counter notification

Part 5: 5 Ways to Avoid Copyright Strike

It’s not always clear what YouTube deems fair use, but there are a few things you can do to improve your chances of meeting the qualification.

1. Use non-fictional copyright content instead of creative and fictional copyrighted content. You’ll have a better chance of meeting fair use if you use footages from a news broadcast than you would from a movie or television show.

The intent is clear when using non-fictional copyright content, such as in Bad Lip Reading. They aren’t trying to rebroadcast the Mark Zuckerberg integration, they are parodying it. The easier it is for the public to recognize that the content is from a source, and understand that the creator isn’t trying to take credit for it, the more likely it’ll pass the fair use qualification.

However, if Bad Lip Reading posted the content without lip dubbing, then one can argue that they are taking views away from the original news sources and that wouldn’t be fair use.

2. Make sure your video with copyrighted content isn’t replacing the original one. Only use enough of the source material to get your point across and ensure you are not negatively affecting the original through views and sales.

In this example from Screen Prism, we see scenes from Wes Anderson movies all through the video, however, it is not replacing any of the original films. In fact, you can say that because of this video, people will be motivated to go and watch a Wes Anderson movie, those benefiting the original creator.

3. The copyrighted material is essential to your video. Whether the copyrighted content is needed in order to illustrate a point or if that one moment from a well-recognized movie helps tie together the message, as long as the copyrighted material is serving the video in some significant way, then it will be consider fair use.

4. Give the original creator credit. Just because you give the original creator credit doesn’t mean you can rightfully use their content, however, it does give you a better chance at avoiding copyright strike. Most often, the original creators simply want credit for their work. If they see that you have noted that the content was made by them, it will only give them more exposure.

5. Keep it short. There is no precise number of seconds or ratio of copyrighted to original footage you should have in your video to qualify as fair use. But generally, if the copyrighted clip is short and/or broken up, then it stands a better chance at being approved by YouTube.

Part 6: What to Do When Other YouTubers Are Copying Your Content

As a new YouTuber, it’s a little freaky to think that someone is taking your content and republishing it or using your creations in their video without your permission.

If you ever notice that your content is being copied without your approval — if they have duplicated your video completely or is using your video without giving credit — and it is not benefiting your channel in any way, don’t worry, YouTube is designed to protect you.

Steps to Report Copyright Infringements on YouTube

1. View the video that contains your copyrighted material.
2. Click on “Report”

1. Select “Infringes my rights” in the pop up window and click “infringes my copyright” in the dropdown options.

1. Supply additional information to the report form, including the URL of the video infringing your copyrighted content and the URL of your own video.
2. Submit report and wait for an email confirmation that the infringing content has been removed.

Part 7: YouTube Copyright Match

In 2018, YouTube launched a new feature called Copyright Match Tool, which automatically finds videos that are very similar or the same as the ones you’ve created. This gives you the power to determine what to do once you know the video exist.

- You can choose to do nothing.

- You can contact the publisher.

- You can report the video to YouTube for removal.

Key Takeaways

I hope this article has clarified what you can and cannot do with copyrighted content. Here is a quick summary of what we touched on in this post:

- Avoid having 3 copyright strikes on your channel at all costs.

- When using copyrighted material, ensure it is essential to the video and you are not overdoing it.

- Make sure that the copyrighted content does not take views and sales away from the original source.

- Strive to use the copyrighted content in a transformative way, as a parody or a commentary, to educate or inform.

- Give the original creator credit or have it benefit the original by giving more publicity.

- Report any creator that is infringing on your content.

Got any questions on YouTube copyright? Leave a comment below and we’ll help you answer it.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions

0

One of the trickiest terrains for new YouTubers to navigate is the land of copyright rules.

We get it, it’s confusing and stressful, especially when what you want to focus on is making videos, but instead, you are worried about getting your account terminated or being sued.

Can you or can’t you use that song or that clip from the movie? That’s all you want to know.

In this article, we are going to address the key areas that YouTubers need to understand when it comes to YouTube copyright. What is okay and what isn’t? What may be considered risky or what would be worth taking a chance?

Remember that everything discussed in this article is only best practices and shouldn’t be taken as definitive legal advice.

Now that we are set, let’s dive in:

Part 1: What is Fair Use?

When we talk about YouTube copyright, we have to talk about fair use.

Without fair use, there wouldn’t be any flexibility for creators. There wouldn’t be mashups, parodies, or lip dubs. Without fair use, any video with copyright content such as music in the background or a reference to a scene from a famous movie will require approval from the content owner and can be removed. Because of fair use, you can publish a video with copyrighted material in it and not have to ask anyone.

Think of fair use as exceptions to copyright rules.

Part 2: What YouTube Considers Fair Use

There are a few aspects YouTube looks at when it comes to determining whether creators are using copyrighted content that meets the fair use exceptions.

1. Is the copyrighted content being creatively or purposefully used?
2. Are there more original content used than copyrighted content in the video?
3. Will your video benefit the original copyrighted content?

Part 3: Types of Content That Meet Fair Use

Some acceptable styles of videos that allow you to exercise fair use are:

Critiques and Reviews: You can use clips of a movie that you review or play a chorus from a song that you are analyzing in a video and it will be okay to use because it’s serving a purpose of educating the viewer.

Tutorials and Commentary: A YouTube gamer streaming the video games and making comments throughout, that is within fair use, because it can be said that it is giving the video game exposure. Additionally, anything that can be classified as tutorials can also fall under fair use. If you have a video teaching people how to play a famous song, like The Beatles’ Let It Be , on piano, that’s fine!

Mashups: Mashups tend to be built entirely out of copyrighted material, but when done well this style of videos are very creative and often serve to promote the original work as opposed to replacing it.

There couldn’t be two more different movies than Toy Story and Fight Club, but somehow thanks the the creativity of a YouTube creator, there is a now a mashup of it. Some might call it an abomination, but this type of recycled art takes skills and planning, and it wouldn’t exist without fair use.

Parody: Imitation for comedic or dramatic effect is an artistic pursuit as long as it is done in a transformative manner. What does transformative mean? It means in some way, the original is being examined.

In this example from The Hillywood Show, we see a parody of both BBC’s Sherlock Holmes and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’s Thrift Shop. The nuisance of the show and song recreated are there, but nobody who enjoys the originals will sit down and appreciate it in the same way. A parody is in no way trying to replace the original, but rather using the subject, structure, and style of the original as a vessel to another creative work.

Part 4: What To Do When You Get a YouTube Copyright Strike

If you are reading this, you may have already gotten a YouTube copyright strike.

This may have surprised you. Don’t be too concerned. If it was a mistake, the copyright strike merely acts as a warning, letting you know that the content in your video is copyrighted material.

However, if you were to get 3 copyright strikes in 90 days, you may be penalized by:

- Having all your accounts and videos removed

- Not being able to create a new channel

So what should you do? Here are the steps to take after you receive a copyright strike:

1. Review the copyright strike by going into Creator Studio > Video Manager > Copyright notice

1. Click on the “Copyright Strike” link beside the flagged video to see details
2. Decide how to respond to the strike:
   1. Allow the strike to expire after 90 days and complete the YouTube’s copyright school
   2. Contact the person who reported your video and get the claim retracted
   3. Dispute the claim with a counter notification

Part 5: 5 Ways to Avoid Copyright Strike

It’s not always clear what YouTube deems fair use, but there are a few things you can do to improve your chances of meeting the qualification.

1. Use non-fictional copyright content instead of creative and fictional copyrighted content. You’ll have a better chance of meeting fair use if you use footages from a news broadcast than you would from a movie or television show.

The intent is clear when using non-fictional copyright content, such as in Bad Lip Reading. They aren’t trying to rebroadcast the Mark Zuckerberg integration, they are parodying it. The easier it is for the public to recognize that the content is from a source, and understand that the creator isn’t trying to take credit for it, the more likely it’ll pass the fair use qualification.

However, if Bad Lip Reading posted the content without lip dubbing, then one can argue that they are taking views away from the original news sources and that wouldn’t be fair use.

2. Make sure your video with copyrighted content isn’t replacing the original one. Only use enough of the source material to get your point across and ensure you are not negatively affecting the original through views and sales.

In this example from Screen Prism, we see scenes from Wes Anderson movies all through the video, however, it is not replacing any of the original films. In fact, you can say that because of this video, people will be motivated to go and watch a Wes Anderson movie, those benefiting the original creator.

3. The copyrighted material is essential to your video. Whether the copyrighted content is needed in order to illustrate a point or if that one moment from a well-recognized movie helps tie together the message, as long as the copyrighted material is serving the video in some significant way, then it will be consider fair use.

4. Give the original creator credit. Just because you give the original creator credit doesn’t mean you can rightfully use their content, however, it does give you a better chance at avoiding copyright strike. Most often, the original creators simply want credit for their work. If they see that you have noted that the content was made by them, it will only give them more exposure.

5. Keep it short. There is no precise number of seconds or ratio of copyrighted to original footage you should have in your video to qualify as fair use. But generally, if the copyrighted clip is short and/or broken up, then it stands a better chance at being approved by YouTube.

Part 6: What to Do When Other YouTubers Are Copying Your Content

As a new YouTuber, it’s a little freaky to think that someone is taking your content and republishing it or using your creations in their video without your permission.

If you ever notice that your content is being copied without your approval — if they have duplicated your video completely or is using your video without giving credit — and it is not benefiting your channel in any way, don’t worry, YouTube is designed to protect you.

Steps to Report Copyright Infringements on YouTube

1. View the video that contains your copyrighted material.
2. Click on “Report”

1. Select “Infringes my rights” in the pop up window and click “infringes my copyright” in the dropdown options.

1. Supply additional information to the report form, including the URL of the video infringing your copyrighted content and the URL of your own video.
2. Submit report and wait for an email confirmation that the infringing content has been removed.

Part 7: YouTube Copyright Match

In 2018, YouTube launched a new feature called Copyright Match Tool, which automatically finds videos that are very similar or the same as the ones you’ve created. This gives you the power to determine what to do once you know the video exist.

- You can choose to do nothing.

- You can contact the publisher.

- You can report the video to YouTube for removal.

Key Takeaways

I hope this article has clarified what you can and cannot do with copyrighted content. Here is a quick summary of what we touched on in this post:

- Avoid having 3 copyright strikes on your channel at all costs.

- When using copyrighted material, ensure it is essential to the video and you are not overdoing it.

- Make sure that the copyrighted content does not take views and sales away from the original source.

- Strive to use the copyrighted content in a transformative way, as a parody or a commentary, to educate or inform.

- Give the original creator credit or have it benefit the original by giving more publicity.

- Report any creator that is infringing on your content.

Got any questions on YouTube copyright? Leave a comment below and we’ll help you answer it.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions

0

One of the trickiest terrains for new YouTubers to navigate is the land of copyright rules.

We get it, it’s confusing and stressful, especially when what you want to focus on is making videos, but instead, you are worried about getting your account terminated or being sued.

Can you or can’t you use that song or that clip from the movie? That’s all you want to know.

In this article, we are going to address the key areas that YouTubers need to understand when it comes to YouTube copyright. What is okay and what isn’t? What may be considered risky or what would be worth taking a chance?

Remember that everything discussed in this article is only best practices and shouldn’t be taken as definitive legal advice.

Now that we are set, let’s dive in:

Part 1: What is Fair Use?

When we talk about YouTube copyright, we have to talk about fair use.

Without fair use, there wouldn’t be any flexibility for creators. There wouldn’t be mashups, parodies, or lip dubs. Without fair use, any video with copyright content such as music in the background or a reference to a scene from a famous movie will require approval from the content owner and can be removed. Because of fair use, you can publish a video with copyrighted material in it and not have to ask anyone.

Think of fair use as exceptions to copyright rules.

Part 2: What YouTube Considers Fair Use

There are a few aspects YouTube looks at when it comes to determining whether creators are using copyrighted content that meets the fair use exceptions.

1. Is the copyrighted content being creatively or purposefully used?
2. Are there more original content used than copyrighted content in the video?
3. Will your video benefit the original copyrighted content?

Part 3: Types of Content That Meet Fair Use

Some acceptable styles of videos that allow you to exercise fair use are:

Critiques and Reviews: You can use clips of a movie that you review or play a chorus from a song that you are analyzing in a video and it will be okay to use because it’s serving a purpose of educating the viewer.

Tutorials and Commentary: A YouTube gamer streaming the video games and making comments throughout, that is within fair use, because it can be said that it is giving the video game exposure. Additionally, anything that can be classified as tutorials can also fall under fair use. If you have a video teaching people how to play a famous song, like The Beatles’ Let It Be , on piano, that’s fine!

Mashups: Mashups tend to be built entirely out of copyrighted material, but when done well this style of videos are very creative and often serve to promote the original work as opposed to replacing it.

There couldn’t be two more different movies than Toy Story and Fight Club, but somehow thanks the the creativity of a YouTube creator, there is a now a mashup of it. Some might call it an abomination, but this type of recycled art takes skills and planning, and it wouldn’t exist without fair use.

Parody: Imitation for comedic or dramatic effect is an artistic pursuit as long as it is done in a transformative manner. What does transformative mean? It means in some way, the original is being examined.

In this example from The Hillywood Show, we see a parody of both BBC’s Sherlock Holmes and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’s Thrift Shop. The nuisance of the show and song recreated are there, but nobody who enjoys the originals will sit down and appreciate it in the same way. A parody is in no way trying to replace the original, but rather using the subject, structure, and style of the original as a vessel to another creative work.

Part 4: What To Do When You Get a YouTube Copyright Strike

If you are reading this, you may have already gotten a YouTube copyright strike.

This may have surprised you. Don’t be too concerned. If it was a mistake, the copyright strike merely acts as a warning, letting you know that the content in your video is copyrighted material.

However, if you were to get 3 copyright strikes in 90 days, you may be penalized by:

- Having all your accounts and videos removed

- Not being able to create a new channel

So what should you do? Here are the steps to take after you receive a copyright strike:

1. Review the copyright strike by going into Creator Studio > Video Manager > Copyright notice

1. Click on the “Copyright Strike” link beside the flagged video to see details
2. Decide how to respond to the strike:
   1. Allow the strike to expire after 90 days and complete the YouTube’s copyright school
   2. Contact the person who reported your video and get the claim retracted
   3. Dispute the claim with a counter notification

Part 5: 5 Ways to Avoid Copyright Strike

It’s not always clear what YouTube deems fair use, but there are a few things you can do to improve your chances of meeting the qualification.

1. Use non-fictional copyright content instead of creative and fictional copyrighted content. You’ll have a better chance of meeting fair use if you use footages from a news broadcast than you would from a movie or television show.

The intent is clear when using non-fictional copyright content, such as in Bad Lip Reading. They aren’t trying to rebroadcast the Mark Zuckerberg integration, they are parodying it. The easier it is for the public to recognize that the content is from a source, and understand that the creator isn’t trying to take credit for it, the more likely it’ll pass the fair use qualification.

However, if Bad Lip Reading posted the content without lip dubbing, then one can argue that they are taking views away from the original news sources and that wouldn’t be fair use.

2. Make sure your video with copyrighted content isn’t replacing the original one. Only use enough of the source material to get your point across and ensure you are not negatively affecting the original through views and sales.

In this example from Screen Prism, we see scenes from Wes Anderson movies all through the video, however, it is not replacing any of the original films. In fact, you can say that because of this video, people will be motivated to go and watch a Wes Anderson movie, those benefiting the original creator.

3. The copyrighted material is essential to your video. Whether the copyrighted content is needed in order to illustrate a point or if that one moment from a well-recognized movie helps tie together the message, as long as the copyrighted material is serving the video in some significant way, then it will be consider fair use.

4. Give the original creator credit. Just because you give the original creator credit doesn’t mean you can rightfully use their content, however, it does give you a better chance at avoiding copyright strike. Most often, the original creators simply want credit for their work. If they see that you have noted that the content was made by them, it will only give them more exposure.

5. Keep it short. There is no precise number of seconds or ratio of copyrighted to original footage you should have in your video to qualify as fair use. But generally, if the copyrighted clip is short and/or broken up, then it stands a better chance at being approved by YouTube.

Part 6: What to Do When Other YouTubers Are Copying Your Content

As a new YouTuber, it’s a little freaky to think that someone is taking your content and republishing it or using your creations in their video without your permission.

If you ever notice that your content is being copied without your approval — if they have duplicated your video completely or is using your video without giving credit — and it is not benefiting your channel in any way, don’t worry, YouTube is designed to protect you.

Steps to Report Copyright Infringements on YouTube

1. View the video that contains your copyrighted material.
2. Click on “Report”

1. Select “Infringes my rights” in the pop up window and click “infringes my copyright” in the dropdown options.

1. Supply additional information to the report form, including the URL of the video infringing your copyrighted content and the URL of your own video.
2. Submit report and wait for an email confirmation that the infringing content has been removed.

Part 7: YouTube Copyright Match

In 2018, YouTube launched a new feature called Copyright Match Tool, which automatically finds videos that are very similar or the same as the ones you’ve created. This gives you the power to determine what to do once you know the video exist.

- You can choose to do nothing.

- You can contact the publisher.

- You can report the video to YouTube for removal.

Key Takeaways

I hope this article has clarified what you can and cannot do with copyrighted content. Here is a quick summary of what we touched on in this post:

- Avoid having 3 copyright strikes on your channel at all costs.

- When using copyrighted material, ensure it is essential to the video and you are not overdoing it.

- Make sure that the copyrighted content does not take views and sales away from the original source.

- Strive to use the copyrighted content in a transformative way, as a parody or a commentary, to educate or inform.

- Give the original creator credit or have it benefit the original by giving more publicity.

- Report any creator that is infringing on your content.

Got any questions on YouTube copyright? Leave a comment below and we’ll help you answer it.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions

0

One of the trickiest terrains for new YouTubers to navigate is the land of copyright rules.

We get it, it’s confusing and stressful, especially when what you want to focus on is making videos, but instead, you are worried about getting your account terminated or being sued.

Can you or can’t you use that song or that clip from the movie? That’s all you want to know.

In this article, we are going to address the key areas that YouTubers need to understand when it comes to YouTube copyright. What is okay and what isn’t? What may be considered risky or what would be worth taking a chance?

Remember that everything discussed in this article is only best practices and shouldn’t be taken as definitive legal advice.

Now that we are set, let’s dive in:

Part 1: What is Fair Use?

When we talk about YouTube copyright, we have to talk about fair use.

Without fair use, there wouldn’t be any flexibility for creators. There wouldn’t be mashups, parodies, or lip dubs. Without fair use, any video with copyright content such as music in the background or a reference to a scene from a famous movie will require approval from the content owner and can be removed. Because of fair use, you can publish a video with copyrighted material in it and not have to ask anyone.

Think of fair use as exceptions to copyright rules.

Part 2: What YouTube Considers Fair Use

There are a few aspects YouTube looks at when it comes to determining whether creators are using copyrighted content that meets the fair use exceptions.

1. Is the copyrighted content being creatively or purposefully used?
2. Are there more original content used than copyrighted content in the video?
3. Will your video benefit the original copyrighted content?

Part 3: Types of Content That Meet Fair Use

Some acceptable styles of videos that allow you to exercise fair use are:

Critiques and Reviews: You can use clips of a movie that you review or play a chorus from a song that you are analyzing in a video and it will be okay to use because it’s serving a purpose of educating the viewer.

Tutorials and Commentary: A YouTube gamer streaming the video games and making comments throughout, that is within fair use, because it can be said that it is giving the video game exposure. Additionally, anything that can be classified as tutorials can also fall under fair use. If you have a video teaching people how to play a famous song, like The Beatles’ Let It Be , on piano, that’s fine!

Mashups: Mashups tend to be built entirely out of copyrighted material, but when done well this style of videos are very creative and often serve to promote the original work as opposed to replacing it.

There couldn’t be two more different movies than Toy Story and Fight Club, but somehow thanks the the creativity of a YouTube creator, there is a now a mashup of it. Some might call it an abomination, but this type of recycled art takes skills and planning, and it wouldn’t exist without fair use.

Parody: Imitation for comedic or dramatic effect is an artistic pursuit as long as it is done in a transformative manner. What does transformative mean? It means in some way, the original is being examined.

In this example from The Hillywood Show, we see a parody of both BBC’s Sherlock Holmes and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’s Thrift Shop. The nuisance of the show and song recreated are there, but nobody who enjoys the originals will sit down and appreciate it in the same way. A parody is in no way trying to replace the original, but rather using the subject, structure, and style of the original as a vessel to another creative work.

Part 4: What To Do When You Get a YouTube Copyright Strike

If you are reading this, you may have already gotten a YouTube copyright strike.

This may have surprised you. Don’t be too concerned. If it was a mistake, the copyright strike merely acts as a warning, letting you know that the content in your video is copyrighted material.

However, if you were to get 3 copyright strikes in 90 days, you may be penalized by:

- Having all your accounts and videos removed

- Not being able to create a new channel

So what should you do? Here are the steps to take after you receive a copyright strike:

1. Review the copyright strike by going into Creator Studio > Video Manager > Copyright notice

1. Click on the “Copyright Strike” link beside the flagged video to see details
2. Decide how to respond to the strike:
   1. Allow the strike to expire after 90 days and complete the YouTube’s copyright school
   2. Contact the person who reported your video and get the claim retracted
   3. Dispute the claim with a counter notification

Part 5: 5 Ways to Avoid Copyright Strike

It’s not always clear what YouTube deems fair use, but there are a few things you can do to improve your chances of meeting the qualification.

1. Use non-fictional copyright content instead of creative and fictional copyrighted content. You’ll have a better chance of meeting fair use if you use footages from a news broadcast than you would from a movie or television show.

The intent is clear when using non-fictional copyright content, such as in Bad Lip Reading. They aren’t trying to rebroadcast the Mark Zuckerberg integration, they are parodying it. The easier it is for the public to recognize that the content is from a source, and understand that the creator isn’t trying to take credit for it, the more likely it’ll pass the fair use qualification.

However, if Bad Lip Reading posted the content without lip dubbing, then one can argue that they are taking views away from the original news sources and that wouldn’t be fair use.

2. Make sure your video with copyrighted content isn’t replacing the original one. Only use enough of the source material to get your point across and ensure you are not negatively affecting the original through views and sales.

In this example from Screen Prism, we see scenes from Wes Anderson movies all through the video, however, it is not replacing any of the original films. In fact, you can say that because of this video, people will be motivated to go and watch a Wes Anderson movie, those benefiting the original creator.

3. The copyrighted material is essential to your video. Whether the copyrighted content is needed in order to illustrate a point or if that one moment from a well-recognized movie helps tie together the message, as long as the copyrighted material is serving the video in some significant way, then it will be consider fair use.

4. Give the original creator credit. Just because you give the original creator credit doesn’t mean you can rightfully use their content, however, it does give you a better chance at avoiding copyright strike. Most often, the original creators simply want credit for their work. If they see that you have noted that the content was made by them, it will only give them more exposure.

5. Keep it short. There is no precise number of seconds or ratio of copyrighted to original footage you should have in your video to qualify as fair use. But generally, if the copyrighted clip is short and/or broken up, then it stands a better chance at being approved by YouTube.

Part 6: What to Do When Other YouTubers Are Copying Your Content

As a new YouTuber, it’s a little freaky to think that someone is taking your content and republishing it or using your creations in their video without your permission.

If you ever notice that your content is being copied without your approval — if they have duplicated your video completely or is using your video without giving credit — and it is not benefiting your channel in any way, don’t worry, YouTube is designed to protect you.

Steps to Report Copyright Infringements on YouTube

1. View the video that contains your copyrighted material.
2. Click on “Report”

1. Select “Infringes my rights” in the pop up window and click “infringes my copyright” in the dropdown options.

1. Supply additional information to the report form, including the URL of the video infringing your copyrighted content and the URL of your own video.
2. Submit report and wait for an email confirmation that the infringing content has been removed.

Part 7: YouTube Copyright Match

In 2018, YouTube launched a new feature called Copyright Match Tool, which automatically finds videos that are very similar or the same as the ones you’ve created. This gives you the power to determine what to do once you know the video exist.

- You can choose to do nothing.

- You can contact the publisher.

- You can report the video to YouTube for removal.

Key Takeaways

I hope this article has clarified what you can and cannot do with copyrighted content. Here is a quick summary of what we touched on in this post:

- Avoid having 3 copyright strikes on your channel at all costs.

- When using copyrighted material, ensure it is essential to the video and you are not overdoing it.

- Make sure that the copyrighted content does not take views and sales away from the original source.

- Strive to use the copyrighted content in a transformative way, as a parody or a commentary, to educate or inform.

- Give the original creator credit or have it benefit the original by giving more publicity.

- Report any creator that is infringing on your content.

Got any questions on YouTube copyright? Leave a comment below and we’ll help you answer it.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Harmony & Rhythm: Discover the Best 15 YouTube Educational Videos

15 YouTube Video Ideas for Musicians

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

If you’re a musician who wants the world to hear your music, getting your music on YouTube is a must! By uploading your work onto the world’s most popular video platform, you talent has the potential to reach millions of listeners. Here are fifteen YouTube video ideas you can use to share your music.

Polish Your YouTube Music Videos with Filmora

Filmora features plentiful video and audio editing tools, which allows you to cut out unwanted clips, remove the background noise , change the video and audio speed. The tutorial below shows you how to create a split-screen video with fun with the split-screen presets in Filmora.

1. Live Performance

Raw talent that is unedited and uncut can make a huge impact on your audience. In the above video, William Singe and Alex Aiono perform a live mashup from beginning to end without stopping. This kind of all-in-one-take performance is even more impressive when it is flawless. If you’ve got what it takes to perform your music from beginning to end without stopping, try recording yourself doing a live performance.

2. Cover A Classic Song

Although you might gain a lot of views in the short-run by covering a popular song that is currently in the top charts, you may find that your views will drop significantly in a few years when the song loses its relevance in pop culture. On the other hand, classic songs are timeless and performing them may even pleasantly evoke nostalgia to many listeners. In the video above, Daniela Andrade and HanByul Kang beautifully cover the 1934 jazz classic “Stars Fell on Alabama.” Do you have any favorite old classics?

3. Cover a Popular Song With Your Own Lyrics

As mentioned above, covering a popular song that is currently in the top charts can bring in a lot of views. But since many people do just straight covers of songs, you’ll find yourself competing for views against many other musicians if you do the same. Creatively rewriting the lyrics of the song you choose to cover is one way you can set your cover apart from all the others out there. In the above video, the performer creatively sings a cover of MAGIC!’s “Rude” from the perspective of the father in the song.

4. Cover a Popular Song In a Different Genre

Another way to set your cover apart from all the other many covers out there is to change up the genre. Whether or not everyone likes the genre you choose, it’s still undoubtedly interesting to hear a familiar song in such a different way. Postmodern Jukebox transforms a lot of current songs into old genres of music. Check out their jazzy version of Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass.”

5. Show Your Musical Adaptability Through Many Genres

Professional musicians mostly adhere to fewer genres of music so that they don’t leave their listeners confused about who they are as a musician. This, at times, can get quite predictable and boring. Switching between multiple genres can be refreshingly interesting, especially if it’s many genres in one video. Rapper Mac Lethal explores 27 styles of rap in the above video.

6. Cover a Popular Song With a Musical Instrument (Or With Several If You Know How To Play More Than One)

If you cover a popular song with a musical instrument, you not only have the potential to gain many views from people searching up your song, but you also have the potential to gain many views from people searching up your instrument. In the above video, Lily Liu performs “See You Again” on her Zither/Guzheng.

7. Play Your Musical Instrument In a Unique Way

In much of the same way that performing a familiar song in a different genre can be refreshingly interesting, playing a familiar musical instrument in a different way can have the same effect. The above video is a YouTube classic video featuring Greg Pattillo playing his flute while simultaneously beatboxing.

8. Cover a Popular Song Using Odd (Non-Musical) Objects

Since music is a combination of notes, you can practically create music out of anything that has a pitch, which is everything that makes a sound. With the power of editing and pitch manipulation, you can create fascinating instrumental covers like Andrew Huang’s 99 Red Balloons.

9. Transform Non-Melodic Speech Into Music

There’s a lot you can do with music creation when you have access to software pitch manipulation. One of those things you can do is transform non-melodic speech into music. In the above video, many different clips of Donald Trump have been edited together to recreate Camila Cabello’s hit song “Havana.”

10. Produce a Remix

Most of the ideas we mention in this list have to do with taking something already existing and transforming it into something new. Similarly, a remix is a transformative musical piece. But rather than performing your music in a different and interesting way, remixing involves producing digital music using music production software. In the above video, C2C remixes Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition.”

11. Produce a Mashup

Unlike a medley where you perform one song and then move onto the next in a sequential manner, in a mashup you blend parts and fragments of songs together in a non-sequential manner, oftentimes overlapping parts that belong to different songs (vocals from one song over the instrumental of another song). In order to do this in a way that ends up not sounding like a jumbled mess, you need to make sure all the parts you’re mixing together are not only in the same tempo, but also in the same key. My mashups have been shared all over the world.

12. Make An Acapella Arrangement

Most songs on the radio have all kinds of different sounds going on that it can be difficult to just appreciate and enjoy the sound of the human voice. Acapella arrangements, on the other hand, attempt to recreate music with just the voice. Your own voice is a musical instrument that you can use in so many different ways to make all kinds of unique sounds. Mike Tompkins is someone who has made his mark on YouTube as an acapella musician.

13. Impersonate Celebrities

If you’re a musician who also happens to be good at doing impersonations of celebrities, recording yourself performing a song in different voices that others are familiar with can be a huge hit. In the above video, Yanina Chiesa performs a medley of songs featuring 15 different celebrity singers.

14. Music Tutorial

YouTube is the go-to place for many people who want to learn how to do something, including music. In the above video, Anna-Maria Hefele explains how polyphonic overtone singing works.

15. Make A Song So Bad, It Just Might Go Viral

Making music that’s so bad that it goes viral is not as easy as you might think. When it comes to bad quality material, there’s probably more of those on YouTube than there is good quality material. Your music will have to be extra bad in order to stand out among the competition. Rebecca Black’s “Friday” is a notable example of this last YouTube video idea.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

If you’re a musician who wants the world to hear your music, getting your music on YouTube is a must! By uploading your work onto the world’s most popular video platform, you talent has the potential to reach millions of listeners. Here are fifteen YouTube video ideas you can use to share your music.

Polish Your YouTube Music Videos with Filmora

Filmora features plentiful video and audio editing tools, which allows you to cut out unwanted clips, remove the background noise , change the video and audio speed. The tutorial below shows you how to create a split-screen video with fun with the split-screen presets in Filmora.

1. Live Performance

Raw talent that is unedited and uncut can make a huge impact on your audience. In the above video, William Singe and Alex Aiono perform a live mashup from beginning to end without stopping. This kind of all-in-one-take performance is even more impressive when it is flawless. If you’ve got what it takes to perform your music from beginning to end without stopping, try recording yourself doing a live performance.

2. Cover A Classic Song

Although you might gain a lot of views in the short-run by covering a popular song that is currently in the top charts, you may find that your views will drop significantly in a few years when the song loses its relevance in pop culture. On the other hand, classic songs are timeless and performing them may even pleasantly evoke nostalgia to many listeners. In the video above, Daniela Andrade and HanByul Kang beautifully cover the 1934 jazz classic “Stars Fell on Alabama.” Do you have any favorite old classics?

3. Cover a Popular Song With Your Own Lyrics

As mentioned above, covering a popular song that is currently in the top charts can bring in a lot of views. But since many people do just straight covers of songs, you’ll find yourself competing for views against many other musicians if you do the same. Creatively rewriting the lyrics of the song you choose to cover is one way you can set your cover apart from all the others out there. In the above video, the performer creatively sings a cover of MAGIC!’s “Rude” from the perspective of the father in the song.

4. Cover a Popular Song In a Different Genre

Another way to set your cover apart from all the other many covers out there is to change up the genre. Whether or not everyone likes the genre you choose, it’s still undoubtedly interesting to hear a familiar song in such a different way. Postmodern Jukebox transforms a lot of current songs into old genres of music. Check out their jazzy version of Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass.”

5. Show Your Musical Adaptability Through Many Genres

Professional musicians mostly adhere to fewer genres of music so that they don’t leave their listeners confused about who they are as a musician. This, at times, can get quite predictable and boring. Switching between multiple genres can be refreshingly interesting, especially if it’s many genres in one video. Rapper Mac Lethal explores 27 styles of rap in the above video.

6. Cover a Popular Song With a Musical Instrument (Or With Several If You Know How To Play More Than One)

If you cover a popular song with a musical instrument, you not only have the potential to gain many views from people searching up your song, but you also have the potential to gain many views from people searching up your instrument. In the above video, Lily Liu performs “See You Again” on her Zither/Guzheng.

7. Play Your Musical Instrument In a Unique Way

In much of the same way that performing a familiar song in a different genre can be refreshingly interesting, playing a familiar musical instrument in a different way can have the same effect. The above video is a YouTube classic video featuring Greg Pattillo playing his flute while simultaneously beatboxing.

8. Cover a Popular Song Using Odd (Non-Musical) Objects

Since music is a combination of notes, you can practically create music out of anything that has a pitch, which is everything that makes a sound. With the power of editing and pitch manipulation, you can create fascinating instrumental covers like Andrew Huang’s 99 Red Balloons.

9. Transform Non-Melodic Speech Into Music

There’s a lot you can do with music creation when you have access to software pitch manipulation. One of those things you can do is transform non-melodic speech into music. In the above video, many different clips of Donald Trump have been edited together to recreate Camila Cabello’s hit song “Havana.”

10. Produce a Remix

Most of the ideas we mention in this list have to do with taking something already existing and transforming it into something new. Similarly, a remix is a transformative musical piece. But rather than performing your music in a different and interesting way, remixing involves producing digital music using music production software. In the above video, C2C remixes Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition.”

11. Produce a Mashup

Unlike a medley where you perform one song and then move onto the next in a sequential manner, in a mashup you blend parts and fragments of songs together in a non-sequential manner, oftentimes overlapping parts that belong to different songs (vocals from one song over the instrumental of another song). In order to do this in a way that ends up not sounding like a jumbled mess, you need to make sure all the parts you’re mixing together are not only in the same tempo, but also in the same key. My mashups have been shared all over the world.

12. Make An Acapella Arrangement

Most songs on the radio have all kinds of different sounds going on that it can be difficult to just appreciate and enjoy the sound of the human voice. Acapella arrangements, on the other hand, attempt to recreate music with just the voice. Your own voice is a musical instrument that you can use in so many different ways to make all kinds of unique sounds. Mike Tompkins is someone who has made his mark on YouTube as an acapella musician.

13. Impersonate Celebrities

If you’re a musician who also happens to be good at doing impersonations of celebrities, recording yourself performing a song in different voices that others are familiar with can be a huge hit. In the above video, Yanina Chiesa performs a medley of songs featuring 15 different celebrity singers.

14. Music Tutorial

YouTube is the go-to place for many people who want to learn how to do something, including music. In the above video, Anna-Maria Hefele explains how polyphonic overtone singing works.

15. Make A Song So Bad, It Just Might Go Viral

Making music that’s so bad that it goes viral is not as easy as you might think. When it comes to bad quality material, there’s probably more of those on YouTube than there is good quality material. Your music will have to be extra bad in order to stand out among the competition. Rebecca Black’s “Friday” is a notable example of this last YouTube video idea.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

If you’re a musician who wants the world to hear your music, getting your music on YouTube is a must! By uploading your work onto the world’s most popular video platform, you talent has the potential to reach millions of listeners. Here are fifteen YouTube video ideas you can use to share your music.

Polish Your YouTube Music Videos with Filmora

Filmora features plentiful video and audio editing tools, which allows you to cut out unwanted clips, remove the background noise , change the video and audio speed. The tutorial below shows you how to create a split-screen video with fun with the split-screen presets in Filmora.

1. Live Performance

Raw talent that is unedited and uncut can make a huge impact on your audience. In the above video, William Singe and Alex Aiono perform a live mashup from beginning to end without stopping. This kind of all-in-one-take performance is even more impressive when it is flawless. If you’ve got what it takes to perform your music from beginning to end without stopping, try recording yourself doing a live performance.

2. Cover A Classic Song

Although you might gain a lot of views in the short-run by covering a popular song that is currently in the top charts, you may find that your views will drop significantly in a few years when the song loses its relevance in pop culture. On the other hand, classic songs are timeless and performing them may even pleasantly evoke nostalgia to many listeners. In the video above, Daniela Andrade and HanByul Kang beautifully cover the 1934 jazz classic “Stars Fell on Alabama.” Do you have any favorite old classics?

3. Cover a Popular Song With Your Own Lyrics

As mentioned above, covering a popular song that is currently in the top charts can bring in a lot of views. But since many people do just straight covers of songs, you’ll find yourself competing for views against many other musicians if you do the same. Creatively rewriting the lyrics of the song you choose to cover is one way you can set your cover apart from all the others out there. In the above video, the performer creatively sings a cover of MAGIC!’s “Rude” from the perspective of the father in the song.

4. Cover a Popular Song In a Different Genre

Another way to set your cover apart from all the other many covers out there is to change up the genre. Whether or not everyone likes the genre you choose, it’s still undoubtedly interesting to hear a familiar song in such a different way. Postmodern Jukebox transforms a lot of current songs into old genres of music. Check out their jazzy version of Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass.”

5. Show Your Musical Adaptability Through Many Genres

Professional musicians mostly adhere to fewer genres of music so that they don’t leave their listeners confused about who they are as a musician. This, at times, can get quite predictable and boring. Switching between multiple genres can be refreshingly interesting, especially if it’s many genres in one video. Rapper Mac Lethal explores 27 styles of rap in the above video.

6. Cover a Popular Song With a Musical Instrument (Or With Several If You Know How To Play More Than One)

If you cover a popular song with a musical instrument, you not only have the potential to gain many views from people searching up your song, but you also have the potential to gain many views from people searching up your instrument. In the above video, Lily Liu performs “See You Again” on her Zither/Guzheng.

7. Play Your Musical Instrument In a Unique Way

In much of the same way that performing a familiar song in a different genre can be refreshingly interesting, playing a familiar musical instrument in a different way can have the same effect. The above video is a YouTube classic video featuring Greg Pattillo playing his flute while simultaneously beatboxing.

8. Cover a Popular Song Using Odd (Non-Musical) Objects

Since music is a combination of notes, you can practically create music out of anything that has a pitch, which is everything that makes a sound. With the power of editing and pitch manipulation, you can create fascinating instrumental covers like Andrew Huang’s 99 Red Balloons.

9. Transform Non-Melodic Speech Into Music

There’s a lot you can do with music creation when you have access to software pitch manipulation. One of those things you can do is transform non-melodic speech into music. In the above video, many different clips of Donald Trump have been edited together to recreate Camila Cabello’s hit song “Havana.”

10. Produce a Remix

Most of the ideas we mention in this list have to do with taking something already existing and transforming it into something new. Similarly, a remix is a transformative musical piece. But rather than performing your music in a different and interesting way, remixing involves producing digital music using music production software. In the above video, C2C remixes Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition.”

11. Produce a Mashup

Unlike a medley where you perform one song and then move onto the next in a sequential manner, in a mashup you blend parts and fragments of songs together in a non-sequential manner, oftentimes overlapping parts that belong to different songs (vocals from one song over the instrumental of another song). In order to do this in a way that ends up not sounding like a jumbled mess, you need to make sure all the parts you’re mixing together are not only in the same tempo, but also in the same key. My mashups have been shared all over the world.

12. Make An Acapella Arrangement

Most songs on the radio have all kinds of different sounds going on that it can be difficult to just appreciate and enjoy the sound of the human voice. Acapella arrangements, on the other hand, attempt to recreate music with just the voice. Your own voice is a musical instrument that you can use in so many different ways to make all kinds of unique sounds. Mike Tompkins is someone who has made his mark on YouTube as an acapella musician.

13. Impersonate Celebrities

If you’re a musician who also happens to be good at doing impersonations of celebrities, recording yourself performing a song in different voices that others are familiar with can be a huge hit. In the above video, Yanina Chiesa performs a medley of songs featuring 15 different celebrity singers.

14. Music Tutorial

YouTube is the go-to place for many people who want to learn how to do something, including music. In the above video, Anna-Maria Hefele explains how polyphonic overtone singing works.

15. Make A Song So Bad, It Just Might Go Viral

Making music that’s so bad that it goes viral is not as easy as you might think. When it comes to bad quality material, there’s probably more of those on YouTube than there is good quality material. Your music will have to be extra bad in order to stand out among the competition. Rebecca Black’s “Friday” is a notable example of this last YouTube video idea.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

If you’re a musician who wants the world to hear your music, getting your music on YouTube is a must! By uploading your work onto the world’s most popular video platform, you talent has the potential to reach millions of listeners. Here are fifteen YouTube video ideas you can use to share your music.

Polish Your YouTube Music Videos with Filmora

Filmora features plentiful video and audio editing tools, which allows you to cut out unwanted clips, remove the background noise , change the video and audio speed. The tutorial below shows you how to create a split-screen video with fun with the split-screen presets in Filmora.

1. Live Performance

Raw talent that is unedited and uncut can make a huge impact on your audience. In the above video, William Singe and Alex Aiono perform a live mashup from beginning to end without stopping. This kind of all-in-one-take performance is even more impressive when it is flawless. If you’ve got what it takes to perform your music from beginning to end without stopping, try recording yourself doing a live performance.

2. Cover A Classic Song

Although you might gain a lot of views in the short-run by covering a popular song that is currently in the top charts, you may find that your views will drop significantly in a few years when the song loses its relevance in pop culture. On the other hand, classic songs are timeless and performing them may even pleasantly evoke nostalgia to many listeners. In the video above, Daniela Andrade and HanByul Kang beautifully cover the 1934 jazz classic “Stars Fell on Alabama.” Do you have any favorite old classics?

3. Cover a Popular Song With Your Own Lyrics

As mentioned above, covering a popular song that is currently in the top charts can bring in a lot of views. But since many people do just straight covers of songs, you’ll find yourself competing for views against many other musicians if you do the same. Creatively rewriting the lyrics of the song you choose to cover is one way you can set your cover apart from all the others out there. In the above video, the performer creatively sings a cover of MAGIC!’s “Rude” from the perspective of the father in the song.

4. Cover a Popular Song In a Different Genre

Another way to set your cover apart from all the other many covers out there is to change up the genre. Whether or not everyone likes the genre you choose, it’s still undoubtedly interesting to hear a familiar song in such a different way. Postmodern Jukebox transforms a lot of current songs into old genres of music. Check out their jazzy version of Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass.”

5. Show Your Musical Adaptability Through Many Genres

Professional musicians mostly adhere to fewer genres of music so that they don’t leave their listeners confused about who they are as a musician. This, at times, can get quite predictable and boring. Switching between multiple genres can be refreshingly interesting, especially if it’s many genres in one video. Rapper Mac Lethal explores 27 styles of rap in the above video.

6. Cover a Popular Song With a Musical Instrument (Or With Several If You Know How To Play More Than One)

If you cover a popular song with a musical instrument, you not only have the potential to gain many views from people searching up your song, but you also have the potential to gain many views from people searching up your instrument. In the above video, Lily Liu performs “See You Again” on her Zither/Guzheng.

7. Play Your Musical Instrument In a Unique Way

In much of the same way that performing a familiar song in a different genre can be refreshingly interesting, playing a familiar musical instrument in a different way can have the same effect. The above video is a YouTube classic video featuring Greg Pattillo playing his flute while simultaneously beatboxing.

8. Cover a Popular Song Using Odd (Non-Musical) Objects

Since music is a combination of notes, you can practically create music out of anything that has a pitch, which is everything that makes a sound. With the power of editing and pitch manipulation, you can create fascinating instrumental covers like Andrew Huang’s 99 Red Balloons.

9. Transform Non-Melodic Speech Into Music

There’s a lot you can do with music creation when you have access to software pitch manipulation. One of those things you can do is transform non-melodic speech into music. In the above video, many different clips of Donald Trump have been edited together to recreate Camila Cabello’s hit song “Havana.”

10. Produce a Remix

Most of the ideas we mention in this list have to do with taking something already existing and transforming it into something new. Similarly, a remix is a transformative musical piece. But rather than performing your music in a different and interesting way, remixing involves producing digital music using music production software. In the above video, C2C remixes Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition.”

11. Produce a Mashup

Unlike a medley where you perform one song and then move onto the next in a sequential manner, in a mashup you blend parts and fragments of songs together in a non-sequential manner, oftentimes overlapping parts that belong to different songs (vocals from one song over the instrumental of another song). In order to do this in a way that ends up not sounding like a jumbled mess, you need to make sure all the parts you’re mixing together are not only in the same tempo, but also in the same key. My mashups have been shared all over the world.

12. Make An Acapella Arrangement

Most songs on the radio have all kinds of different sounds going on that it can be difficult to just appreciate and enjoy the sound of the human voice. Acapella arrangements, on the other hand, attempt to recreate music with just the voice. Your own voice is a musical instrument that you can use in so many different ways to make all kinds of unique sounds. Mike Tompkins is someone who has made his mark on YouTube as an acapella musician.

13. Impersonate Celebrities

If you’re a musician who also happens to be good at doing impersonations of celebrities, recording yourself performing a song in different voices that others are familiar with can be a huge hit. In the above video, Yanina Chiesa performs a medley of songs featuring 15 different celebrity singers.

14. Music Tutorial

YouTube is the go-to place for many people who want to learn how to do something, including music. In the above video, Anna-Maria Hefele explains how polyphonic overtone singing works.

15. Make A Song So Bad, It Just Might Go Viral

Making music that’s so bad that it goes viral is not as easy as you might think. When it comes to bad quality material, there’s probably more of those on YouTube than there is good quality material. Your music will have to be extra bad in order to stand out among the competition. Rebecca Black’s “Friday” is a notable example of this last YouTube video idea.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett