Copyright scam?

[Bill Marquardt]

If you post videos of yourself on YouTube with accompanying music, you may be interested to know that there is a "company" that apparently makes a business out of wrongfully challenging copyright. In my case, I used software from a reputable company and actually purchased the rights to use variations of musical tracks which I also purchased from them to create a track for one of my videos. This was all on the up and up. I bought the rights.

Recently, a third party claimed copyright to the music based on another video that used the same track. Apparently the "artist" used the same track from a library that I had used. The result of this is I am contesting the third party's claim, but if my complaint is denied, that third party can add a credit to my video on YouTube and collect royalties on each viewing, even though they had nothing to do with its creation and do not actually own the rights.

A search of the internet and YouTube itself reveals that this third party has been using this tactic for at least a couple of years, garnering income from other people's work. The internet continues to lose its appeal for me.

Bottom line is that if you use any sort of music on a video you publish, you can expect someday to receive a notice from YouTube that someone is claiming copyright to your work, even if it is your your own original work, you purchased the right s to use it, or you have a legitimate use of someone else's work by way of the "fair use" doctrine.

[Richard Kaufman]

What's the name of the company?

[Bill Marquardt]

The Orchard Music

There are numerous complaints about them.

[CraigOusterling]

They've been doing it for years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYXbK4OKxq0

New York/USA Headquarters
The Orchard
23 E. 4th Street, 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10003
ph: 212 201 9280
fax: 212 201 9203
http://www.theorchard.com
ugc-affairs@theorchard.com

[CraigMitchell]

The internet continues to lose its appeal for me.

This has to be the funniest line ever

[Jonathan Townsend]

As long as it costs less to claim damages and costs more to defend there's an economic bias built into the system.

Naive realism meets realpolitik: What leverage do you have to address both the source of the complaint and the means used to cost you time/money in the matter?

[Jonathan Townsend]

So Bill, are you having trouble with Orchard? Some other publisher?

[Bill Marquardt]

The internet continues to lose its appeal for me.

This has to be the funniest line ever

I hereby submit that sentence into the public domain, granting all rights to anyone who uses it for any purpose.

[Bill Marquardt]

So Bill, are you having trouble with Orchard? Some other publisher?

I understand it takes about two weeks for The Orchard to respond to a dispute, so we will see. I will suffer no financial loss, regardless, but if they continue to claim copyright, I shall notify the true owner of the copyrighted music that The Orchard id making a false claim and let them deal with it.

I purchased the rights to use that music. See what you get for being honest?

[Leo Garet]

The internet continues to lose its appeal for me.

This has to be the funniest line ever

I hereby submit that sentence into the public domain, granting all rights to anyone who uses it for any purpose.

Is that lyrics and music?

If so, then sorry Bill. I think you'll find that someone out there beat you to it.

[Bill Marquardt]

For those of you who add music to your videos on Youtube and are interested, here is an update:

I was just notified by Youtube that the copyright claim against my video/music has been dropped due to the claimant (The Orchard) not responding to my dispute within 30 days. (Kind of funny since it has only been two weeks.)

Apparently there are two companies that use automated bots to scour Youtube and attempt to match any music found with other people's music. Any supposed match is automatically challenged without human intervention and so mistakes happen. At least that is what I am told. I licensed my music from Quicktracks SmartSound and it is fully licensed for use on Youtube and just about any place else. Maybe they finally figured that out.

The problem is, people who are being improperly ( I would say illegally, but I am not an attorney ) accused of copyright violation are being told that the simplest response is no response because the only consequence is that Youtube can monetize your video by adding advertisements which, of course, benefit someone other than the creator of the video. I surmise that many persons simply ignore the claim and let this happen, thereby allowing the claimant to gain monetarily from their creation even though the claimant has no legitimate claim.

There are cases on the internet where people have had their disputes declined by the claimant and report that they have received a "bad mark" from Youtube, meaning that they risk their accounts being negatively affected and losing their privilege of posting on Youtube.

Is this matter life threatening? No, but it reeks of "scam" to me.

My advice is not to use copyrighted music on your videos, of course, but if you are legitimate, and improperly challenged on copyright, to dispute the claim with gusto. We don't need any more cons.

[observer]

Based on having attended a half-day presentation by youtube reps/spokespeople several months ago, that seems like pretty solid advice.