What is Content ID?
Content ID is a popular digital fingerprinting system that content creators can use to easily identify and manage their copyrighted content on YouTube. Videos uploaded to YouTube are compared against audio and video files registered with Content ID by content owners, looking for any matches.
When a video is matched to Content ID registered content, a copyright notice will appear on the video, and the content owner may choose to take certain actions, such as:
- Clearing the claim and taking no further action
- Tracking the video’s viewership statistics
- Monetizing the video by running ads against it
- Muting the audio that matches their music
- Or even blocking a whole video from being viewed
Who are YouTube Content ID Partners?
YouTube Partner platforms use the Content ID system to manage and administer this copyrighted content on behalf of content owners. They include FUGA (previously Adrev), Audiam, TuneCore, HAAWK/Identifyy, SourceAudio and EliteAlliance. They in turn provide users with various information such as which videos their content is used in, tracking of unauthorized uses, viewership reports, and distribution of any monetization earnings.
How does this relate to AudioJungle music?
Many online-based music composers, including some of those that sell licenses to their music via AudioJungle, have their content digitally fingerprinted via Content ID to help protect against unauthorized uses, and also use these YouTube Partner platforms to administer and manage their content.
We provide license certificates and purchase codes for all purchases on Envato Market, including AudioJungle music, so should a copyright notice appear on a video containing music that is tracked by Content ID, it can be easily cleared and you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.
What does this mean for me and my YouTube projects?
When a video is uploaded to YouTube that contains licensed, digitally fingerprinted music, a “matched third party content” copyright notice will appear alongside the uploaded video in the YouTube Video Manager (this typically appears shortly after uploading).
A copyright notice does not mean that copyrights have been infringed, and this shouldn’t be confused with a YouTube “copyright strike”. It’s simply a notice to advise that YouTube has detected Content ID registered content within the video, and that further information/action is needed.
Again, if you’ve licensed the music from AudioJungle, you will be easily able to clear this notice and you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.
Why are there ads running on my videos?
When unauthorized/unlicensed use of music is found in a YouTube video, it may have monetized ads placed over it by the YouTube Content ID system. Once you’ve used your AudioJungle license certificate to clear any copyright notices on your video, these ads will go away and you will be able to monetize the video yourself if you wish.
For more tips on quickly and easily clearing these notices, such as how you can upload an unlisted video to clear them in advance, see the “How to clear a YouTube copyright notice” section below.
How do I know if an item is registered with Content ID?
If a track is registered and digitally fingerprinted with Content ID, it will be called out in the item description on the item page, as in the image below:
Additionally, on the item page sidebar you’ll see an attribute for “YouTube Content ID Registered: Yes/No”, as well as which partner platform the Content ID is administered by, if any:
Please Note: This is a new policy as of April 2015, and it may take some time for all authors to add this Content ID information to their existing items. In the meantime, you can still check the item description as many registered authors already provide a note about YouTube & Content ID, and if in doubt you can always contact the author directly via their profile page to find out.
How to clear a YouTube copyright notice
Clearing a YouTube copyright notice is a very straightforward process. You can remove copyright notices in the following ways:
- Disputing the claim via YouTube’s built-in form.
- If the music is administered via FUGA, using the FUGA Claim Clearance page is the quickest and most direct way to clear a claim. FUGA will send you an email confirmation once it has been cleared. You can also use the following pages for other YouTube Content ID Partners:
- HAAWK
- Contact SourceAudio | Rights Management Software
- Elite Alliance
- Audiam
- TuneCore - Or by contacting the author directly via their AudioJungle profile page with a link to your YouTube video, where they can further assist with having the copyright notices removed as quickly as possible.
To clear a claim via YouTube, you simply need to let YouTube know that you have licensed the music and have the rights to use it. Simply choose to "dispute" the claim by clicking the “matched third party content” copyright notice next to the video in your Video Manager, or on your dedicated copyright notices page. After you click “file a dispute”, select the option "I have a license or written permission from the proper rights holder to use this material".
In the "Reason for dispute" box, copy/paste the contents from your purchased license certificate (accessible via the Downloads section in your Envato Market account). You may also wish to include the statement "A license to use this royalty-free music by [Name of Author] was purchased from AudioJungle.net".
Once you submit the dispute, claims are usually cleared within 24 - 96 hours. If any issues arise, contacting the author directly via their profile page can often help to expedite clearing a claim as well.
- For help on finding your item purchase code & license certificate, see this article.
- You may also find it helpful to read YouTube's support article for users affected by copyright claims as well as YouTube’s support article on submitting additional documentation to claim montezation rights.
How long does it take to review a YouTube claim?
If you have lodged a YouTube copyright claim, please follow up directly with YouTube, as this is outside our control.
Tips for clearing claims in advance
Uploading early as an “Unlisted” video
If you’ve licensed digitally fingerprinted music from AudioJungle, we recommend that you set your YouTube videos to “Unlisted” upon uploading, until all “matched third-party content” notices are cleared.
This will allow suitable time for any copyright notices to be cleared before the video is published, and ensure that you can monetize your video from the moment it goes live without any conflicts. Once the copyright notice has been removed, the video can then be set to “Public” and monetization can be activated on the video.
Whitelisting Channels
If you or your client regularly uses Content ID registered music by a particular author in your YouTube videos, or have used a piece of Content ID registered music in multiple YouTube videos, some YouTube Partner Platforms such as FUGA also support having an entire YouTube channel whitelisted. Whitelisting a channel will prevent any further copyright notices from appearing on future videos that contain music from that specific author.
To do so, you’ll need to directly contact the author via their AudioJungle profile page to have them request this for your channel. In your message simply provide them with:
- The contents of your purchased License Certificate(s)
- A link to the relevant YouTube channel (this may be your own channel or a client’s channel, for example, if you are producing videos for them)
Please Note: Occasionally, whitelisting a YouTube channel may not be possible if there are existing, uncleared copyright notices from another author/rights-holder on that channel. If so, these must be individually cleared first, before the channel can be whitelisted.
How to clear notice on other social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram)?
When the content you have posted on social media platforms has received a content ID notice, please follow the guidelines you receive in an email from Facebook or Instagram or navigate to a respective Help Centre in order to clear a claim: