Lost Copyright Equals Lost Revenue

We’ve chronicled the difficulties faced by creators in trying to earn revenue through the current programs in place on social media sites. Creators also face another roadblock in trying to earn fair compensation for their work, and that is the frequent copyright infringement that is rampant on social media platforms, despite efforts to bring the problem under control.

One noteworthy example of both the issue of infringement and theft at hand and the inadequacy of the existing solutions currently in place is the case of YouTuber Paul Davids, who received a notice of copyright infringement for violating the rights…to his own song. As the BBC story explains, Davids investigated the claim and found that the song he was accused of infringing upon was his own creation that someone else had taken, added in additional instrumentation and vocals, and uploaded as their own. And for the trouble of having his work stolen, Davids faced not only a copyright violation notice and the threat of demonetization on his channel, but the loss of potential revenue that comes from being the creator and sole owner of a song and video.

Davids was generous enough to allow the infringing work to remain, citing that he thought that the song wouldn’t ultimately end up making that much money for the guy who was either careless or malicious in his cavalier approach to using someone else’s work. But this case is an exemplar of the larger issue that creators face with YouTube, and every other platform, that are used to share original work; it’s difficult to protect the original content you upload and prove your ownership once others have copied and disseminated it.

YouTube has introduced programs aimed at trying to address the problem of infringement, but even these well-intentioned efforts have shortcomings. The automated Content ID program is meant to detect copyrighted work in uploaded videos, but the system can mistakenly flag videos that have fair use clips of others’ work, or miss infringing works entirely. And the flagging system can be used maliciously to at least temporarily bring down videos even if they aren’t’ in violation of the rules. And the newly-introduced Copyright Match Tool only catches full re-uploads of videos, and have no way of determining actual ownership of content beyond who was the first to upload.

Creators can solve their ownership worries by using RightsLedger to upload and authenticate their work. The immutable blockchain record proves ownership and allows creators to promote their work without concerns about others trying to claim it as their own. And RightsLedger’s global marketplace means that creators aren’t dependent upon YouTube or other social media channels with usurious revenue sharing terms to build an audience and make money from their work.

Check back into our blog later for more on how RightsLedger is creating a new paradigm for creators around the world.

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