Content ID

Content ID is a special digital tool made by Google to help identify and manage copyrighted content on YouTube. When someone uploads a video to YouTube, Content ID checks it against audio and video files that content owners have registered. If there is a match, the content owner can choose to block the video or allow it and earn money from it.

The system started being used around 2007. By 2016, developing Content ID had cost $60 million, and it helped pay around $2 billion to people who own the content. By 2018, Google had invested at least $100 million into making and improving this system. This helps make sure that creators get proper credit and payment for their work while also helping YouTube stay organized.

Overview

Content ID is a system that helps protect songs and videos that belong to someone else. It creates a special ID for each piece of copyrighted audio and video and stores it in a database. When someone uploads a video to YouTube, the system checks it against the database. If it finds a match, it may flag the video as a copyright issue.

The owner of the original content can then choose what to do. They can block the video so no one can watch it, watch how many people view the video, or add ads to the video and keep the money from those ads. Only certain people or big companies can use Content ID, which makes it hard for smaller creators to access this tool.

Context

See also: YouTube § Copyrighted material

Between 2007 and 2009, companies like Viacom, Mediaset, and the English Premier League said YouTube wasn't doing enough to stop people from uploading content that belonged to them. Viacom wanted a lot of money because they found many clips of their shows and games being watched millions of times without permission.

Later, during these legal issues, Viacom won a court decision that made YouTube share information about what people were watching. In 2014, after seven years, the legal battle ended with an agreement that wasn't made public.

History

In June 2007, YouTube started testing a way to automatically find videos that use content without permission. This system uses special marks, called "digital fingerprints," to spot matching songs or videos. It was created to help solve legal problems, like a case brought by Viacom. At first, it was called "Video Identification" but later became known as Content ID. By 2010, YouTube had spent a lot of money on this technology. By 2012, Content ID helped bring in more than a third of the money YouTube made from ads on videos.

Over time, Content ID helped pay billions of dollars to people who owned the original content. In 2018, YouTube added a new tool called "Copyright Match" for bigger channels. This tool helps find exact copies of a channel’s videos but only acts when the channel decides to. By 2021, Content ID was being used to manage a huge number of claims about videos.

Use by the music industry

Some music owners let their songs be used in videos made by people on YouTube, but they want to earn money from these videos. For example, Materia Music Publishing, which has music from video games, allows creators to use its songs in non-commercial videos, but these videos will earn money through Content ID. Materia tells creators to challenge Content ID claims on game videos. Many independent music companies like DistroKid help musicians add their songs to Content ID if they meet certain rules.

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) has an agreement with YouTube. YouTube pays ASCAP a fee to let people in the United States watch videos with ASCAP members' songs. About 88 percent of this money goes to ASCAP members. Even if a creator has permission to use a song in their video, they still need this separate permission to show the video online. ASCAP says it doesn’t block videos with its members' songs unless the owner asks them to.

Nicholas T. DeLisa says Content ID acts like a system where music owners allow videos with their songs to stay on YouTube as long as they agree to earn money from them, and most do. This means people can post any song they want as long as the owner uses Content ID to earn money from it. ^: 1278

Trademark lawsuit

In 2006, YouTube and a company called Audible Magic made a deal to create technology that could recognize music. When Google bought YouTube later that year, the deal moved to Google. In 2014, Google got its own trademark for a system it called "Content ID." That year, Audible Magic sued Google, saying Google was wrong to use the name "Content ID" because it belonged to them.

Criticism

See also: Criticism of Google § YouTube, and Censorship by copyright

People have raised some concerns about how well Content ID works. In 2009, a test showed that while Content ID could find many copies of songs, it wasn't perfect. Some in the music industry say it misses a lot of copies, but Google says it catches most of them.

There have also been issues with Content ID removing videos that might be allowed under "fair use" rules, which means using small parts of a copyrighted work for things like reviews or education. For example, a big YouTube channel talked about how rights holders sometimes made wrong claims.

Sometimes, Content ID has incorrectly claimed that public domain materials — things that anyone can use freely — were copyrighted. This happened with simple sounds like white noise and old classical music.

If a YouTube user thinks a Content ID decision is wrong, they can dispute it. But the person who owns the copyright gets to decide if the dispute is valid. If the owner says the claim is wrong, the YouTube channel may get a strike, and three strikes can lead to the channel being removed.

Unfortunately, some people have tried to use Content ID dishonestly to take money from others. In one case, a man created a fake music company to claim ownership of thousands of songs and steal money from YouTube. He was caught and sent to prison for this dishonest behavior.