how to resolve youtube copyright claims

Don’t get annoyed by the “AdRev for the Third Party” copyright claims. Typically, these claims can be resolved quickly and easily. Infographic below.

MikS Music
Many YouTubers get upset and annoyed by getting copyright claims from AdRev For The Third Party for using background music in their YouTube videos. Even more so, if they actually had the permission (or purchased a license) to use that music on YouTube.

Many see this claims as fraudulent or at the very least unjustified. In this post, I will briefly explain why AdRev is sending you the copyright claims, how the claims affect your videos, and how you can quickly and easily resolve the claims.

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What is “AdRev for the Third Party”?

AdRev is a California based company that enables music copyright owners to get a share of advertisement revenue by displaying ads in YouTube videos that use their music without permission or a license.

Why “AdRev” claimed your video?

AdRev relies on the YouTube’s Content ID system to detect copyrighted material in YouTube videos. The claims simply informs you that the system detected some copyrighted music in your video.

How “AdRev” claims affect your video?

A claim like this does not affect the visibility of the video, however, YouTube may start showing ads in your video. Furthermore, if you are a YouTube partner and monetize your videos, you will not be able to monetize the videos unless the claim is removed.

How to resolve “AdRev” copyright claims?

Our good friends at SafeMusicList put together this quick tutorial about removing copyright claims for licensed background music:

Now, I am going to assume that you do have the permission (or purchased a license) to use a particular piece of background music and that license covers YouTube use (or explicitly the commercial use if you monetize your videos).

UNLIMITED ROYALTY FREE MUSIC FOR VIDEOS & COMMERCIAL USE
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In that case you have 3 options:

Option 1: Contact the copyright owner

If you sourced the music directly from a musician or a composer, contact the music owner and ask to remove the claim. This is often the fastest way, since copyright owners can instantly whitelist videos through the AdRev back-end system. You may need to refer to some previous communication with the author to demonstrate that you had the permission to use the music.

If you received a claim for using my music, simply send me a message and I will remove the claim right away, typically, on the same day.

You can find detailed instructions in the Help and Resources section of this site.

Option 2: Contact AdRev support

Some music owners may not be responsive (for various reasons), so your next option is to contact AdRev support by sending an email to cid@adrev.net and to let them know that you had the owner’s permission (or license) to use the music.

Want to stop the claims for good? Learn how to whitelist your YouTube channel with TunePocket subscription.

Option 3: Dispute with YouTube

This is usually the slowest method but some people prefer this. If you decide to go that route here’s another post that explains how to dispute YouTube copyright claims.

If you don’t have the license…

Well, I can’t give you much advice here really. If you use YouTube for marketing your business or to generate advertisement revenue as a YouTube partner, then you should know better not to use any unlicensed copyrighted material.

I do understand, however, that the music licensing is a complex and often confusing subject. On top of that, there are quite a few places on the Web that offer “free music”, so it’s not always easy to verify that your music source is safe or the music is properly cleared for your needs.

Related: Is It Safe to Use Free Music in Corporate Marketing Videos? (with Infographic)

If you don’t have the explicit permission to use the music but still believe that you are not infringing, try contacting the copyright owner and ask to remove the claim. Alternatively, you can argue with YouTube that you can use the music under ‘fair-use’, ‘free speech’ or any other similar exception, though, in my experience, that rarely works.

Related:

5 Music Licensing Mistakes that Can Make Your Video Disappear

How to check if the song is copyrighted before you use it on YouTube?

Why music producers want to inconvenience their clients with YouTube copyright claims?

You may think, hey, copyright claims are such a pain for everyone, so why the music producers and indie composers want to inconvenience their clients? Wouldn’t it be easier to offer music with no strings attached?

On the surface, yes, that sounds like the easiest solution. However, let’s admit, online piracy is rampant, and if the music owners allow their music to be freely distributed with no protection whatsoever, eventually someone will attempt to illegally claim the ownership and will try to monetize on the YouTube videos using that music. Sadly, this is widespread.

So after all, it’s on your interest that the owners controls the claims. At least the owners should be willing to promptly remove the claims for those who licensed their music. For example, for my music, I normally remove the claim the same day I get a request.

Related: How to easily check if a song is copyrighted on YouTube (100% accurate)

Takeaway

Your best protection against YouTube copyright claims is a formal license that grants you explicit rights to use said music on YouTube.

This does not mean you always have to buy the license. Even if someone offers you the music for free – ask for formal permission (this can be as simple as getting an email confirmation from the owner). Get something that you could forward to YouTube or Adrev in case you get the claim on your video.

Related: Read This Before Using “Copyright Free” Music In Your Marketing Video

Getting your videos muted on Facebook and Instagram for using copyright music?

Learn how to quickly unmute videos on Facebook.

Infographic

To summarize this post I put together this simple infographic:

How To Resolve YouTube AdRev Copyright Claims

Have a question?

Post it in comments.

Looking for affordable and YouTube safe background music for your marketing or business video?

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  • To use in corporate promotional video, social media, podcast, presentation, tradeshow, point of sale, on hold, event, online / regional TV advertisement incl. political, and all revenue generating media, games and online content up to 1,000 sales.
  • To use in all revenue generating content with unlimited sales, feature film with unlimited distribution, TV/Radio show with nation-wide audience, and commercial TV/Radio advertisement.
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Average rating:

Buy Once, Use Forever

  • To use in personal or small business (up to 5 employees) promotional video, social media, podcast, presentation, free / student film, free app / game, and any media / online content not intended for sale.
  • To use in corporate promotional video, social media, podcast, presentation, tradeshow, point of sale, on hold, event, online / regional TV advertisement incl. political, and all revenue generating media, games and online content up to 1,000 sales.
  • To use in all revenue generating content with unlimited sales, feature film with unlimited distribution, TV/Radio show with nation-wide audience, and commercial TV/Radio advertisement.
Free download for members Learn more
Already a member? Login here
Add to Cart

Average rating:

Buy Once, Use Forever

  • To use in personal or small business (up to 5 employees) promotional video, social media, podcast, presentation, free / student film, free app / game, and any media / online content not intended for sale.
  • To use in corporate promotional video, social media, podcast, presentation, tradeshow, point of sale, on hold, event, online / regional TV advertisement incl. political, and all revenue generating media, games and online content up to 1,000 sales.
  • To use in all revenue generating content with unlimited sales, feature film with unlimited distribution, TV/Radio show with nation-wide audience, and commercial TV/Radio advertisement.
Free download for members Learn more
Already a member? Login here
Add to Cart

Buy Once, Use Forever

  • To use in personal or small business (up to 5 employees) promotional video, social media, podcast, presentation, free / student film, free app / game, and any media / online content not intended for sale.
  • To use in corporate promotional video, social media, podcast, presentation, tradeshow, point of sale, on hold, event, online / regional TV advertisement incl. political, and all revenue generating media, games and online content up to 1,000 sales.
  • To use in all revenue generating content with unlimited sales, feature film with unlimited distribution, TV/Radio show with nation-wide audience, and commercial TV/Radio advertisement.
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More on this topic:

10 Tips For Choosing The Right Background Music For Your Marketing Video
Where To Find Great Background Music to Use in Low-Budget Videos
Read This Before Using “Copyright Free” Music In Your Marketing Video

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Mik
About the author: Hi, I’m Mik. I make royalty free music for promotional videos, YouTube business vlogs, marketing campaigns, film, and more. All my music is available for licensing online with a simple royalty free commercial license. Buy once, download instantly, use forever!

20 comments

  1. I uploaded one of my video and youtube removed it they said some one claimed it , but i recorded all steps by me and then upload. I mean it’s totally made by me then why youtube removed it?

    1. Sorry to hear. The content ID system is automated and false claims do happen. You can try getting in touch with the claimant directly or dispute with YouTube. Sadly, there is no guarantee with either way.

      1. So if i get in touch with the claimant what can he do? Does he take his claim back ? He has authority to take claims back?

  2. This page would have been a good place to tell newbies how you go about getting a license to use a song in your video, instead of assuming that we know how to do that and either we’ve done it or we’ve chosen to steal it.

    1. Hi Trish,

      Thanks for the comment. That makes perfect sense. Generally speaking, if you want to use background music in your video, you have four broad options:

      1. Find free music that you can legally use in your production
      2. Negotiate with an independent (indie) artist
      3. If you have the budget, negotiate with the publisher if you’re looking to license commercial music
      4. License production / stock music from a music library / composer. Royalty free music will fall under this option as well.

      Of course, you are welcome to license and download any music from my online catalog 🙂

      Here’s a link to another post that provides more details: Where To Find Background Music to Use in Low-Budget Videos

  3. Nope. It is unacceptable to have to deal with claims on content you rightfully own and created. That *is* a fraudulent act. A company is claiming to own your music and pursue monetary recompense by people for something they do not own, while preventing you from using your own music.

    Additionally, “file a dispute” is a garbage answer. I own the content. I am not going to file a dispute for every upload and wait for up to 30 days every time for every video, ever.

    1. Hi,

      I see your point but that’s not really the situation described in this post. If someone is claiming your own genuine content you should certainly defend yourself. YouTube WILL shut down the channels making false claims.

      If you’re referring to the AdRev claims specifically, I suggest you get in touch with their support. In my experience, they deal with these matters quickly, normally within 24 hours.

    2. I totally agree with you…when another entity is able to manipulate us to doing something else (defending ourselves against music we created ourselves) then that is harm.

  4. What about public domain stuff like historical speeches off of archive.org? I just put up 10 videos I created using public domain audio and BOOM, like 6 of them came up with content ID claims, mostly from Adrev. Funny thing is they were mostly for background tracks – NONE of these audio clips contain music of any sort. Hell, I had three claims on one video. I disputed them all using public domain claim. I wouldn’t care but yes I am monetizing them and having a crap copyright claim like these is crazy. What the hell is adrev doing!?!!??!?!??

  5. It misses the case or like me you created the music yourself with free loops of right.
    Example I have music with Apple’s logic pro and royalty free loops provided with the software logic pro.
    And Adrev claims my music as his property.

  6. These companies try to claim ownership of public domain work quite frequently. It is ridiculous. Something else that is funny, I have permission from my son to use his music from his work on his CD but if I put it on YouTube I get hit with a copyright claim (not of his doing.) Now that I am ok with because his band Stay Out owns their work–good for the record company to look out for their clients. Some of these companies, however, want to just slap claims on anything they don’t own thinking they will collect the adsense.

  7. I’m sick of this sort of capitalizing. This haawk company that has attached itself to monetize from my video is just another capitalizing #$## group of unemployables that are preying on every video so they can feed their $## $@#@ children.

    Why was my video hit with copyright at 3:50 to 7:00 in the video I uploaded to youtube?
    Because I uploaded a video to youtub of a laptop being repaired so my customer that owns the laptop can see the graphics are working fine. Simply due to a middle-portion of the video showing a table, a wall, a laptop playing a crappy song on complicit youtube was apparently enough for the haawk vulture to cleverly avoid getting gainful employment as opposed to trolling for pennies from heaven.

    Clearly my video ought to be obvious to a duck that it falls under the copyright clause of (I won’t bother to link the video here because once again I’ll just have to use yandex or dailymotion or one of the less-constrictive video sites.

    HERE’S THE FAIR USE CLAUSE:

    107: Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair Use
    Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phone records or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of upper-class copyright racketeering. Title I, 101, Oct 19, 1976, 90 Stat 2546)

    *JUST BECAUSE THE CAPITALISTS MADE A “LAW” TO RACKETEER AND PROFITEER WITH DOESN’T MAKE IT RIGHT. Nobody should outlaw our eyes, ears, and intellect.

  8. Hey there,
    just made a video of Star Trek Online and in their videosequence they seem to use someones music as background music. Now I got this message from AdRev and was wondering what to do? Any help appreciated!

  9. I’m so sick of this. It threatens I can lose my account if I fight the claim yet this company can make false claims endlessly with no repercussions to itself or its clients. I pay $200 per song from a company called Marmoset, I have the license to monetize on Youtube, I have receipts, I have correspondence with Marmoset, and I have had to deal with this for nearly every song.

    While in dispute my monetization is shut off. And NEVER an apology. And lately, I don’t even get a response that it has cleared. YouTube needs to fix this.

    1. Hi Daniel, sorry to hear about the issue.. that begs the question, though. Why you keep purchasing from Marmoset? At that price, I would expect them to stand by their products and provide at least some sort of support.

      If you’re looking for alternatives, check out TunePocket (https://www.tunepocket.com/) – for half the price of one song on Marmoset you get access to their entire catalog, they tell you which tracks are registered with Content ID on YouTube and help you resolve the claims if you get any. Some people reported they were able to whitelist their channels with TunePocket subscriptions, so no claims at all.

      Hope this helps!

  10. What about music in the public domain like Pachobel’s Canon? If Adrev claims to be representing the artist, Pachobel is long dead. How can such a claim be legit?

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