If you’re a fan of singer-songwriter Lizzo, then you’ll be happy to know that her musical performance of “Truth Hurts” was recently blocked by YouTube. The song has accrued nearly 500 million views since its release in March 2018, making it one of the most popular tracks on the platform. But earlier this year, Lizzo found that her most popular song had been taken down from YouTube—she had just 17 days left to appeal the decision before her song was permanently removed. The action has since been attributed to a copyright strike, which means that Lizzo’s music is no longer available to be monetized through ads or gifs. To make matters worse, her music can no longer be found on iTunes or Google Play, and the song’s music video is no longer available to be viewed on YouTube.
Watch Out For Copyright Strikes
While “Truth Hurts” was ultimately restored to YouTube after the singer-songwriter appealed the decision, this hasn’t always been the case. In the past, other artists have seen their content removed from the platform due to a copyright strike, even when they’ve obtained the necessary licences to use the material. According to an estimate by the music industry consultants BMR, only three out of 10 songs will ever achieve gold status on the platform, and that’s despite huge backing from label executives and managers.
As a creative content creator, you may find that your music has been flagged as copyright content, and that you don’t even know what that means. Or, perhaps, you did obtain the necessary licences, and still have your content removed for copyright reasons. In either case, you’ll have to look for an alternative way to promote your music. Fortunately, there are several solutions to avoid a copyright strike and still promote your music on YouTube.
Monetise Your Video With Advertisements
Since its early days, YouTube has allowed content creators to insert advertisements into their videos. However, it’s a two-way street. Just because you put an advertisement in your video doesn’t mean that YouTube automatically flags your content as ad-friendly. In many cases, the reverse is true. If your video contains copyrighted material, then put down your camera and start typing. You’ll find that many big-name content creators have been blocked from monetizing their content on YouTube because of a combination of rights issues and ad rejections. As a result, many content creators now choose to ignore the advertising on their platform and continue to grow their audiences through organic traffic.
Run A Subscription Radio Station
One of the simplest ways to monetize your video content is to run a subscription radio station. You can find a variety of software solutions that allow you to create and manage a radio station, such as TuneIn, RadioPublic, or SaaS providers like Radionomy and Revver. By creating a radio station, you’re given the option to choose which songs you want to play, when you want to play them, and how long you want to play them for. Furthermore, you can choose to play only the songs that are already in the public domain or copyright-free tunes that you’ve uploaded to your station yourself. Plus, you can use the platform to attract advertisers, or even make money from memberships, live chats, and tips.
Use The Audio Description Box
If you’re watching a YouTube video and the text at the bottom of the video isn’t captivating you, then you can choose to listen to the audio description instead. This will play for you at the same time as the video, allowing you to truly understand what’s happening. Moreover, if you’ve got a longer YouTube video, then you can choose to embed an audio description for every two minutes of the video. When someone clicks on that two-minute section of the video, the platform will play the audio description for that video segment. Since its inception, YouTube’s audio description has been a work in progress, and the platform continues to refine and improve the feature.
With all of these tools and tricks to monetize your video content, you may be wondering how video creators can’t make more money off of content. The answer is platform fees. While YouTube’s revenue growth has been phenomenal, it doesn’t come without a cost. In order to ensure that their platform is available for everyone, content creators must pay a fee to YouTube. In many cases, this fee is simply chosen to be in the same ballpark as what the performer is paid for the show or live performance, when the content was filmed.
If you’re a creative content creator who wants to continue to promote your work on YouTube, then take caution when choosing which songs to use and which videos to post. Ensure that you’ve got the necessary rights to use the music and videos you use, and don’t hesitate to try out new things. And if you want to keep promoting your music on YouTube, then run a subscription radio station, or better yet, build a community around your content.