My Youtube Journey (To be continued)

I have been a Youtube user for many years now and was not really interested in monetizing it since I am not comfortable in showing my face on camera. I am a camera-shy person to be exact. I only uploaded videos that needed a video host for this website and not thinking of growing as a channel.

Recently, I became interested in using social media for promotion to somehow mirror this site’s content to help boost engagement. I even created Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Quora pages. It is helping a lot and this site is now receiving a good number of added viewers. Incidentally, my youtube channel subscribers grew and the watch time increased as well. I got excited and thought to try harder and apply for monetization after I meet the requirements. An extra dollar would greatly help in maintaining this blog.

So I created a few more videos and uploaded them to my channel and eventually, they also gained a lot of views and subscribers. But after a while, I received a copyright strike for uploading an upcoming artist’s concert video footage I paid for and recorded. In the video, one of the concert organizers said they will wait for the youtube uploads for reviews and reactions and the artist clearly stated that he is against too many protocols in the music industry. Because of this, I observed many Channels uploaded the said footage thus receiving a lot of engagements. I did not see the production uploading an official copyrighted version (as of this writing I have not seen an official version). Youtube did not flagged it for copyright violation and I assumed it is under fair use. After receiving a lot of exposure and positive feedbacks, the artist then claimed a copyright violation. The video was taken down of course without a warning. I am not evading any blame but it was a little bit unfair. They should have officially notified me before the claim as I am a genuine fan trying to provide him with much-needed exposure. I even posted some of his video links and concert advertisement here and on other social media for free. Well, I did use another person’s video without proper permission and my blame was surely bigger I admit. Maybe it is true that people change when popularity rises. Anyway, I got over it quickly though because I was at fault. I mentioned this not out of bitterness but to caution everyone not to make the same mistake.

I thought my channel problem was over and decided to just wait for monetization as I am already receiving steady traffic. After optimizing the channel the day finally came…I finally completed the subscribers and watch hour requirements! I am at last able to apply for monetization! Woohoo!

I waited apprehensively for the day of judgment!

A few days later I finally received the notification about my application…. it says…

Months of hard work down the drain!

ARGHH! They must be kidding! I created MOST of my videos! Well, most NOT ALL. Hehehe! Truly it was an unpleasant experience. I felt like deleting my channel at that moment! But I didn’t. Once again I must admit my mistake of using a few? reused videos. But who does not? All YouTuber does it!

Reused content refers to channels that repurpose someone else’s content without adding significant original commentary or educational value. This policy is taken from the AdSense Search Console portion of AdSense program policies.

This left me thinking. Almost all free content, photos, and videos from the internet even copyright-free ones are being used daily by content creators. Youtube free audio files are being used every day! So what was it about! The original commentary then? Millions of Youtube videos are without commentary! Not unless you are reacting yourself or doing a personal voice-over can it be original! Ok, must be educational then. But no! There are a lot of monetized channels featuring nonsense stuff! I am stumped!

So I researched this dilemma I am facing. I found out that if your channel’s content is mainly based on third party material, such as compilations, music, created gameplays, or react videos that don’t include significant original value, especially if the videos go on for extended periods of time, there is a chance that it can be considered as reuse of content by YouTube, even if you have permission.

What I can do to solve this then? Maybe…

• Add commentary to the video or show your presence in your videos (voice or on-screen)
• Link back to your YouTube channel from your website
• Provide more context about your work in your video and channel descriptions
• Make sure the content on your channel aligns with YouTube’s policies.
•  Community Guidelines, AdSense Policies, and YouTube Partner Program policies.

Additionally, one should also keep in mind that when you used third-party content in your videos, obtaining written permission or license from the rights holder prior to using the content is a must, and make sure that your production can be considered as fair use.

If your channel cannot be monetized due to the reuse violation, you can reapply after 30 days. The same goes for suspended channel monetization. I believe you can only reapply twice so be sure to fix all the issues so that you may be eligible.

Well, I learned a lot about all this late so I hope future or present YouTubers learnrd something from my mistakes. I will not stop using my channel for this site but should not take any shortcuts and just wait for things to come naturally.

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