Adapted from Words Like That S2 Bonus #1, originally released August 1, 2024.
On a recent episode of the Words Like That podcast, I discussed my view of copyright claims and fair use within the YouTube ecosystem, and one of our long-time viewers, graceparker7003, shared some thoughts on the issues I raised in the episode:
“Hi, Cole. I'm sick to death that you are given much obvious grief over what shouldn't be happening now. I watch a massive amount of YT and most of the content is restorations/conservations and the like. I may listen to music, but when it comes to reaction channels, very few get the view from me. You are an exception and have been for a long time. However, recently I picked up another reactor and noticed that when he just shows his reactions or live streams them, he blurs the video to avoid copyright infringement. Now this doesn't always get us where we would prefer to be as the watcher, but we can usually go and see the video ourselves without other issue. I just want to say also that you are the only channel that I have seen in five years that has this issue. So you are right when you say something has to give. Realizing that you don't have unlimited time to just sit on YT, I would encourage you to check out of the reactor channels just to see if you get the same sense that I do... I think you're being targeted unfairly. Hope to see more of you soon. EOVC [End of Video Club]!!!”
Grace, first, I appreciate the comment.
Second, regarding the other reactor blurring the screen on live streams, live streams are a bit different than the pre-recorded videos we do. From my understanding, if YouTube’s algorithm detects copyrighted material broadcasting in a live stream, YouTube can shut the live stream down. So, it's a little different for a creator to navigate the live stream than it is for him to upload pre-recorded content.
Would I blur the screen with our pre-recorded reaction videos? In short, probably not. If it comes to the point where I can't get a reaction video up by simply shrinking the song or trailer that I'm reacting to, I would probably just quit reacting. My contrarian nature would likely overcome me at that moment: “Oh, okay. You're going to make me blur the video in order to provide commentary on it? No, I'm done.” Since we believe that these reaction videos are completely legal as is, it would just be ridiculous and, as you mentioned, totally unfair, or at least inconvenient, for the watcher and kind of defeat the purpose of the reaction.
As far as watching other reaction channels, before I began reacting myself, I had watched many, many, many different reactors react to songs that I grew up with. Every video that uses copyrighted material that's in the YouTube database gets an automatic copyright claim placed on it. That's every single channel/person/video. It's not just us.
As I attempted to articulate in the podcast episode, the difference between other channels and the Randomine channel is my perspective on what those copyright claims mean for fair use and infringement, and my perspective is different than any other reactor I've seen. And because my perspective is different from those of other reactors, whenever we receive a copyright claim on a video, our channel responds differently than other channels do.
I feel that, when a copyright claim is put on one of our videos that we think is legal and should be considered fair use with no issue, if I don't dispute the claim, then I'm implicitly agreeing to the premise that I've done something illegal. I'm not going to put myself in that position. And unless my perspective on this issue changes or the law/YouTube policy changes, I'm going to keep handling copyright claims the same way I've been handling them.
I hope that clarifies my view on copyright claims, fair use, and YouTube.
Cole Powell is an arts and media commentator and award-winning singer/songwriter from Jayess, Mississippi, USA. Powell holds degrees in computer technology and liberal arts and sciences and wants to be a comic book artist when he grows up and learns to draw.