I would hate it if my YouTube channel got deleted because of copyright strikes. I’m fine with copyright claims. I’m talking about the strikes that can get a channel taken down if a person posts too many of them in a row. This happened to an ukulele friend of mine recently.
So I’ve been keeping track of songs that get strikes, and being careful to take them down (or not post them, if I haven’t done them previously) if I hear from others they’re a problem. Let me know if you’ve gotten a copyright strike, and for what.
Here’s the current list I’ve compiled of artists who like to punish cover artists. To be safe, I won’t be creating YT content with their work:
DO NOT COVER on YT
Bryan Adams
Calvin Harris
The Cars
The Eagles/Don Henley
King Crimson/Robert Fripp
Michelle Shocked
And here are a few artists I’ve seen strong warnings about on Reddit or FB, but it’s unclear whether they are actively still issuing YT strikes, as more covers exist:
AC/DC
Guns and Roses
Ozzie Osborne
Note that I’ve also seen some warnings about The Beatles, but I think that’s possibly just if their original audio is audible in your video (which is something I avoid with any artist, as it’s a different copyright ballgame than covers).
I think I learned this the hard way. My King Crimson cover which I uploaded to YouTube in 2021, got blocked later the following year by Aviator Management GmbH, particularly for “The Court of the Crimson King”. Perhaps my recording sounded too similar to the original (especially the quiet recorder section at the start of ‘The Dance of the Puppets’), and it confused the Content ID bot.
But I edited the video chopping out that song and re-uploading it in a separate video, and so far it’s been ok.
Interesting! Along these lines, yesterday I discovered several of my videos have been blocked in a few regions (including the US) but I didn’t get copyright strikes for them, just blocks. My brand new cover of “Can’t Blame A Girl For Trying” is one of these.
It’s really unclear whether it’s because the bots mistakenly think I used original audio or whether it’s a company actually disallowing covers, but several REM covers were affected, as well as “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” (??!!) and “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” Also, my channel isn’t monetized, so it’s doubly weird. If they just claim the copyright they can make money off my views, and I don’t make money either way, but instead they block/mute the audio, which to me feels like an automation mistake.
Good to know!! Thank you. I’ll have to keep my eye on the Eagles and Beatles covers I have. I have like 30 subscribers and 3 plays so maybe it’s not a worry yet.
I’ve covered over 100 Beatles songs and not had a major problem with one yet. A couple got blocked in particular countries but no copyright strikes. It doesn’t have anything to do with number of subscribers or plays, as far as aI can tell – even unlisted videos can get caught by the bots/filters.
I knew about The Eagles - I think the band (or more likely its management) is notorious for its YouTube policing.
A few years ago during the pandemic, my wife and I were using Facebook Live to stream yoga classes from our home (we used to own a yoga studio). She would teach and I would play music - we got asked to take down a video because I played “Three Little Birds.” Mostly I played originals and set Sanskrit mantras to music.
After Rocktober, I take my covers off Soundcloud, unless they are Grateful Dead (also cool with posting on YouTube), traditionals or public domain.
