I see a lot of shade being thrown at Youtube and rights holders here because of the copyright claims on videos. I have worked in the TV business for 15 years, and thought this post might give some perspective. I know a lot of you probably won't like reading this, but it's a reality in the "real world" of media and film no matter how many downvotes this gets. Don't shoot the messenger!In production of commercial TV, movies, music videos, etc, a major part of the work done is in something called "rights and clearances". For bigger production houses and media/film companies, there are entire departments dedicated to this work. Google it and see how many careers and jobs there are in the field. Rights and clearances personnel make sure the production has all of the necessary rights to use literally everything shown in the frame. This includes the obvious things like third-party footage and music used in the production, but it goes much deeper: brand logos, background artwork/music, recognizable faces and so on are all looked at and "cleared" for use by the rights owners. This is why in many TV shows, you see things blurred out like logos, signs, faces, and so on. Blurred/blacked out items mean that the production house couldn't get permission to show those things, or decided that it was going to be too complicated and/or expensive to do so.This is in contrast to today's Reddit, Facebook and Youtube culture, where the concept of Fair Use is seen as being so broad that virtually anything goes. But nothing in the actual media or film industry has ever worked that way. A TV network, for example, would never in a million years think to just take a video clip and use it in a show or even a documentary without getting a license or at least clearing it with the rights holder. This doesn't mean that some wouldn't try shady things to get those rights, like convincing someone naive to sign a really crappy rights grab deal or underpay them as much as possible (like all those parasitic "can we have permission to use on all platforms with credit etc" posts by news networks on viral videos and such). The point is, none of them are going to just take something and use it the way many Youtubers are doing under the guise of "Fair Use". Commercial productions know if they operated like that, there's a good chance they're going to get sued out of existence at some point when the rights holders find out.I mean, think about it. The big media and film companies have some of the most powerful legal teams on the planet, but they still do rights and clearances - and spend a LOT of money on it. Those expensive lawyers have all advised them to get permission or licenses for everything, instead of trying to claim Fair Use for anything. If they thought they could win Fair Use cases in court, they would be doing it all the time!The super-liberal interpretation of Fair Use by your average Youtube/Reddit/social media user is virtually unknown in the realm of professional media and film. Everything, and I mean everything, is cleared with rights holders before making it into a professional production. What everyone here needs to understand is since Youtube has become bigger than any traditional television network in terms of viewership and reach, they are now (very rightly) seen as a major media player in the industry, as much as any TV network or Hollywood movie studio. That means the people creating content for Youtube, especially those who have monetized channels, need to start paying attention to basic rights and clearances considerations if you don't want to run into trouble on the platform now and in the future.The point is, make sure you license or at least get permission for everything you use from third parties, no matter how small. Keep the documentation. Yes, it is extra work. In some cases, it's a LOT of extra work and sometimes extra money. But, it's work/cost that every other media or film professional has accepted as part of the job. Trying to simply claim Fair Use for everything you use is really lazy, and is going to get you into trouble eventually with copyright claims and even legal action if you run a big enough channel. This doesn't mean that nothing can be considered fair use in practice, but when you're doing something for profit, asserting fair use becomes very risky and can expose you to legal liability. This is particularly true if your interpretation of what is and isn't fair use is ultra-broad or ill-informed as unfortunately many Youtubers are. Ask anyone who has ever worked on a TV show, movie or any type of mainstream media production and they'll tell you the same. via /r/youtube
