Within the past week, there has been a bit of a controversy going on regarding a game, Starr Mazer: DSP. The composer, Alex Mauer, is going after anybody that is playing the game and using the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) to ensure copyright strikes on YouTube. While this isn't the first for many, this is still a dilemma that worries any channel. Unfortunately, YouTube and Google are a big joke in regards to ID claims and copyright strikes and responding to them. It's led me to think about some of my ID claims on my own channel.
As far as game music goes, I'd say 95 percent of game companies are okay with it. You have to be careful a little bit, though, because games like Grand Theft Auto have licensed music and the worry isn't Rockstar, but groups like Warner and Universal going after you with music copyright issues.
My first YouTube channel, I didn't see any ID claims issues other than one time of playing Medal of Honor Underground for PlayStation. It was some bogus group claiming it, and I was able to dispute it and then no issues after that. When I decided to re-do things from scratch and created the current YouTube channel I use today, I did an entire playthrough of Underground. That was when Adrev for a third party was becoming a common issue for many people. It seemed that almost every video of that game was getting ID claimed because of the music. I'm sure Michael Giacchino doesn't have issues with his game soundtracks being heard on YouTube.
There is an Adrev site, but I don't think they are affiliated with the person that was claiming everything. Unfortunately, YouTube does not put up a fight. I think it has to do with its issues with Viacom, music companies of Warner and Universal, and anybody that is involved in television. Even before all the Adrev stuff, it was almost always automated messages from some moron who has posts that look copy and pasted on Microsoft Word and sent to whatever forum it goes to whenever someone is looking for help.
Since 2014, I haven't had too many issues with ID claims. There was one for Driver, but that was taken cared of. A few Sonic and Knuckles videos was bogus claims, but was resolved. A few Doom PlayStation videos had claims because of its composer Aubrey Hodges being on YouTube, but since then, he has disappeared from the site and no claims from it. Really, I've only had a few that have been on ID claims since 2015 and deleted a video because of another one.
I did a playthrough of the original Super Mario Bros. on NES. I didn't realize after the fact that Nintendo was also going after every game console they have made and games that they completely own. My impression was it was just stuff on Wii, Wii U, 3DS, DS. Maybe even Game Boy Advance. After that, I have stopped any thoughts of doing Nintendo videos. Personally, I don't think it's worth the headache of a channel that has no personal gain in it.
The video I deleted was a tribute to the Sega Genesis back in August of 2014 to celebrate 25 years of the system. At first, it was blocked in a few countries. After that, it was blocked everywhere. The reason was TMS Entertainment. This is the company that made stuff like Little Nemo, Tiny Toon Adventures, and many other Japan made and international cartoons, films, etc... They claimed the music for Star Light Zone from the original Sonic the Hedgehog, which they had no involvement in. Like the Nintendo stuff, this is not worth the headaches, and it leaves me a little concerned about doing the original game. I fear if I upload a playthrough one day, I could wind up with a copyright strike because of a company that had no involvement with a franchise until 2003 (Sonic X) and would be bought in 2005 by Sega Sammy.
That's about it for this blog. Outside of Nintendo and a few other companies, gaming is accepted on YouTube and developers and publishers are okay with it. I wish for the site to get better in dealing with bogus claims, but I doubt that will ever get fixed. Upload at your own risk, then.
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