This article is written by Sakshi Jain, pursuing a Diploma in Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Laws from Lawsikho.com.
Table of Contents
Introduction
If you are one of those content creators who love sharing their interesting content worldwide on websites like YouTube, here is good news for you! In addition to attract a worldwide list of viewers on your content, you can now even start earning by sitting comfortably on your couch. Sounds exciting, right? This article is your “One Stop Guide” on monetizing your copyrightable materials on YouTube. All you have to do is, in addition to upload your content you have to keep in mind the guidelines that are mentioned in this article.
What is Copyright?
Before getting into the process of monetization of your content, it is very important for you to have knowledge about the term ‘Copyright’. I will pen down in very simple words as to what Copyright is, and what all come within the purview of Copyright.
In simple words, law grants certain rights to the originators of every literary, artistic and musical work to protect their original work from being copied or exploited by any other third party without their due permission. These rights are known as Copyright. Such originators hold these rights throughout their lifetime, and it continues to be held even after their death, for 60 years from the year following their death. After the expiration of these 60 years, the work is set free from the purview of Copyright. It automatically shifts to public domain, which means that one cannot claim a Copyright over it anymore; the public can freely exploit it, without anyone’s permission.
Literary matter, periodicals, maps, photographs, works of art, textile and other designs, sound recordings, musical composition, photoplays, radio and television programs are among the works that come within the purview of a copyrightable material. One must be aware of the two conditions that are essential in order for any of these works to be qualified for protection under copyright. First condition is that the work must be original in nature. Second condition is that the work must have at least a minimum degree of creativity.
By now, you must have understood that the law ensures certain minimum safeguards of the rights of the originators over their creations. The main purpose of this article is to enlighten the readers that apart from getting protection under Copyright, their content can also help them earn money out of it. This article will guide you as to how can you monetize your copyrightable material, that you upload on websites like YouTube. The only thing that you need to keep in mind is, either you own all the commercial rights of the content that you upload, or if you are not the originator, then you have taken due permission from the originator of the content.
What kind of content can be monetized on YouTube?
For your content to be eligible to be monetized on YouTube, you must strictly adhere to the following points:
- That you have strictly followed the YouTube Community Guidelines.
- That the elements of your content are original.
- That you own all the necessary commercial rights.
- That your content is advertiser friendly.
Understanding how YouTube Monetization works
The first step that you need to follow is- to enable monetization on your YouTube channel. Once you do that, you content will be eligible to be submitted and to be approved for monetization.
You must have encountered with lots of advertisements while watching a video on YouTube. All you need to do in order to earn revenue that is generated from these advertisements is that, you need to associate your YouTube account with an ‘AdSense’ account.
In order for your content to be entitled for monetization, you have to make sure that you own all the necessary commercial rights of the video. For examples, if you wish to upload a music video, of which you do not own the copyright, such video will be considered ineligible to be monetized. Also, you must make sure that you are strictly adhering to Community Guidelines of YouTube.
You must remember that the key factors for earning are- the types and the pricing of advertisements that are appearing with your video. Remember, pre- roll advertisements that appear at the beginning of a video make more money per thousand views. You will make more money per advertisement click and smaller money per view.
Step- By- Step Procedure
- Log- in to your YouTube channel account.
- Click on ‘Enable Monetization’ in the Channel Settings Tab.
- Follow the necessary steps that are mentioned therein in order to accept the Monetization Agreement of YouTube.
- In the Uploads Tab, you will be able to see a green colored box with a dollar sign next to the videos that are immediately eligible for monetization. You must make sure that you own Copyright over the video that you wish to earn money from. The videos, of which you do not hold any Copyright will not be eligible to be monetized and thus will appear under the Copyright Notices Tab.
- Finally, you are supposed to link an AdSense account to your YouTube channel. Setting up a new AdSense account is free of cost. All you need is either a bank account or a PayPal and a valid email address for your account to be verified.
- Once your account has been approved, AdSense will update you with the same through mail. You can even link an already existing and approved AdSense account to your channel.
Some important points to be taken into consideration
- If you are looking forward to earn money through your AdSense account that is linked with your YouTube channel, you must be aware of the kind of content that are eligible for monetization. You must make sure that you are the original creator of the video and you own all the commercial rights of the content. You may not be eligible to monetize your video if you have assigned its rights to any other third party. If your video was created using third party software, the monetization of your video will depend on the commercial permissions of the license that the third party gave you. Also remember that, even the samples or loops that have been used in your video should specifically be permitted to do so under the license granted.
- The Creative Commons from YouTube or royalty free content can be used to monetize your video if license agreement gives you the rights to use the content commercially. At times, you may be required to give credit to the creator of original content or you have to provide a proof of purchase of the content for commercial use. Similarly, if you use audio/ video editing software to create your video requiring monetization, your rights will depend on the conditions of the license of that software. If someone else gives you the permission to use audio and/ or visuals created by him, you must provide to the YouTube a copy of the explicit written permission from the creator granting you commercial use of rights as a proof.
- Similarly, the use of video games content for monetization will depend on the commercial rights granted to you by the game developers. If the game developers allow you to use the games content for commercial use, it will be stated in their license agreements. You can use their interface of software to monetize your video if you have contract with the publisher or you have paid a licensing fee. Otherwise, the use displaying software user interface on your video has to be kept to the minimum unless providing it for instructional or educational purpose. If you can prove that the content used in your video is in the public domain, you can use content in the public domain. It all depends on the scope, limitations and commercial permissions of the license.
- Even when you perform a song not belonging to you, you may not monetize it unless you have explicit written permission from the owner of rights of that song. Even if you want to record a performance or a concert or a show and want to monetize it, you need explicit permission from those who own right to that performance, concert or the show you have recorded. You might have recorded something from TV, DVD or CD, but you cannot monetize a third- party content unless you have explicit written permission to do so. You even might have purchased some content, but still many of its rights might belong to the original creator and you cannot monetize a third- party content unless the owner has explicitly granted permission to you to use those rights. You also must have found some content online for free but in most cases its actual creator hold many of the rights needed to commercially use it. In case you want to monetize such content, you need to ensure that you have all the necessary commercial rights to use such content.
Conclusion
To sum up the article, in order to earn money out of the videos that you upload on YouTube, you need to make sure that you are the original creator of such video and own Copyright over the same. You can also earn money out of the videos that you do not hold Copyright of, but in order to do so, you have to fulfill the conditions of the agreement with the original creator of the video who owns the copyright of the video. Such permission must be explicit and in writing. Also, if you are one of those people who are scared that if you upload your original video on YouTube, anybody can use your video for their own earnings, you must have understood by now, that YouTube takes Copyright issue very sincerely. It ensures to the best of its capabilities that its users’ rights are not hampered at any cost. Just like the way YouTube does not make you eligible to get paid for content that you don’t hold copyright of, it goes visa- versa. YouTube makes sure no other third party is paid for the content that you have copyright for.
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