WARNING: Do Not Post Duplicative Content To YouTube
Here Chris Robley cautions against the dangers of posting content to your YouTube channel which too closely matches something you or another user has uploaded, and the negative consequences YouTube will counter with should you do so.
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By Chris Robley of CD Baby from the DIY Musician blog
The DOs and DON’Ts of duplicate content on YouTube.
Wait, did I say there are DOs?
Sorry. No. There are no DOs. Just DON’Ts.
DON’T have duplicate content on your YouTube channel.
It could cost you.
What is duplicate or “duplicative” content?
It’s when two videos on YouTube are very similar or even identical.
You shouldn’t have duplicate videos on your own channel, and you shouldn’t post videos to your channel that closely match another channel’s content. The only exception here is if you’ve taken an existing video and provided new commentary, narrative, high-quality editing, or some other element that adds value and significance to the duplicate video.
What happens if your channel has duplicative content?
According to some updated YouTube Partner Program rules, creators are now in danger of losing their channels (or their channels’ ability to monetize through the Partner Program at the very least) if they violate “duplicative content” guidelines.
YouTube explains:
“The spirit of this YPP policy is to make sure we’re only allowing channels into the program when the content adds value, and is original and relevant.”
Read more details HERE.
Do you want to take your YouTube channel to the next level? Check out Illustrated Sound, the YouTube network powered by CD Baby!
Chris Robley is the Editor of CD Baby's DIY Musician Blog. I write Beatlesque indie-pop songs that've been praised by No Depression, KCRW, The LA Times, & others. My poems have appeared in Poetry Magazine, Prairie Schooner, The Poetry Review, & more. I live in Maine and like peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, a little too much.
What does this mean for all the unauthorized uploads of music?
Of you search for the music of an artist on Youtube and you see lots of these illicit uploads first in the search results, before the official artist’s own channel! Maybe YouTube should actually start enforcing this policy.