In the latest move to bring order to the legal wild west of its video landscape, YouTube has added extra information to the YouTube Audio Library. This database now gives information about what happens when you upload a particular song to accompany your video. This means you can check whether the song might be deleted by the rights holder or if restrictions apply before uploading the audio clip. On the other hand, if you want to monetize a video, you can also use the database to find and download unrestricted audio.
This looks like a useful extension to YouTube’s existing ContentID program, which lets people use copyrighted music in their videos by adding a link to purchase the song. That service has already paid out $1 billion to rights holders since its launch in 2007.
I have a bit of technical question about the article, it says that over $1B has been paid out to “Content Creators” since 2007. Is that Content Creators or “Rights Holders”?
It would always be rights holders when working correctly. Thanks for the note; I made the change.