
Fair Play: Asserting Fair Use in the Age of Content ID As YouTube's algorithm snags copyrighted songs, music educators struggle to assert their fair-use rights and keep their content online.
By
Sarah Godcher Murphy
June 2, 2023
Illustration by Bruce Wymer
Over the past decade, many music educators have embraced YouTube as a platform to share educational content, reach a broader range of students, and, hopefully, supplement their income with a bit of ad revenue. The platform is hugely popular with music students of all skill levels, providing everything from beginner guitar lessons to in-depth analysis of iconic jazz solos. More than any other social media, YouTube connects independent learners with teachers who can help them.
While this may sound like a match made in heaven, the platform's copyright management policies create roadblocks for educators who post instructional videos on the site. YouTube uses a digital fingerprinting system known as Content ID to automatically scan every video uploaded to the platform, searching for copyright-protected material. Excerpts of songs as brief as five seconds can result in a video being flagged or taken down for copyright infringement, even though the video may be perfectly legal under the fair use doctrine, which allows educators to use copyrighted songs as examples of the concepts they are teaching.
Adam Neely
Image by Liz Maney
But what is legally considered fair use isn't always straightforward. What may be fine for a closed educational system like a college or middle school becomes much murkier in the wide-open-and revenue-generating-world of YouTube. Let's say, for example, you are teaching a lesson on how to reharmonize a jazz standard. In all likelihood, your lesson would include excerpts of recorded music, illustrating various harmonic approaches used by artists over the years. In the classroom environment, this undoubtedly would be considered fair use.
But if you were to record this lesson and upload it to YouTube-sharing your lesson with the platform's 2.6 billion users-your right to fair use isn't so clear cut. Because Content ID is fully automated, the system cannot distinguish fair use exceptions from outright piracy-which means that educational content gets ensnared just as easily as bootlegged copies of Beyonc 's latest single. And, once a video has been flagged, the copyright holder can opt to have the video removed, thereby deleting the educator's lesson.
Adam Neely B.M. '09 has experienced this problem firsthand. As one of the most popular and beloved music educators on YouTube, with 1.69 million subscribers, Neely says that nearly all the content on his channel has been flagged for copyright infringement.
I think-and many of the other people on YouTube also think-that this is an issue of fair use, he says. We legally have the right to use these small snippets for purposes of commentary and analysis.
Neely creates video essays and lessons that use brief clips of recorded music (each less than 10 seconds long) interwoven with his thoughts on everything from music theory and history to psychology and pop culture. The resulting videos feel like a lecture delivered by your favorite college professor crossed with a clever talk show host; and they're highly polished, cleverly edited, and consistently funny, says Spin magazine.
If I'm trying to make some kind of broader cultural or music theory or historical reference, I need to be able to use that bit of the copyrighted work; otherwise my commentary is meaningless, Neely says. There is no other way of doing it in the medium of YouTube.
Associate Professor Tomo Fujita, who launched his YouTube channel in 2019, strongly agrees, adding that YouTube has become an essential tool for connecting with students online. It's the only way. On Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, people say amazing stuff, but that's all. They just talk, talk, talk, he says. Those [platforms] are just making buzz. It doesn't do anything about anything unless you have a YouTube.
Fujita's approach to videos feels more personal-something akin to a private lesson in his home, during which he shares not only guitar instruction, but also life stories, jokes, and footage of his cat, Dexter. Fujita has built a following of 505,000 subscribers. But, he says, he cannot count on YouTube ad revenue for income, because of copyright issues. I don't really expect [it to make money], he says. But if it does, great.
That's because whenever Content ID nds a copyright-protected song in a video, YouTube allows the copyright holder to appropriate any ad revenue generated by the video. This practice, known as monetization, means that large corporations like Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Chappell Music can take revenue away from educators like Fujita and Neely simply because they used a snippet of a song in one of their videos.
If I'm trying to make some kind of broader cultural or music theory or historical reference, I need to be able to use that bit of the copyrighted work; otherwise my commentary is meaningless.
- Adam Neely
Monetization began as an attempt to protect intellectual property, but has turned into a cash-generating machine for rights holders. According to YouTube's most recent Copyright Transparency Report, because of Content ID, YouTube has created an entirely new revenue stream from ad-supported, user-generated content-paying more than $7.5 billion to rights holders from ads alone as of December 2021. And while Content ID has helped ensure that artists rightfully get paid for their creations, it also ensnares content creators who are acting above-board.
The volume of Content ID claims is staggering. According to the transparency report, copyright holders made approximately 759
North America Stories
05/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
05/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
05/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
05/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
05/05/2026
Project Marks First Major Broadcast Deployment of Latest Addition to SNP Lineup
Imagine Communications today announced that France T l visions is the first br...
05/05/2026
Shotoku Broadcast Systems Wins 2026 NAB Show Product of the Year Award
Shotoku Broadcast Systems announced today that its Swoop range of robotic cranes has be...
05/05/2026
DigitalGlue's creative.space Intelligence Wins Future's Best of Show Award, Presented by TV Tech
creative.space Intelligence (CSI), part of the creativ...
05/05/2026
Zixi, a leader in live video delivery and workflow orchestration, will showcase next-generation broadcast workflows at the Media Production and Technology Show ...
05/05/2026
Stingr marks its launch with a new approach to second-screen interactivity
Brie Clayton May 5, 2026
0 Comments
Huge leap forward in revenues and engag...
05/05/2026
Shotoku Broadcast Systems Wins 2026 NAB Show Product of the Year Award
Brie Clayton May 5, 2026
0 Comments
Shotoku Broadcast Systems announced today tha...
05/05/2026
Following a successful NAB Show in Las Vegas, DHD will promote examples from its wide range of broadcast-quality audio production equipment at the May 13th-14th...
05/05/2026
LucidLink today announced its programme for MPTS 2026, where it will exhibit at Stand M59 at Olympia London, 13 to 14 May. The company will showcase its latest ...
05/05/2026
Limecraft today announces the release of Limecraft 2026.3, the third platform update in its 2026 release cycle. Limecraft is an AI-powered production platform t...
05/05/2026
Huge leap forward in revenues and engagement...
05/05/2026
Broadcast Solutions, a leading system integrator and provider of innovative solutions for the broadcast media industry, has taken another significant step in st...
05/05/2026
Operative today announced the appointment of Dang Ly as Chief Product Officer, signaling the company's accelerating commitment to delivering the next genera...
05/05/2026
The Media Talent Manifesto (MTM) today announces the return of the World Skills Caf at IBC2026, positioning the event as a critical industry forum to confront ...
05/05/2026
ARRI unveils Omnibar: compact, modular, battery-powered IP65 LED bars with preci...
05/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
05/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
05/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
05/05/2026
Digital Domain Welcomes Award-Nominated VFX Supervisor Jelmer Boskma
Brie Clayton May 4, 2026
0 Comments
Digital Domain, a global leader in visual eff...
04/05/2026
Hardware is still an emphasis - Supershooter 11 is new, and REMI-based 65 is in ...
04/05/2026
Head of International Business Development Min Joo Kim explores the league's...
04/05/2026
Audio-Technica has announced that its ATND1061 ceiling array microphone and ATUC...
04/05/2026
Triple B Media has launched Bowling TV, a free ad-supported television (FAST) channel dedicated to bowling. The channel is available on Prime Video, LG Channels...
04/05/2026
PlayMetrics, a provider of operations management software for youth sports organizations, has announced the completion of its acquisition of substantially all t...
04/05/2026
IHSE GmbH has announced that Dr. Thomas Niessen has joined as CEO and Managing Director, effective May 1, 2026. He joins Frank Breitenfelder, who has served as ...
04/05/2026
PMY Group deployed its AI-powered crowd intelligence platform, Optic, at the For...
04/05/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
04/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/05/2026
Student Spotlight: Joshua Griffin The New Orleans native, who was named the 2026 student commencement speaker for Boston Conservatory at Berklee, talks about ...
03/05/2026
Introducing the new Mistika Workflows Suite: transformative and cost-effective f...
03/05/2026
Introducing the new Mistake Workflows Suite: transformative and cost-effective f...
03/05/2026
Back to All News
Filming begins on the third and final season of Breathless
Entertainment
03 May 2026
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Discover the vi...
02/05/2026
(L-R) Dustin Hoffman and Leo Woodall appear in Tuner by Daniel Roher, an official selection of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. (Photo courtesy of Sundance In...
02/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/05/2026
Scripps Research immunologist Dennis Burton elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences A leader in broadly neutralizing antibodies, Burton has helped driv...
01/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
01/05/2026
BKB Bare Knuckle Boxing ( BKB ), today announced the appointment of Will Wright ...
01/05/2026
Lawo has been at the center of the industry's transition to IP and other next-generation technologies. At NAB 2026, its story was the Edge One AV stagebox, ...
01/05/2026
HBA Media, acting on behalf of NBC Sports and Churchill Downs Incorporated, has announced broadcast and streaming distribution for Kentucky Derby 152, taking pl...
01/05/2026
By Bailey Pennick
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festi...
01/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...