[oRequiem]

I made posts on X about this for anyone interested in seeing the screenshots I provided, but I'll basically copy and paste what was talked about on there.
Post: LINK HERE

This is going to be a long post.
So I woke up today to a copyright strike from a copyright-free song that I've used for the past 4-5 years. I even had an issue with copyright strikes/claims a few years ago which he dealt with at the time. I received this strike on my newest video. I've had no issues besides some unknown copyright issue that he fixed years ago. Other than that, it's been perfectly fine. It was stated (and still is) that people are allowed to use the song as long as credit is there. I provided credit every time, it's my default. I obviously shot an email to the email provided and this is what was said. Basically, I have to buy the license ($60 USD) or a monthly subscription of $20+ USD a month. He's stating that this would be under commercial use which is interesting considering I'm not monetized or selling anything whatsoever. Not only that, I don't understand why this is now an issue after all of these years of using copyright-free music. I don't understand either why it couldn't be a claim or at least him contacting me. He instantly shot an overkill strike. I decided to purchase the $60 USD license since I don't want to deal with court proceedings or have a strike on my channel for 90 days with the video being down. This video didn't even have a chance to breathe for 24 hours. It had 24 views before it got nuked. He did state that he sent YouTube the retraction and that it could take up to 24 hours, but I find it ridiculous since the song that I used is advertised as "Free to use", "Royalty Free Music", and "Copyright-Free Music". Why even use royalty-free music if this can happen?

I want to know your thoughts on this.

Here's an image of what I received; just looking at the removal request by is insane.
Also, yes. I did confirm that this is the legitimate owner of the music and a real email.

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Here's the response email showing that he basically is hunting for $60 USD (That's the cost of purchasing 1 song license).

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[_V0X]

The only reason I can think is that the rights of the song were purchased by someone and the video was never updated to include the relevant information? (I am not a copyright genius)

I’ve had this before on some vocals, after multiple copyright takedowns I just decided to pitch up or pitch down the vocals and normally I can avoid this. Does not always work though!

[Jamika]

YouTube has become incredibly annoying and restrictive when it comes to copyright and intellectual property issues. It's no surprise that many people try to work around those rules to keep earning money.

[Phantom_NiNja]

I made posts on X about this for anyone interested in seeing the screenshots I provided, but I'll basically copy and paste what was talked about on there.
Post: LINK HERE

This is going to be a long post.
So I woke up today to a copyright strike from a copyright-free song that I've used for the past 4-5 years. I even had an issue with copyright strikes/claims a few years ago which he dealt with at the time. I received this strike on my newest video. I've had no issues besides some unknown copyright issue that he fixed years ago. Other than that, it's been perfectly fine. It was stated (and still is) that people are allowed to use the song as long as credit is there. I provided credit every time, it's my default. I obviously shot an email to the email provided and this is what was said. Basically, I have to buy the license ($60 USD) or a monthly subscription of $20+ USD a month. He's stating that this would be under commercial use which is interesting considering I'm not monetized or selling anything whatsoever. Not only that, I don't understand why this is now an issue after all of these years of using copyright-free music. I don't understand either why it couldn't be a claim or at least him contacting me. He instantly shot an overkill strike. I decided to purchase the $60 USD license since I don't want to deal with court proceedings or have a strike on my channel for 90 days with the video being down. This video didn't even have a chance to breathe for 24 hours. It had 24 views before it got nuked. He did state that he sent YouTube the retraction and that it could take up to 24 hours, but I find it ridiculous since the song that I used is advertised as "Free to use", "Royalty Free Music", and "Copyright-Free Music". Why even use royalty-free music if this can happen?

I want to know your thoughts on this.

Here's an image of what I received; just looking at the removal request by is insane.
Also, yes. I did confirm that this is the legitimate owner of the music and a real email.

🔐 loading encrypted image…

Here's the response email showing that he basically is hunting for $60 USD (That's the cost of purchasing 1 song license).

🔐 loading encrypted image…

If you pay $60 make sure you have a copy of evidence you made payment and also look the person up to see if they own the copyrights.
because some people steal works then license it out when it's not even theirs to begin with. I always avoid using songs and rather try and make the stuff
myself or pay for someone to make it and record all the payments and contract to make sure you own the IP rights to the works.

[oRequiem]

If you pay $60 make sure you have a copy of evidence you made payment and also look the person up to see if they own the copyrights.
because some people steal works then license it out when it's not even theirs to begin with. I always avoid using songs and rather try and make the stuff
myself or pay for someone to make it and record all the payments and contract to make sure you own the IP rights to the works.

I confirmed that the site I purchased it from is legit and the person in the email was the creator of the song. I have the receipt, lots of evidence, etc. He told me that it will take maybe 24 hours for youtube to retract it the strike and reinstate the video since I provided the receipt. It's just disgusting since I don't think I fall into that commercial use license. I make no money from the videos, the content/videos themselves are not paid or sponsored. I have sponsors in my description, but that's not the video itself that's sponsored. I'm not selling anything, so you'd think by definition that I'm falling into personal use which doesn't require a license for royalty free music.

---

The only reason I can think is that the rights of the song were purchased by someone and the video was never updated to include the relevant information? (I am not a copyright genius)

I’ve had this before on some vocals, after multiple copyright takedowns I just decided to pitch up or pitch down the vocals and normally I can avoid this. Does not always work though!

This is not the case, this is the same owner of the song. He had an issue 4 years ago, but that was solved pretty quickly when someone attempted that. This is for sure him, I've confirmed it. It just looks like he's trying to weasel people out of $60 to purchase his licenses. Sadly, I find this the most plausible.

[Ѕystem]

I confirmed that the site I purchased it from is legit and the person in the email was the creator of the song. I have the receipt, lots of evidence, etc. He told me that it will take maybe 24 hours for youtube to retract it the strike and reinstate the video since I provided the receipt. It's just disgusting since I don't think I fall into that commercial use license. I make no money from the videos, the content/videos themselves are not paid or sponsored. I have sponsors in my description, but that's not the video itself that's sponsored. I'm not selling anything, so you'd think by definition that I'm falling into personal use which doesn't require a license for royalty free music.

---

This is not the case, this is the same owner of the song. He had an issue 4 years ago, but that was solved pretty quickly when someone attempted that. This is for sure him, I've confirmed it. It just looks like he's trying to weasel people out of $60 to purchase his licenses. Sadly, I find this the most plausible.

I'm in agreement with you. It just makes the most sense. “Three great forces rule the world: stupidity, fear and greed.” - Albert Einstein

[oRequiem]

YouTube has become incredibly annoying and restrictive when it comes to copyright and intellectual property issues. It's no surprise that many people try to work around those rules to keep earning money.

It's just wild considering this guy has been releasing copyright-free music for a VERY LONG TIME and has gotten up to almost 400k subs.

[G Reviews]

Isn't the source of the music, the name of the website, (freetouse.com) a fucking hypocrite in name? How in the fuck do you call yourself freetouse and royalty free music all in the same sentence and yet seek money on supposed royalties?

[oRequiem]

Isn't the source of the music, the name of the website, (freetouse.com) a fucking hypocrite in name? How in the fuck do you call yourself freetouse and royalty free music all in the same sentence and yet seek money on supposed royalties?

Yeah, it's kinda wild that this is even a thing or an issue that I even have to deal with. So far, it's been about 15ish hours since I've purchased the license to get it retracted. He sent the request in for youtube to revert everything, it just feels like I got scammed out of $60 for no reason when I'm not even making money from my channel, I'm at a net loss for even using his music in the first place. I don't even see myself using his music anymore or advertising his music anymore if something like this can happen. I don't know if what he's doing is legal or not; I find it extremely misleading considering I'm not selling anything, I'm not monetized (even though he states that personal use can monetize their videos if they want), and the video itself isn't a promoted/sponsored video. I have sponsors in my description since, well, I have sponsors that I'm contracted with, but that's pretty much what every somewhat serious content creator does; I just find this way too misleading. If this is happening to me (not a big voice either), imagine how many other smaller creators this is happening to. It's disgusting.

Keep in mind, I've been using this guy's 1 song for about 5ish years now. I had a problem where someone created a fake company and mass-copyrighted people. He fixed that for me real quick, but I wonder why this is all of a sudden happening. He hasn't answered whether this was a recent change or not, or how I was classified under "personal use" at the time, but now I'm classified as "commercial use" when, in reality, I haven't changed anything? It's actually insane.

I literally burnt $60 away just because of this, I feel so scammed and fucked right now.

"Go buy the license to my song to use it for free!" 😒

[G Reviews]

Yeah, it's kinda wild that this is even a thing or an issue that I even have to deal with. So far, it's been about 15ish hours since I've purchased the license to get it retracted. He sent the request in for youtube to revert everything, it just feels like I got scammed out of $60 for no reason when I'm not even making money from my channel, I'm at a net loss for even using his music in the first place. I don't even see myself using his music anymore or advertising his music anymore if something like this can happen. I don't know if what he's doing is legal or not; I find it extremely misleading considering I'm not selling anything, I'm not monetized (even though he states that personal use can monetize their videos if they want), and the video itself isn't a promoted/sponsored video. I have sponsors in my description since, well, I have sponsors that I'm contracted with, but that's pretty much what every somewhat serious content creator does; I just find this way too misleading. If this is happening to me (not a big voice either), imagine how many other smaller creators this is happening to. It's disgusting.

Keep in mind, I've been using this guy's 1 song for about 5ish years now. I had a problem where someone created a fake company and mass-copyrighted people. He fixed that for me real quick, but I wonder why this is all of a sudden happening. He hasn't answered whether this was a recent change or not, or how I was classified under "personal use" at the time, but now I'm classified as "commercial use" when, in reality, I haven't changed anything? It's actually insane.

I literally burnt $60 away just because of this, I feel so scammed and fucked right now.

"Go buy the license to my song to use it for free!" 😒

Yeah, generally the word "free" isn't accompanied by the term "license fees".

[oRequiem]

Yeah, generally the word "free" isn't accompanied by the term "license fees".

It just sucks because I have a feeling this is still under the radar. I hope the posts on X that I made get some type of traction going because I think it really needs to be talked about and at least bring some awareness to other creators that free doesn't mean free for whatever fucking reason.

[oRequiem]

Here's an update:
The video has been reinstated and my copyright strike is not gone. He retracted it after I purchased his license, I doubt I'll be even touching his "free to use" music ever again after all of this.

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[G Reviews]

Here's an update:
The video has been reinstated and my copyright strike is not gone. He retracted it after I purchased his license, I doubt I'll be even touching his "free to use" music ever again after all of this.

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Well, now you know the ugly feeling of what is called "extortion". It was all about money the entire time. But the product was misrepresented as free. He's lucky your not in a suing mood as most likely you'd win that case.

[oRequiem]

Well, now you know the ugly feeling of what is called "extortion". It was all about money the entire time. But the product was misrepresented as free. He's lucky your not in a suing mood as most likely you'd win that case.

Hard to say because I'm not sure exactly how he quantified that my video has "commercial use." My assumption is that he was using a legal loophole to get money out of people. I doubt I'm the only one; I would at least hope that this would get some type of attention online or others speaking out about it because it's definitely a predatory method of getting money.

[G Reviews]

Hard to say because I'm not sure exactly how he quantified that my video has "commercial use." My assumption is that he was using a legal loophole to get money out of people. I doubt I'm the only one; I would at least hope that this would get some type of attention online or others speaking out about it because it's definitely a predatory method of getting money.

That's why I said the website url is misleading. And I don't think the author has the right to say something is being used commercially without any proof of his claim. If youtube didn't ask for any proof of the claim, then that's wrong on the part of youtube and that should be investigated because anyone can claim anything, but the platform should be obligated to verify the claim before taking any action.