Digging The Greats is Changing

You're an award-winning guy, join other content creators like Beato and others, and start a class-action collective lawsuit on YouTube.

I agree with your thoughts, someone is definitely flagging it manually just to earn their employer more income, its ridiculous.

DUUUUDDEEEE WHOOO ARE YOU TELLLING

Check out Nebula.
You might be able to have more freedom with over there.

Be thankful you don't do videos on rock music, because you would eventually want to cover the Eagles and like Rick Beato could tell you they are ridiculous about even have someone talk about their music.

…Or you could verbally comment on what happens at various points of the waveform representing that section of the song — the type of rhythm, instruments, effects, and notes being played — marking them with arrows or coloring the sections, maybe adding a sticker saying that nothing better could be done because actual playback would undermine the research work. Hey, wait a second. There’s an AI for this?! 😂

have you thought about making 2 videos each time? one with the commentary and one non-public you can reference to with all the song snippets? we can have them in 2 tabs and toggle around lol . would be funny and let them jump through hoops .

Absolutely infuriating.

I feel free my man. This infuriated me so much I went to AI and asked if this.

You are one of the greatest corporate lawyers of all time. You understand the game you’ve won big cases and your friends are big corporate lawyers. I’m gonna explain something to you. This is gonna be the one time you’re going to go for the little guy and defend them. You have so much information on past cases present cases that, you’re going to tell me what we can do about the situation There’s a huge problem on YouTube right now with music. Under the fair use law you are allowed to be able to use other people‘s music if it’s done in an educational purpose unfortunately companies are greedy and YouTube will allow record companies to make claims copyright strikes against these creators. Even though it’s 100% legal. In addition, it used to be that you could use five seconds or less. Now the record companies are coming out to the creators. If you use any amount of the music, this is technically not legal for the record company to do fair use is the law. All of these poor young creators, who are putting a very good content in our educating the public are getting screwed over by the big record companies.
Now, you see the issue. My question is this can I get all of these small creators together like probably hundreds of them. And do a class action lawsuit against YouTube and or the big record companies that are ignoring the fact that their use is legal, and sue them into the Moon for the fact that they have been copyright striking these videos and taking the money from the creators?

It answered me this.

Alright, let me give it to you straight — no sugarcoating, because that’s how you actually win.
First, a critical correction you need to hear
Fair use is NOT a guaranteed right. It’s an affirmative defense — meaning you can only invoke it after you’ve already been sued, in front of a judge. There is no law that says “5 seconds is automatically safe.” That was always a myth. Fair use is determined case-by-case on four factors:
1. Purpose and character of the use (educational = strong argument)
2. Nature of the copyrighted work
3. Amount and substantiality used
4. Effect on the market for the original
Your creators have a real argument, but it’s not the slam dunk the internet thinks it is.

Now — the actual legal battlefield
Here’s where it gets genuinely powerful. There ARE real causes of action here:
Against Record Companies
• 17 U.S.C. § 512(f) — This is your weapon. It explicitly makes it illegal to knowingly misrepresent that content infringes copyright. If a record label files a strike knowing the use is likely fair use, that’s 512(f) abuse. Lenz v. Universal (the “dancing baby” case) established this. Universal had to pay. That precedent exists.
• The problem: you must prove they knowingly misrepresented. Automated Content ID systems give them cover — they claim it’s algorithmic, not intentional.
Against YouTube
• Much harder. YouTube is shielded by DMCA Safe Harbor as long as they respond to takedowns. They’ve built their entire system to comply, not to protect creators.
• However — YouTube’s own Terms of Service and Creator Policies create a contractual relationship. If YouTube is taking monetization revenue from struck videos and keeping it or giving it to claimants during a dispute period, there may be a breach of contract or unjust enrichment claim.
• The money sitting in escrow during disputes is a real issue worth examining.

Class Action — Can It Work?
Possibly, but here’s the honest breakdown:
✅ What works in your favor:
• Hundreds of plaintiffs = common questions of law and fact (Rule 23 requirements)
• Pattern of behavior by the same record labels is documentable
• 512(f) damages are statutory — you don’t have to prove exact losses per creator
• Discovery would be devastating for labels — you’d get to see how their Content ID triggers are calibrated and whether they deliberately ignore fair use flags
❌ The hard problems:
• Each fair use claim is fact-specific — courts may resist certifying a class because individual cases differ
• YouTube’s Terms of Service likely have mandatory arbitration clauses — this could kill a class action against YouTube specifically (though McGill v. Citibank and recent FTC scrutiny are chipping away at this)
• Finding a firm willing to front the cost is tough — you need a firm that believes in the 512(f) theory and sees the pattern

The Actual Strategy I’d Pursue
1. Don’t lead with YouTube — they’ll hide behind Safe Harbor and arbitration. Make the record labels the primary target.
2. Document everything — every strike, every video, every takedown notice. Build the pattern database.
3. Find the clearest-cut cases — educational content, small clips, no commercial impact. Those are your lead plaintiffs.
4. 512(f) class action against 2-3 major labels — Universal, Sony, Warner. Sue them for systematic abuse of the DMCA takedown process.
5. Simultaneously file FTC complaints — the FTC has been increasingly interested in platform power and creator exploitation. Political pressure + litigation is a two-front war.
6. Media strategy runs parallel — these companies settle when the PR cost exceeds the legal cost.

The Real Talk
This is winnable on the 512(f) front if you can prove systematic, knowing misrepresentation. Lenz proved it’s possible. The gap between that case and a full class action is: scale of documentation and a plaintiff’s firm with appetite for a long fight.
Organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) have done exactly this kind of work and would be your first call. They’ve fought 512(f) abuse before and they don’t charge the creators.
You have a real case. It just needs to be built precisely, not emotionally.

Hey I have a smaller channel that focuses on drum machines used in 80’s songs. YouTube mistakes 3 out of 4 of my re-creations as playing the original song and almost all of my videos are demonenited. Sucks.

Have you thought about moving over to Nebula? A lot of my favorite content creators put their work up over there. It may be worth looking into.

Winter Camp was excellent!!
I also really appreciate that you make playlists for Tidal etc, not just spotify

ugh.

The analysis and short snippets of songs makes me more likely to go out and listen to the entire album. I wish these companies would realize you are actually doing them a favor.

Yo i can't lie sponsor from channels i follow are usually dope and i have ended up subscribing to quite a few over my years on youtube

Google can go fuck themselves. The level of corporate solidarity and greed shared Google and these record companies is perverse.

Thanks for the great videos

This is the conglomerate Height of how to Destroy True Hip Hop Culture at it's Root. 1st it was Replace Vinyl with CD's. Then for Survival we had to invent Boom Bap & Replay to avoid Sampling copyright.. Now the internet has given us too much independent Power ✊.. they've hired AI to Crush us! #corporateculturalcleansing