You can think of YouTube’s Content ID as a digital fingerprinting system for your music. The service listens to your songs and creates a unique tracking DNA it can use to identify and find your music across YouTube’s massive video database. 

This tracking feature allows content owners--aka music artists and labels--to monitor and monetize the use of their copyrighted music on YouTube.

How does Content ID work?

When you register your tracks to YouTube Content ID, YouTube will scan through and create a unique identification for the track. Think DNA for music. Each song has its own unique DNA that allows the platform to differentiate between tracks. 

With this fingerprint, YouTube Content ID can identify your songs wherever and whenever they are used in a video. Whether the videos were uploaded years ago or just a minute ago doesn’t make any difference.  

When there is a match, the video creator will receive a "Copyright Infringement Notification"-- also called a Content ID claim. This claim means advertisements will be added before, during, or after the video in question.

Most likely, you have seen these ads while watching videos on YouTube. Part of this ad revenue will go to you! 

What happens if Content ID recognizes one of my songs? 

If Content ID recognizes one of your songs, it will alert you of the discovery and inform you of your options. In most cases, you can opt-in for monetization opportunities: i.e. they place ads on the video so you can start earning. 

Part of this ad revenue then goes to you. With Winamp for Creator’s Content ID service you keep 80% of the revenue, but this amount varies with each Content ID servicer.  

In other situations, you may choose to: 

• Block the video showing your content 

• Get data insights into the videos viewers to learn about potential audiences 

Normally, the process for receiving revenue (if your tracks are applicable) takes around a month from the initial upload of your tracks. 

False Claims 

False claims in Content ID are unfortunately a common theft attempt. People can claim certain songs as their own, hoping to steal the resulting monetization. With Winamp for Creator’s Content ID services, certain precautions are in place to counteract this, such as identity checks when claiming tracks as your own. 

What happens if the video creator is one of my customers?  

In certain cases, you may have allowed video creators to use your music legally through a license—for example, if you chose to license your music with Winamp for Creators service. 

In this case, when our system scans YouTube for your music, we may hit a match with one of these customers who purchased a license to use your track.  

No worries at all: whenever a claim is received, the content creator has the possibility to contest it. If a video maker has a valid license to use the music, the Content ID claim will be released.  

Curious to get started? 

As an artist, you can quickly and easily get started collecting and earning Content ID revenue with the Winamp for Creators platform. Once you have an account, you can immediately access the YouTube Content ID service.  

You just need to enter a bit of track information, including title, version, genre, language, licensing and ISRC number if you have one. The Winamp for Creators platform will then search and find any videos using your content without permission. It’s as easy as that! 

Alternatively, our partner Jamendo also offers Content ID services for indie artists.

• Step 1: Upload your track on Jamendo’s Artist Platform 

• Step 2: Select the right license type (CC BY NC ND) 

• Step 3: Publish & activate the toggle with the YouTube icon for all eligible tracks 

• Step 4: Wait for moderation by their team. 

What music is eligible? 

You can only monetize songs that are owned by you, original, and legally sampled. In general, it is recommended to only submit songs that are: 

• 100% owned by you (or your label if you have one)

• Does not contain uncleared, third-party samples

• Doesn’t contain any hate speech or public history speeches 

• Shouldn’t be a logo, intro or a jingle  

• Duration of at least one minute  

• The track should be original (no covers or remixes)  

How can Creative Commons affect your eligibility for Content ID? 

One of the most important eligibility factors is the Creative Commons license attached to your tracks. Every time you upload a track, you must choose a Creative commons license for this specific work.  

This license will regulate what users can or cannot do with your song., If you need a quick refresh about Creative Commons licenses, here is a good read. For a quick summary, here’s what you need to know: 

1. There are 4 different CC license types you can choose when you first upload your track to the public: BY, ND, SA, NC 

2. Each license type allows for different usages (see graphic below) 

YouTube’s Content ID can only accept tracks that have always been licensed under CC BY-NC-ND-- the most restrictive license. 

But why does a track need to have been always licensed under CC BY ND NC?  

Let’s imagine that an artist creates a track in 2018. During the upload, the track was registered under the following Creative Commons license: CC BY. This license means that public users can use the song for almost any purpose, as long as they give credit to the artist.  

In 2019, the same artist changes their mind and doesn’t want public users to freely use their music in videos any longer. So, the artist switches the Creative Commons license of the song to CC BY NC ND. Despite this change, all the users who downloaded the music in 2018 can keep the song in their videos since they originally used the track whilst under the CC BY license type.  

Since YouTube has no way to assess the history of the Creative Commons license(s) linked to each track, they can only accept tracks that have always been under CC BY NC ND. Aka-- tracks that were never meant to be used in a video from the start.