Content ID

Content ID is a digital fingerprinting system developed by Google which is used to easily identify and manage copyrighted content on YouTube. Videos uploaded to YouTube are compared against audio and video files registered with Content ID by content owners, looking for any matches. Content owners have the choice to have matching content blocked or to monetize it. The system began to be implemented around 2007. By 2016, it had cost $60 million to develop and led to around $2 billion in payments to copyright holders.[1] By 2018, Google had invested at least $100 million into the system.[2]

Overview

Content ID[3] creates an ID File for copyrighted audio and video material, and stores it in a database. When a video is uploaded, it is checked against the database, and flagged as a copyright violation if a match is found.[4] When this occurs, the content owner has the choice of blocking the video to make it unviewable, tracking the viewing statistics of the video, or adding advertisements to the "infringing" video with proceeds automatically going to the content owner.

Only uploaders who meet specific criteria[5] can use Content ID.[6] These criteria make the use of Content ID without the aid of a major backer difficult, limiting its usage to big corporations in practice.[7]

Context

Between 2007 and 2009, companies including Viacom, Mediaset, and the English Premier League filed lawsuits against YouTube, claiming that it has done too little to prevent the uploading of copyrighted material.[8][9][10] Viacom, demanding $1 billion in damages, said that it had found more than 150,000 unauthorized clips of its material on YouTube that had been viewed "an astounding 1.5 billion times".

During the same court battle, Viacom won a court ruling requiring YouTube to hand over 12 terabytes of data[11] detailing the viewing habits of every user who had watched videos on the site. On March 18, 2014, the lawsuit was settled after seven years with an undisclosed agreement.[12]

History

In June 2007, YouTube began trials of a system for automatic detection of uploaded videos that infringe copyright.[13] This system uses 'digital fingerprints' of songs or videos to automatically identify their matches. More precisely, it detects the unauthorized use of copyright-protected content.[13][14][15] Google CEO Eric Schmidt regarded this system as necessary for resolving lawsuits such as the one from Viacom, which alleged that YouTube profited from content that it did not have the right to distribute.[16] The system was initially called "Video Identification"[17][18] and later became known as Content ID.[3] By 2010, YouTube had "already invested tens of millions of dollars in this technology".[18] In 2011, YouTube described Content ID as "very accurate in finding uploads that look similar to reference files that are of sufficient length and quality to generate an effective ID File".[4]

By 2012, Content ID accounted for over a third of the monetized views on YouTube.[19]

In 2016, Google stated that Content ID had paid out around $2 billion to copyright holders (compared to around $1 billion by 2014), and had cost $60 million to develop.[1]

In 2018, YouTube released a feature known as "Copyright Match", which was initially available to channels with more than 100,000 cumulative views. Unlike Content ID, Copyright Match is used to detect and list verbatim copies of a channel's videos that are uploaded by other YouTube users, and no action is taken until the creator chooses to do so. YouTube product manager Fabio Magagna stated that Copyright Match was derived from the Content ID system.[20]

In 2021, YouTube recorded nearly 1.5 billion Content ID claims, including 759.5 million by the second half of the year among which 4,840 were copyright owners'.[14][15][21]

Use by the music industry

Some music rightsholders allow their music to be used in user-generated content on YouTube, with the expectation that those videos will be monetized. For example, Materia Music Publishing, a publisher of video game music, allows creators to use music administered by it in videos for non-commercial purposes, but explains that such videos will be monetized through Content ID. Materia encourages creators to dispute Content ID claims on gameplay videos.[22] Furthermore, many independent music distributors such as DistroKid enable recording artists to add their works to Content ID provided that they meet specific criteria.[23]

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) has negotiated a blanket license with YouTube, in which YouTube pays ASCAP a fee in exchange for a license to publicly perform its members' musical compositions in YouTube videos to users in the United States. About 88 percent of this licensing fee is distributed to ASCAP members. Although individual uploaders may have obtained a synchronization license to include the music in their videos, a separate public performance license is still necessary to broadcast the video online. ASCAP claims it does not block videos containing its members' musical works unless the copyright owner requests it to do so.[24]

Nicholas T. DeLisa describes Content ID as a de facto compulsory licensing regime for user-generated content, similar to the compulsory mechanical license for cover recordings of musical works: "Every day, rights holders ratify these unlicensed uses by allowing otherwise infringing content to remain on YouTube. In other words, users can post any music they want without first obtaining a license, so long as the content owner opts in to Content ID monetization (and most have)."[25]

Trademark lawsuit

In 2006, YouTube and content protection company Audible Magic signed an agreement to mainly create 'audio identification technology', and precisely, to license the use of Audible Magic's own "Content ID" fingerprinting technology.[26] When Google bought YouTube, in November of the same year, the license was transferred to Google.[27] The agreement was terminated in 2009, but in 2014 Google obtained a trademark for its own "Content ID" implementation.[28] Audible Magic sued Google the same year on the basis that they owned the "Content ID" trademark and therefore that Google trademarking their implementation was a fraud.

Criticism

See also

• Acoustic fingerprint
• EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market
• Fingerprint (computing)
• Media Identification Code (MID)

External links

• How Content ID works - YouTube Help