Comment by daedalus_f | Hacker News Reader

Comment by daedalus_f | Hacker News Reader

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"Wikka Moonlight" seems to be the name of the audio the copyright claim is originating from rather than the organisation claiming the copyright. [1] The audio contains a recording of Moonlight Sonata with a load of added reverb. The uploading channel is "Alice Violet Molland - Topic".

The "Topic" bit generally gets added to a channel name when a music distributer (like DistroKid [2]) publishes music to youtube on behalf of a musician (in this case Alive Violet Molland), typically at the same time adding it to other streaming services.

Distrokid will let you publish an unlimited number of albums in this way for about $20 a year and then collects the revenue from any streaming on your behalf. I'm guessing the distributer may also register the audio with music rights organisations, which are presumably the source of the copyright claims.

The Wicca Moonlight video now has 4.4k downvotes.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ThyLB6bakk [2] https://distrokid.com/

> The uploading channel is "Alice Violet Molland - Topic"

I went searching around using that info and came across a (similarly outraged) thread on google's support forums about this video, in which someone named longzijun seemed to make a reasonably sound counter-argument:

https://support.google.com/youtube/thread/108213944/a-posted...

> Then she files a counter-notification. The appeals process has not been completed. She is only part-way through it.

> Once she files that and if she does it properly, the claimant has 14 days to initiate a court action against her or the claim is released, the strike removed and the video goes back online.

> Obviously, the claimant will not pursue legal action in this case.

> False claims can cause inconvenience for sure, but with the counter-notification system, they don't do long-term damage.

> Both the takedown system and the counternotification system are mandated by US law (specifically the DMCA).

> YouTube is not supposed to intervene in copyright cases. If they do so, they will lose their safe harbor status (again under the DMCA) that protects YouTube from being sued for hosting copyright infringing content.

> To sum up

> 1) the dispute process has not been completed in this case

> 2) your beef should be with US legislators, not YouTube

Issuing the strike when the process is not complete is an example of them getting involved.

Especially since there’s no strike for copyright holders if they issue a false claim.

Unless I’ve misunderstood something, no DMCA notice or counter-notice has been sent.

Instead the copyright claim is purely via YouTube’s content ID system that detected the supposedly infringing audio before the video was even published, as the YouTuber states in the video linked. The company claiming the copyright sought to monetise the “infringing” video for themselves through this content ID mechanism.

I would argue that, while YouTube says it cannot arbitrate copyright disputes, if it continues to allow supposed copyright holders the exclusive right to decide whether something is in fact their copyright, they are arbitrating the disputes, just in a completely one sided manner, and the creators beef should be with them. If they were actually neutral, they would instead allow the DMCA system to work as you said.

That poster may be right on this particular issue... But it's hard to take them seriously after umpteen posts where they go on yammering about "If someone posts a recording of someone's performance" after repeatedly being told that the lady posted her own performance, and repeatedly asking someone else whether they are that poster, which AFAICS has fuck-all to do with anything.

So much agree. Their taking issue with that detail made me trust their viewpoint less.

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