Uploading an MJ Dance Tribute on YT - Copyright question

john13th

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I am almost done and finished with editing a tribute video material which shows me dancing to five different songs by Michael.
For every song I have edited in external audio which actually comes from pro and amateur audio concerts and where I make acknowledgements of the audio source in the end of the song. They are the following:

Jam - Live in Bremen 1992 (Pro)
Human Nature - Live in Rome 1988 (Pro)
Smooth Criminal - Live in Oslo 1992 (Pro)
Thriller - Live in Würzburg 1988 (Amateur)
Dangerous - Rehearsal in Los Angeles 1993 (Pro)

What I was wondering about before I upload this material on YouTube is if I need to make further acknowledgement in the video description of the YouTube clip, like "I do not own the audio...", "The audio belongs to the rightful owner, Michael Jackson..." or anything in that vein?

I am aware of the copyright issues, that YouTube can send copyright strikes and eventually mute the audio, block or even delete the contents. Sometimes I see other tribute dancers make acknowledgements in their video descriptions and others don't.
My initial plan was to upload it in private mode and let a selected friends and relatives have access to it. But some of my friends have encouraged me to make a public upload of it so that more people can see it and make it more accessible.
What are your recommendations?
 
john13th;4207087 said:
I am almost done and finished with editing a tribute video material which shows me dancing to five different songs by Michael.
For every song I have edited in external audio which actually comes from pro and amateur audio concerts and where I make acknowledgements of the audio source in the end of the song. They are the following:

Jam - Live in Bremen 1992 (Pro)
Human Nature - Live in Rome 1988 (Pro)
Smooth Criminal - Live in Oslo 1992 (Pro)
Thriller - Live in Würzburg 1988 (Amateur)
Dangerous - Rehearsal in Los Angeles 1993 (Pro)

What I was wondering about before I upload this material on YouTube is if I need to make further acknowledgement in the video description of the YouTube clip, like "I do not own the audio...", "The audio belongs to the rightful owner, Michael Jackson..." or anything in that vein?

I am aware of the copyright issues, that YouTube can send copyright strikes and eventually mute the audio, block or even delete the contents. Sometimes I see other tribute dancers make acknowledgements in their video descriptions and others don't.
My initial plan was to upload it in private mode and let a selected friends and relatives have access to it. But some of my friends have encouraged me to make a public upload of it so that more people can see it and make it more accessible.
What are your recommendations?

Writing that isn't going to make any difference whatsoever for YouTube.

YouTube might flag you, it might not. It's generally pretty automatic so you'll find out pretty soon after it's processed if your video has been caught. I googled a few of those performances and none of them had been flagged by YouTube (generally you can tell because under the description, YouTube will add information about the title and it's copyright owner). Nothing stopping the Estate or Sony from manually reporting your video either but I wouldn't really worry about it tbh.

If you have used any of the studio versions (i.e. straight off the CD), they're much more likely, if not certain, to be flagged by the system. It's not a bad thing, Sony getting money from ads on your video is totally fair.
 
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Writing that isn't going to make any difference whatsoever for YouTube.

YouTube might flag you, it might not. It's generally pretty automatic so you'll find out pretty soon after it's processed if your video has been caught. I googled a few of those performances and none of them had been flagged by YouTube (generally you can tell because under the description, YouTube will add information about the title and it's copyright owner). Nothing stopping the Estate or Sony from manually reporting your video either but I wouldn't really worry about it tbh.

If you have used any of the studio versions (i.e. straight off the CD), they're much more likely, if not certain, to be flagged by the system. It's not a bad thing, Sony getting money from ads on your video is totally fair.

Ok thanks for the info HIStoric and nothing bad will happen if the video gets flagged and I happen to have a credit list in the end of the video clip, where it lists full name of the dancer (in that case me), camera operator and so on?
I know it is a silly question and I have seen other tribute dancers perform to original audio and also include a credit list in the end of the video, like this one:


Just to be safe than sorry, that's all.

Hope all work out love to see this.

Thank you for your support, #MJforever57.
 

Like this? This is one of mine and I uploaded it fine - you should be fine too :)
 
Ok thanks for the info HIStoric and nothing bad will happen if the video gets flagged and I happen to have a credit list in the end of the video clip, where it lists full name of the dancer (in that case me), camera operator and so on?
I know it is a silly question and I have seen other tribute dancers perform to original audio and also include a credit list in the end of the video, like this one:

YouTube won't care if you credit or not. Ignoring what YouTube thinks, personally, I believe you should credit anyway out of respect for the artists involved.

If it gets flagged, ultimately it's up to the copyright holder with what happens. Generally with MJ's music, Sony keeps the video up there and chucks ads on your video, keeping the revenue for themselves. There's always going to be the chance that Sony might take it down in the future, it's their right to given they own the content you're using... but honestly I wouldn't worry about that. There are millions of other videos on YouTube that utilise MJ's content.

Just upload your video and have a good time :)
 
Alright, here it is at last:



I am aware of that I made mistakes here and there in the choreographies but I hope you like it :)
 
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