Music copyright issues often get YouTube videos muted or even blocked. Now the service launched a new feature that lets video creators check those song rights before uploading, the company announced in a blog post on Monday.
With Content ID, part of the Audio Library, users can see in advance whether a particular track gets the green light or comes with restrictions that affect advertisements or other red flags.
Oddly enough, this is essentially the same sort of feature that the fictional Pied Piper app in HBO’s TV series “Silicon Valley” offered. In that storyline, no one saw the point of it—including Hooli, the fictionalized version of Google, YouTube’s parent company in real life.
There’s no question now that the company sees the value in checking music copyrights. Consider it the video service’s way of improving the process to keep its prized creators happy, something Google has been keenly interested in. Recent reports state that Google has been offering bonuses to top video-makers, hoping to retain their money-generating uploads exclusively on YouTube.
With companies like Facebook and Vessel grabbing at these video cash cows, it’s in YouTube’s best interest to continue making video creation and publication easy.
Image courtesy of Flickr user Esther Vargas
