Youtube disallows monetization of parody

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Spotted: Great work on Chris Raygun’s channel. Unfortunately, Youtube has denied Chris the ability to monetize the video.

Chris’s comment:

YouTube has decided, after a month long Fair Use dispute, that I can’t make money from this video. Which is fucking wonderful. I spent too much time on this not to show you guys, so fuck it. Here you go. You can still support me by downloading the track here –
https://chrisraygun.bandcamp.com/track/aint-no-rest-for-the-triggered
It’s free, but you can pay if you want. This took a long time to make. Hope you enjoy. Give some love to the artists too. Peace. #FuckYouTube Also, here’s the link if it’s blocked in your country https://www.facebook.com/ChrisRayMaldonado/

This is shameful on Youtube’s part. Parody is standard as a form of fair use. Numerous artists have made use of this for fun and profit, with varying degrees of success from obscurity to small fanbase to the fame Weird Al Yankovic enjoys. In fact, this particular piece is the same flavor as “Headline News,” Weird Al’s parody of Crash Test Dummies “Mmm mmm mmm mmm.”

There is, of course, no telling whether Youtube’s reason for refusing monetization in this case was a choice to favor big industry over the little guy, or bias against the subject matter. Regardless, the decision would surely be an excellent source of plant-feeding nutrients if spread over the surface of your garden.

How to fight back: Share the video, download the song, and if you can, throw a few dollars Chris’s way.

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Badger Eyes

<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="155028 https://www.honeybadgerbrigade.com/?p=155028">4 comments</span>

  • The comparison with Weird Al isn’t very good. Weird Al obtains permission from all of the artists he parodies, and negotiates a share of the royalties with them. He also records his own music even if it is a parody.

    As much as I would like to side with Chris here, it seems that he reused the instrumental music from the original artist and that seems a little iffy in terms of fair use. That might be the reason why he got the dispute in the first place.

    • Legally, Weird Al doesn’t have to do any of the things you’ve described, and his career was off the ground already when he began doing that.
      When he recorded Another One Rides The Bus, for instance, that was not the case at all.

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