This photo is courtesy of Getty Images
Article Information Author, Faith Oshoko Position, Broadcast Journalist, BBC News Pidgin
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On Tuesday, August 13, YouTube filed a copyright infringement claim against the music video for a Nigerian song called “Ogechi ova.”
On July 18, Grammy nominee Davido posted a remix video to YouTube of Ogechi’s song in which he sings alongside BoyPee, Hyce and Brown Joel.
However, when you click on the link of the video posted by BoyPee, a message pops up saying, “This video is no longer available due to a copyright infringement claim by King Lion official.”
However, I’m not saying that the video doesn’t exist on YouTube at all. A quick search of the video show reveals that the video is still online, but on a channel called Maravha Shaka, which brings up this page:
On this page you will also find music videos from across Africa, including music by Tanzanian musician Diamond Platnumz.
It is both strange and understandable when you consider that in the early days of YouTube in Nigeria, people would upload music videos to the platform, music TV stations and music shows, only to find that music was no longer available on the platform.
This photo is courtesy of Getty Images
This photo comes from YouTube
This photo is from Ogechi’s remix music video, which was released on YouTube on August 13th.
This isn’t the first time YouTube has removed music videos from around the world.
But there are many reasons, including violence.
In May 2018, YouTube removed half of a violent music video after British police asked it to be taken down.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick has blamed parts of the video for a rise in murders and violent crime in London, and all of her drill music selections.
So far, YouTube has said it will remove 30 videos.
This phenomenon of content demonetisation and copyright issues is coming from various social media platforms.
Last month, a debate over the monetisation of pesin content erupted after comedian Brain Jotter made popular the dance steps to the 80s south-eastern Nigerian hit song, “Gwo Gwo Gwo Ngwo”, released by 90-year-old Mike Ejeaga.
Brain Jotter, real name Chukwuebuka Emmanuel Amuzi, explains that music copyright on social media platforms is strict and any content created with other people’s music will come under attack, with social media giving revenue off the content back to the creator of the music.
E Toc says, “You can’t monetize other songs because these platforms have the tools to attack you for copyright infringement.”
“When I post it on YouTube, the platform sue me for copyright infringement and the revenue goes to Ejeagha. Same goes for Facebook. The video doesn’t even help me get more views on music streaming platforms, but since I don’t know how I want to get my songs on this platform, it all goes to Ejeagha.”
So how do you make a music video from your YouTube page?
Now, intellectual property lawyer Kira Green told BBC News Pidgin Talk that she doesn’t think this is going to happen:
She said, “I don’t think that will happen. It may be a mistake on YouTube’s part. To ask for content to be removed, you need to provide evidence in a form to prove that the content is yours and not someone else’s.”
Madam Green added: “In response to your removal request, please swear under penalty of perjury that you own the copyright to the content and all details you have written.” [take down] The form is truthful, so if you make a false copyright claim, you may be held liable under penalty of perjury for not owning the copyright to the work you are trying to remove.”
Even if it is a big share, the Nigerian content market is growing as opposed to smaller creators relying on big brands like bloggers to repost their content and gain popularity.
This is for social media pages like Facebook and Instagram which will allow monetisation of Nigerian and Ghanaian content in July.
But content creators, especially on Instagram, can’t find a way around this by simply adding these big pages to their list of contributors in the hopes of getting featured on the platform.
Photo credit: BBC/Damilola Oduolowu
For this photo, Elozonam won an award for content creation, but still received a copyright infringement claim for the content.
This trend of copyright takedowns also impacts content creators.
Elozonam Ogboru, winner of the 2023 AMVCA Best Social Media Content Creator Award, is facing a copyright strike but said he will not take part in the competition as his posts could land him in conflict.
He says, “It has happened twice on My Name Is Zozo (a current content series on my channel), but I do not dispute it. I simply changed track. I believe it didn’t work out the second time in the episode because I waited too long to dispute this claim.”
But Mr. Green, you say that with evidence it shouldn’t take much to refute a copyright claim.
She added that removal usually occurs within a day, but it can take up to 10 days to put it back in place.
If you’re serious about content creation, music is essential, and YouTube has a library of free music content you can use.
This photo is courtesy of Getty Images
But how does the platform know in the morning that some content is unwanted? YouTube uses a variety of tactics to either tell people that the content is disapproved of or to call Content ID and arrest the content immediately.
A YouTube Content ID claim is generated automatically when one video matches another video, or part of another video, that is registered in the YouTube Content ID system.
The second is a copyright removal request, where a copyright owner finds copyrighted content and submits a request, also known as a takedown notice, which is a legal request to remove content from YouTube for alleged copyright infringement.
But if the takedown notice is unjustified and YouTube actually removes the content, Kira Green says, “If someone files a takedown notice for another video and they actually remove it, they can file a counter notice to prove that the content is mine. Here’s my evidence. If YouTube looks at it, they can restore the video.”
For Meta, the can is just too far away.
According to the Business Help Center, one of the conditions of the monetization policy is that content must be original: “Content that is not original, or that has been reproduced without meaningful enhancements such as commentary, parody, or creative edits by other users, is not suitable for monetization.”
BBC News Pidgin attempted to contact Hythe’s management to ask why there was copyright infringement, but did not receive a response.
However, Ogechi’s remix music video will not be back online any day now following a copyright infringement claim.