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Other indirect routes for possibly accessing Content match, you can appeal it through YouTube to get the
ID and/or monetizing your copyrighted content on claim removed.
YouTube include third-party administrators such as: Second, you may have noticed Art Videos on You-
Tube. These play audio provided by a record label (or
• SongTrust, which, as part of their overall adminis- a distributor like CD Baby) to Youtube Music while dis-
tration of digital audio/video royalties related to playing the album cover for the duration of the track.
your musical works, can register your eligible mu- These videos are treated differently than all the video
sical works with Content ID. However, for com- situations mentioned previously. Art Videos are treated
posers who already have a publisher administering like interactive audio streams (since they are a “spill-
any publishing rights (e.g. a sheet music publisher, over” from YouTube Music, an interactive streaming
or CD Baby Pro, or self-administering some rights audio DSP, into YouTube) and are not dependent on
on self-published songs), signing up with Song- matching from Content ID. These videos therefore
Trust could create rights administration conflicts, generate three revenue streams even if you haven’t
so it may not be a viable option for many. qualified for Content ID:

• The Harry Fox Agency (HFA) offers collection of 1) Mechanical royalties, collected through the
mechanical royalties from a variety of sources, MLC. Mechanical royalties are not paid on any
including physical products (CDs), international other type of YouTube video, but since art videos
mechanical royalties, and YouTube/Content ID, are treated as interactive audio streams, these gen-
as well as other types of non-mechanical licens- erate mechanical royalties to the publisher.
ing for an 11.5% commission. Note that HFA
does not collect from The MLC for its members, 2) Performance Royalties, reported by YouTube to
though, so publishers who affiliate with HFA still the PRO as part of their licensing agreement; the
need to become members of The MLC. PRO then pays the publisher and writer(s).
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• Companies like AdRev may also be an option—not 3) Ad Revenue: on Art Videos, these are paid by You-
through Content ID but by actively searching for Tube only to the record label (or to CD Baby/
your content on YouTube and claiming the rev- other distributor), not divided with the publisher,
enue. Depending on your situation, these services because the publisher will collect Mechanical roy-
may or may not be available to you, and may or alties.
may not capture enough revenue to be worth the
effort or cost involved. Other details for streaming video revenue:

These options may have drawbacks that make them Performance Royalties: Both YouTube and Face-
less than ideal solutions for choral composers, so many book have contractual agreements with ASCAP (and
choral composers are not currently collecting revenue other PROs) and pay blanket license fees to cover the
through Content ID. However, in spite of all this there “public performance” aspect of videos of music on
are still two bits of good news for choral composers their platforms. YouTube performance royalties are
seeking to collect revenue on YouTube: generated by reported data of actual plays ; but Face-
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First, even without Content ID, when you upload vid- book doesn’t send actual usage data. Instead, ASCAP
eos of your own work to your own monetized Youtube creates “proxy Facebook performances” based on the
channel, you should be able to collect ad revenue on ASCAP music that was performed across all types of
your own videos (even if not on anyone else’s videos media they survey. This is why you may see “Facebook
containing your music, the way you would with Con- Proxy” payments in your PRO’s statement; if a work of
tent ID). If you get a copyright claim on your own yours is included in an ASCAP distribution one quar-
video from another recording of your work, or a mis- ter, it will automatically generate “proxy” Facebook

CHORAL JOURNAL March/April 2023 Volume 63 Number 7 43