After you submit a video for monetization, YouTube may ask you how you own commercial use rights to all elements in your video. This includes (but is not limited to) music, photographs, movie and video game footage plus more.
How we may request additional information
Within YouTube, via your Video Manager
You may notice a grey button with an orange "!" icon next to your video within your Video Manager, indicating we need more info from you.
Here's how to submit that information:
- Click on the “!” icon to access Monetization settings for your video.
- From the dropdown menu, choose the option that best describes your situation.
- Use the suggested text as a starting point to provide information proving you own all necessary commercial use rights to all elements in your video. The suggested text is there for your reference, but it is up to you to provide all of the necessary details.
Via email
We occasionally need more information after you've submitted documentation via the Video Manager. If that's the case, we may send a follow-up email to the login email address for your channel.
Within that email will be a unique URL connecting you to an unlisted page. You can submit more specific information to the video in question through this URL, which is unique to each video.
What happens next?
Providing this information does not guarantee that your video will be approved. We are not able to provide you with legal advice regarding commercial use rights, but you can find general guidance here.
YouTube reserves the right to make the final decision whether to monetize a video, and may disable monetization for users who repeatedly submit ineligible videos.
