Improving the creator Copyright experience has been a top priority for us. In July, we announced timestamps and editing tools to help you more easily remove and resolve manual Content ID claims. Today we’re announcing additional changes to manual claiming policies that will help address manual claims on short or unintentional uses of music. You can read more on the YouTube blog.

To be clear, including someone else’s content without permission – regardless of how short the clip is – means your video may still be claimed and copyright owners will still be able to either block monetization, or block the video from being viewed. As always, you can dispute a claim if you disagree or use our suite of editing tools (Mute Song, Replace Song, Trim) to remove the claim and the restrictions that come with it.

As of today, music partners will be notified of this new policy, as well as any new manual claims that don’t adhere to it. We’ll ramp up policy enforcement mid-September – after that time, those who repeatedly fail to follow this policy will have their access to manual claiming revoked.

These changes will likely be accompanied by new challenges, including a potential for more content to be blocked, but we feel this is an important step in creating a fairer system for creators & music partners in the long term. And reminder that even if your content is blocked, you can still edit out the claimed content to unblock your video.

- Sarah (TeamYouTube)