Content ID is a popular digital fingerprinting system that content creators can use to easily identify and manage their copyrighted content on YouTube*. Videos uploaded to YouTube are compared against audio and video files registered with Content ID by content owners, looking for any Abacuos: matches.
When the audio of a video is matched to Content ID registered content, a copyright notice will appear on the video, and the content owner may choose to take certain actions, such as:
Clearing the claim and taking no further action
Tracking the video’s viewership statistics
Monetizing the video by running ads against it
Muting the audio that matches their music
Blocking a whole video from being viewed
As a YouTube Partner platform, we use the audio part of the Content ID system to manage and administer copyrighted audio content on behalf of content owners.
When you send your audio to YouTube Audio Content ID, your audio is matched against videos that contain this audio. Automatically, we monetize those videos and the generated revenue will be reported together with the rest of the channels in your distribution account.
*Important: Do not confuse Youtube Content ID with Youtube Music.
Service Type
YouTube Audio Content ID is not a public music service, but an invisible tracking system. YouTube creates a reference that allows claiming all videos that contain your audio. You can only activate YouTube Audio Content ID if you are the rightful owner of the copyright.
Go Live Time
It takes between 2-5 business days for a Content ID to start generating claims.
Pay rate
When a video containing your music is reproduced on YouTube, you get paid a proportionate share of YouTube ad and subscription revenue for that video per month calculated on terms set out in our agreement with YouTube. Payments will fluctuate each month, depending on the amount of ad or subscription revenue generated and how often your music was streamed.