If you’re a content creator who’s been struck by a copyright claim from Haawk for a music track that you have already bought, you must be feeling frustrated.
Naturally, every honest person wants to resolve false claims like these as soon as possible, but why does it even happen in the first place!?
Let’s see what you can do.
- What’s happening with Haawk copyright claims?
- How to resolve haawk copyright claim on youtube?
- Conclusion
- FAQ
What’s happening with Haawk copyright claims?
In short, Haawk (also known as Identifyy) is or should be a serious company that works with record labels and music publishers to sell music tracks to YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and other content creators.
However, it is a common occurrence that Haawk will start a wrong copyright claim on all of these platforms for any music track, even when you have a license certificate.
This is, of course, very frustrating, and if you don’t resolve these issues in time, it can hurt your channel. So you need to act fast.
There is even a petition to ban Haawk for a 3rd party copyright claim for YouTube. So if you’re sick and tired of having to resolve copyright claims and upload a license certificate for every single video you post, consider signing it.
How to resolve haawk copyright claim on youtube?
Once your videos start getting YouTube copyright claims, you will want to do everything you can to fix this problem. Here are the three simplest ways to resolve a copyright claim.
A) Dispute the claim
The first thing you want to try to have a copyright claim released is to go to your YouTube studio and dispute the claim.
In this dispute, you will explain why you are not breaking any rules and upload your license certificate for the music track in question.
This should be more than enough for the copyright owner to remove copyright claims from your uploaded videos, but the sad truth is that with Haawk (Identifyy), you can never know.
Another irritating thing is that, even when you resolve a copyright claim for one of your uploaded videos, your other videos that are using the same song or other songs bought from or through the Haawk site will still get the same claim and you will have to upload your proof all over again.
B) Contact HAAWK
Most claims will get resolved with the first step but if you tried to dispute the claim through your YouTube account and it didn’t work, you will want to go to Haawk (Identifyy) directly and contact support explaining your problem and proving them with the proper license.
Again, Haawk being a problematic company might not react as fast as they should to remove the wrong YouTube copyright claims from your YouTube videos.
What you want to do in these cases is be patient!
Getting frustrated over a wrong copyright claim won’t help you, so you will just have to take other measures for resolving this issue.
C) Contact content owners
If your YouTube video still has an unresolved copyright claim after these two steps, it is time to contact the artist directly!
It might seem like a big step, but we suggest you try to find the artist’s contact information and send them your YouTube video with the licensing certificate, explaining your problem.
Hopefully, they will be able to help you a bit quicker than Haawk, so if you can reach them anyhow – it costs nothing to try and it can save you some energy!
Conclusion
There are different reasons why you can get a copyright claim – wrong songs that are not properly licensed, using songs that are not royalty free, getting the royalty free song that you used wrongly paired with another song that is not royalty free, etc.
But if you do have a proper license certificate and get a copyright claim, that can be very frustrating.
Luckily, there are steps you can take to resolve this issue, like disputing the claim and providing your rightful license, contacting Haawk or Identifyy, or even the artist to help you resolve the problem.
FAQ
1. Does copyright claim go away on YouTube?
In cases where the owner of a music sound you used in your video doesn’t react in 30 days’ time, the copyright claim will go away on its own. However, if you don’t have proof that you have the licensing certificate for the sound in question, your video might not be eligible for monetization.
This being said, the rightful owner can earn all the revenue from your video if you don’t prove that you own the sound that you used, or that the sound in your YouTube video is royalty free.
Resolving the copyright claim is mostly easy when you have proof that you own the license to use the sound, so if you get a copyright claim, don’t lose hope right away!
2. What happens if you lose a copyright dispute on YouTube?
In case you lose a copyright claim on your YouTube video, the claim will still be there on that video and you won’t be able to monetize it.
No major harm will come to your whole channel.
However, if you think that you are in the right, you might be able to send an appeal to YouTube – film a short 60 sec video explaining why you think they are wrong.
3. Can YouTube copyright strikes be removed?
Copyright strikes disappear on their own after 90 days and if this is your first strike, no harm will come to your channel.
However, pay attention to what sound and images/ videos you use in creating your content – only royalty free music content or content with a license is allowed.