Interview with John '14
YaleLawTech: So John, what made you start uploading videos to YouTube?
John: In December 2006, I started the YouTube channel crazyasianpiano. Before then, I had played piano for around six years. The thing about piano is that it is a very independent activity. It's something you do on your own; you can’t really show it to a lot of people. I would practice for hundreds of hours on my pieces and only people who would go to recitals (basically, my parents) would see it.
YouTube was a great way to show my work on the piano. Back then, I wouldn't say it was in its infancy, but it was not as popular as it is now. I wanted an outlet to post some of my recordings. I also thought that I was so blessed to own a piano and to be able to take piano lessons. I realized that with the advent of electronic keyboards, the cost of having materials to play piano was pretty low. The biggest difficulty then was lessons because they can be incredibly expensive. I thought that piano should be accessible to people. Most might not want to know how to play Chopin, but many would want to know how to play Sara Bareilles or Five for Fighting. I saw YouTube as a really easy way to teach, and I could show this to people with zero piano experience.
I eventually had an account with over 7 million video views and over 10,000 subscribers after over 160 videos.
YaleLawTech: What was the nature of the videos?
John: In the videos I teach as if the viewer has no experience playing piano. I begin by playing the song first and end with instructions about how to play. I'd teach by playing the chord on the left hand and the melody on the right hand. I broke it down to bit-sized chunks so that someone could watch it again to pick up pieces he or she missed. Most videos are about 10 minutes long.
John: In December 2006, I started the YouTube channel crazyasianpiano. Before then, I had played piano for around six years. The thing about piano is that it is a very independent activity. It's something you do on your own; you can’t really show it to a lot of people. I would practice for hundreds of hours on my pieces and only people who would go to recitals (basically, my parents) would see it.
YouTube was a great way to show my work on the piano. Back then, I wouldn't say it was in its infancy, but it was not as popular as it is now. I wanted an outlet to post some of my recordings. I also thought that I was so blessed to own a piano and to be able to take piano lessons. I realized that with the advent of electronic keyboards, the cost of having materials to play piano was pretty low. The biggest difficulty then was lessons because they can be incredibly expensive. I thought that piano should be accessible to people. Most might not want to know how to play Chopin, but many would want to know how to play Sara Bareilles or Five for Fighting. I saw YouTube as a really easy way to teach, and I could show this to people with zero piano experience.
I eventually had an account with over 7 million video views and over 10,000 subscribers after over 160 videos.
YaleLawTech: What was the nature of the videos?
John: In the videos I teach as if the viewer has no experience playing piano. I begin by playing the song first and end with instructions about how to play. I'd teach by playing the chord on the left hand and the melody on the right hand. I broke it down to bit-sized chunks so that someone could watch it again to pick up pieces he or she missed. Most videos are about 10 minutes long.
YaleLawTech: What resistance did you see from YouTube?
John: Originally, YouTube did not have ads around videos. I didn't get paid for views on my videos. Next, they introduced a partner program, in which they would pay commission to incentivize making videos. They sent me an email about 2 years ago asking if I would be a partner and monetize my videos. The contract meant that I would upload my videos and click a monetize button to request to monetize the video. They would add ads to my video, but I'd get a percentage of revenue off of ad clicks.
This was great at first, until I received emails saying that one of my videos needed to be demonetized. Sony DMG apparently filed a complaint on my video teaching "Love Song" by Sara Bareilles. This was just the start of several complaints. I never had to take down a video, but I did lose the right to receive money from ads on many of them.
YaleLawTech: Is there any way to challenge this?
John: Apparently I gave up my rights to do that by enabling monetization.
YaleLawTech: What did you think about losing your YouTube rights to monetization?
John: I think I should get a pass since it falls under education. I'm a bit confused because ads still pop up on these videos. This means that YouTube is still getting ad revenues, but I'm no longer allowed to make money off of those videos.
Overall, I've made a few hundred dollars from this, and some of my videos have stayed monetized. The Rugrats theme song and "Skyscrapers" are notable exceptions to the demonetization. But my big videos, the ones with over 100,000 views, end up getting noticed, and I lose monetization. I'm only making about $100 a month off of the channel now. I was hoping to make it into somewhat of a job so that I could make money from teaching, but now the payments are too low, and I'm discouraged from uploading more videos.
YaleLawTech: Have you considered uploading your videos to another website?
John: That's interesting. YouTube is really the only way to get a lot of views. People don't search for Five for Fighting on Vimeo. I have a Vimeo channel, but I don't think my YouTube subscribers would view it. It includes mostly my performance videos, including some of my stand-up comedy stuff. It is really just for my friends to see off of Facebook.
I was approached by a guy with a site with piano tutorials for pop songs. This was contingent upon me taking down my videos from YouTube. I didn't want to do that because he does not have enough of a following.
YouLawTech: What are your thoughts on your videos and copyright law?
John: I may not own the rights to the songs, but I'm really just trying to teach people. Also, I'm concerned about what makes something original music as well. In a lot of these videos, I'm playing my own interpretations. When I play a cover, the melodies are almost completely different. I think it's unclear whether my videos violate any rules.
John: Originally, YouTube did not have ads around videos. I didn't get paid for views on my videos. Next, they introduced a partner program, in which they would pay commission to incentivize making videos. They sent me an email about 2 years ago asking if I would be a partner and monetize my videos. The contract meant that I would upload my videos and click a monetize button to request to monetize the video. They would add ads to my video, but I'd get a percentage of revenue off of ad clicks.
This was great at first, until I received emails saying that one of my videos needed to be demonetized. Sony DMG apparently filed a complaint on my video teaching "Love Song" by Sara Bareilles. This was just the start of several complaints. I never had to take down a video, but I did lose the right to receive money from ads on many of them.
YaleLawTech: Is there any way to challenge this?
John: Apparently I gave up my rights to do that by enabling monetization.
YaleLawTech: What did you think about losing your YouTube rights to monetization?
John: I think I should get a pass since it falls under education. I'm a bit confused because ads still pop up on these videos. This means that YouTube is still getting ad revenues, but I'm no longer allowed to make money off of those videos.
Overall, I've made a few hundred dollars from this, and some of my videos have stayed monetized. The Rugrats theme song and "Skyscrapers" are notable exceptions to the demonetization. But my big videos, the ones with over 100,000 views, end up getting noticed, and I lose monetization. I'm only making about $100 a month off of the channel now. I was hoping to make it into somewhat of a job so that I could make money from teaching, but now the payments are too low, and I'm discouraged from uploading more videos.
YaleLawTech: Have you considered uploading your videos to another website?
John: That's interesting. YouTube is really the only way to get a lot of views. People don't search for Five for Fighting on Vimeo. I have a Vimeo channel, but I don't think my YouTube subscribers would view it. It includes mostly my performance videos, including some of my stand-up comedy stuff. It is really just for my friends to see off of Facebook.
I was approached by a guy with a site with piano tutorials for pop songs. This was contingent upon me taking down my videos from YouTube. I didn't want to do that because he does not have enough of a following.
YouLawTech: What are your thoughts on your videos and copyright law?
John: I may not own the rights to the songs, but I'm really just trying to teach people. Also, I'm concerned about what makes something original music as well. In a lot of these videos, I'm playing my own interpretations. When I play a cover, the melodies are almost completely different. I think it's unclear whether my videos violate any rules.