My copyright claim dispute wasn’t “approved”. The message reads “The claimant has reviewed their claim and confirmed it was valid. You may be able to appeal this decision, but if the claimant disagrees with your appeal, you could end up with a strike on your account.”
No explanation, no reasons given, no reply to my arguments. Infuriating. Now I again would have to argue, even though I still don’t know on which grounds the claimant makes their claim and thus how to argue, and I assume I would get the same answer, “not approved”. This is just silly. Especially as I friggin’ know that I am in the right, as I know the origin of the music track used.
GFY, YouTube and Google.
However, this morning, after having read the “reply” to my dispute, I decided to try to contact the musician directly, Thomas D. Dawkins. I didn’t expect anything, but hey, an e-mail is worth a try.
So I wrote:
I am a photographer, and I am also making small movies at times, none of it for business or profit. I have created this underwater video of a wreck dive, and found that your interpretation of Chopin’s prelude #15 suits the overall mood very well:
Would you kindly give me the permission to use your music for this video?
Lo and behold, nine (!) minutes later I received a reply:
This is a hauntingly beautiful video. You may certainly use my performance of the Chopin for it. May I have permission to share it on social media?
– Tom
This made my day. Firstly, he simply gave me his personal permission. No strings attached. But secondly, he got my video. Hauntingly beautiful.
So this story ends on a lighthearted note after all. I will simply delete the video on YouTube and forget the related silliness, now better understanding the complaints I heard about their dispute process. And use Vimeo for now.