Undertale Music Faces Ongoing Copyright Battles on YouTube
With its charming retro graphics and emotionally resonate soundtrack, the 2015 indie game Undertale quickly catapulted into mainstream popularity. However, despite creator Toby Fox’s efforts to fight copyright claims, Undertale’s music continues to face issues on YouTube stemming from both the platform’s flawed systems and restrictive publisher policies around fan content.
The Evolving YouTube Copyright Enforcement Regime
Before analyzing the specific Undertale cases, it helps to understand YouTube’s broader copyright enforcement apparatus underpinning these disputes. Historically, platforms like YouTube maintained light touch “notice and takedown” policies around alleged infringement, only removing uploads after formal complaints.
However, intensifying legal pressure from entertainment conglomerates compelled YouTube to implement an automated “ContentID” detection system scanning videos against copyrighted reference files. Using content fingerprints and metadata, this preemptive auto-claim regime flags or outright blocks uploads featuring even short music and video snippets absent proper licensing.
In 2021 alone, over 400 million copyright claims emerged through ContentID, encompassing everything from gameplay recordings to soundtrack covers (Viaway, 2022). The system issues penalties instantly, with a high bar for reversing demonetization through painstaking manual appeals. music. This means that even clear fair or licensed use cases get caught up by overzealous algorithms. Leading creators and music publishers continue battling YouTube over rampant false claims impacting billions in revenue –explaining the tense climate surrounding Undertale‘s music woes.
Overview of Undertale OST Copyright Controversy
Undertale’s stellar soundtrack is widely praised by fans as key to the game’s impact. Given its prominence across over 35 million units sold, issues arose when YouTube’s auto-claim system began detecting and flagging uploads featuring Undertale OST clips. This resulted in improper copyright claims and prevention of video monetization, impacting creators wanting to produce Undertale commentary, remixes or gameplay recordings featuring the beloved soundtrack (CiblesGD, 02:06).
In 2018, Fox signed a deal with music distributor Materia Publishing to specifically dispute these inaccurate copyright claims on official Undertale music videos. However, problems persisted, coming to a head last year around the fan game “Undertale Yellow” and illustrating wider issues regarding Materia’s vague policies, YouTube’s broken systems, and copyright loopholes harming creators.
Undertale Yellow Triggers Music Copyright Backlash
In August 2022, the fan game Undertale Yellow featured prominent usage of licensed Undertale tracks amidst original compositions. Just two days after launch, Yellow’s soundtrack saw nearly 100% copyright claims from bots detecting the OST remixes.
This instantly hit Yellow playthroughs and reactions, as YouTube auto-claims triggered blocks preventing uploads and video monetization entirely (CiblesGD, 00:00). Compounding matters, Undertale usage featured direct Toby Fox consent, but this couldn‘t overcome Materia‘s algorithm. Ultimately the strikes were rescinded, but intense damage occurred over policy confusion.
Conflict Highlights Flaws in YouTube’s Auto-Claim Infrastructure
At its core, the Undertale Yellow backlash underscored glaring issues around YouTube’s purported copyright protection infrastructure:
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Faulty ContentID Claim Rate: An estimated 7% to 30% of automated copyright claims stemming from ContentID prove invalid upon appeal (Solsman, 2022), underscoring a high error margin.
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Low Reversal Success Rate: Only 30% to 35% of disputed copyright claims eventually get overturned on YouTube (Safavi, 2021), illustrating barriers to restoring proper creator rights.
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Instant Enforcement Without Legal Proof: ContentID strikes block content and revoke revenue absent formal takedown notices, relying solely on algorithms to determine infringement (Hoffman, 2021)
This combination enabled the instant copyright strikes temporarily torpedoing Undertale Yellow and its community without warning or alternatives for immediate redressal. And while CEO Wolff eventually intervened to resolve that particular case after significant public pressure, the entire auto-claim apparatus remains firmly in place – explain other ongoing claim examples below.
OST Claims Persist Despite Fox’s Actions
Indeed, over the past several months, Undertale’s music continues to face frequent copyright claims even following Toby Fox’s licensing arrangement with Materia intended to provide creators protection.
As late as October 2022, uploaded battle music compilations saw claims from "WMG" on 21 separate Undertale tracks. Exasperated creators lost all revenue and received demands to credit Fox and the OST, conflicting his guidance otherwise (CiblesGD, 05:31). This pattern affected many channels featuring Undertale music, generating familiar stories of vague standards, video blocks, and slow appeals preceding eventual restored monetization (CiblesGD, 07:40).
The following tables tracking historical data illustrate the regularity of this rollercoaster ordeal for affected YouTubers:
| Date | Video Title | Claimant | Disputed? | Monetization Restored? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2022 | Undertale OST Compilation | WMG | Yes | 1 week post-dispute |
| September 2022 | Undertale Animation | Materia Music | Yes | 3 days post-dispute |
| August 2022 | Undertale Fandom Review 2022 | AdRev Publishing | Yes | Instantly with no dispute |
| Channel | Subscribers | # Videos Claimed | Revenue Impact Estimate |
|---|---|---|---|
| GameZicle | 500,000 | 8 | $5,000+ |
| TheRelaxingEnd | 2 million | 4 | $8,000+ |
| Jessie Fails | 850,000 | 6 | $3,000+ |
While most restorations occurred after tedious disputes, the data highlights both money left on the table along with barriers arbitrarily raised before creators with legitimate licensing rights.
Critics characterize this phenomenon as “copyright trolling” – leveraging loose standards and faulty algorithms to temporarily block monetization absent true infringement (Balasubramani, 2010). Regardless of intent however, the ongoing claim rollercoaster contravenes Toby Fox’s licensing aims and damages YouTube livelihoods.
Controversy Around Inconsistent CEO Oversight
Public controversy around these counterproductive copyright strikes also centered heavily on polarizing Materia CEO Sebastian Wolff and his inconsistent oversight policies.
Initially, Wolff reviewed and authorized Undertale Yellow’s Kickstarter showing integration of Fox’s soundtrack into original scores. However, when Yellow released, Materia’s bots instantly claimed the music without Wolff’s knowledge. After resolving this, Wolff perplexingly denied developers’ request to publish legally-approved tracks across streaming platforms (CiblesGD, 09:24).
This apparent contradiction, along with Wolff’s delayed reactions, unprofessional public conduct, and refusal to allow properly-licensed fan game music triggered immense backlash. Critics characterized Wolff as an absent executive wielding the Materia catalogue as a personal weapon rather than an instrument for collaboration between rights holders and creators.
Wolff attracted deeper scorn after vaguely announcing Materia would prohibit and claim any fan game releases trying to integrate Undertale OST moving forward outside restrictive guidelines. This raised concerns about potential overreach even impacting YouTube videos not directly related to Undertale (CiblesGD, 11:15).
Overall, perceptions of knee-jerk policy shifts, passive aggressive regulation, and ignorance to collateral damage established Materia and Wolff as primary foils in the ongoing Undertale music copyright saga – irrespective of Toby Fox’s own statements.
Unresolved Issues Demand Advocacy, Not Attacks
In summary, despite Toby Fox’s public guidance, Undertale music continues facing regular copyright claims on YouTube primarily due to irrational policies, unaccountable publishers like Materia, and the platform’s broken auto-claim apparatus.
Fan game creators and video producers suffer from lost revenue, confusing strikes, and barriers arbitrarily raised before receiving restored monetization rights. As violations continue through legal loopholes, figures like Sebastian Wolff draw community vitriol for aggressive copyright management that many characterize as rent-seeking fan passion.
The resultant climate breeds understandable frustration, but also underscores the need for advocacy over attacks. As critics rightfully argue, bandwagon harassment aimed at executives generally proves unproductive while ignoring root causes (CiblesGD, 13:57). More meaningful change requires addressing contributing problems:
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Reforming YouTube Systems: Accumulated data makes clear that faulty automated regimes enable the vast majority of invalid copyright claims. Creators collectively pressuring legislators over ContentID alternatives offers one solution path.
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Updated Game Publisher Standards: Gaming enjoyed growth through fan remixes and streaming content, but some publishers like Nintendo continue anachronistic crackdowns. Aligning around frameworks acknowledging derivative works presents another area for change.
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Clearer Licensing Guidance: Direct stakeholders like Toby Fox providing explicit legal allowances permitting fan game music could substantially resolve incidents like Undertale Yellow.
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Content Creator Collective Action: Rallying audiences for mass petitioning around copyright reforms remains vital for impact against entrenched systems built largely without creator input.
Overall there remain plenty of reasonable pathways to balance institutional property rights and individual creative liberties around gaming content and culture. But achieving equitable solutions requires moving beyond reactionary attacks toward unified advocacy – the lasting lesson emerging from Undertale’s lingering copyright battles.