ML Content Creator Blackout

Because reposting is theft and we've had enough.

[treker402]

Please do not repost my art. If you want to show my art to your friends, send my account to them. 

Your support is very mean to me. and it’s very important for giving me the motive to continue my work.

Sometimes I did that one for you guys, 

Sometimes I didn’t sleep all night to finish that page.

Sometimes I spend 5 hours without break to finish that work.

If you support me and want to see my work, please support me not the reposter one. 

[ghostlyboombox]

Everyone needs to see this, for the artists who I’ve looked up to and discovered. We need to bring more recognition for their efforts, and not to those who repost without giving credit. @treker402 @dement09 @beautysnake @ikimaru And whoever else I follow that is an aspiring artist, this is for you guys.

[beautysnake]

very important, if you want to support an artist, go follow them and not some “middleman”

and if you want to repost someones art on another site consider sharing the link to the post with the work on it instead of reuploading (aka the sharing options provided by tumblr) so the artist still gets support 

[cloudaintfair]

@dasketcherz 

[art-defense-old]

Some History, and How Things Work

Early this morning we were contacted because someone claims their Fan-Fic was used–without their permission–in a YouTube video.  This is an unfortunately common issue.  

We reviewed the channel, and an Incident number has been assigned and it is in our Queue. Sadly, there is little more that we can do at this time:  the creator of the Fan-Fic is already aware of the problem and appears to have reported it.  If we knew of other creators whose content was used without permission on that channel, we would contact them.  If they issued strikes against the channel, that would hasten the process.  However, we do not–at this time–have anyone else to contact.

This situation offers an excellent opportunity to discuss the Do’s and Don’ts of this blog and of protecting Creator’s Rights in general.

First, a little history about how this project came to be.

@art-defense​ was created at the end of the  Miraculous Blackout.  (Important:  @art-defense​ is not affiliated with, nor was it sanctioned by, the Miraculous Blackout team.  We are totally separate. We don’t even know if they are aware of us yet.)  The Miraculous Blackout was a two-week “strike” by many fan-work creators and their supporters during which they posted no content.  For more details, check out that blog.  

As the Blackout ended, @talvin-muircastle​ wrote a post  in which he expressed his feelings on theft of art and promised to continue to support artists as he had done before.  After his post received reactions far beyond his expectations, he created this side-blog as a place to fulfill that promise and allow others to volunteer their time as well.

So What Exactly Do We Do Here?

When we become aware of an account that may be infringing upon the legal rights of fan-creators, we add it to the Queue for review.  As time permits (all volunteers, here!), the account’s contents are reviewed.  If there is any uncertainty, we contact the artists privately and ask, “Was this used with your permission?”  

Once we feel we can reasonably assume that infringement of rights may have  happened, we turn the Incident into an Incident Report.  These are the posts on this blog that usually start with “You have been tagged in this post because….”  Each creator–where we can identify them–is tagged, and then a list of URLs is given to pages that appear to include their work.  

We go back and re-review old Incidents and issue updates when appropriate, such as when new content is added or a significant amount of content is removed.  

That’s it.  That’s what we do.  The rest is up to the rights-holders, the owners of the content.  The artists own their own creations–that is at the very heart of why this blog exists–and only they can decide if they wish to act upon the information we give them.

What Do We Not Do Here?

We do not contact alleged infringers ourselves.  

We do not condone “get everyone you know to report this” campaigns.   That is morally and legally defined as harassment.  

We do not outright accuse anyone of theft.  Only the owner of the content can do that.

We do not get in the middle of disputes regarding who actually owns a particular piece of content.  If the actual ownership is disputed, that is a legal matter.

While we respect the rights of Corporate rights-holders, we do not work to defend those rights.  A company such as Marvel Comics, or ZagToon, or Paramount, already has employees and contractors to defend their rights–they do not need volunteers.  Too, the relationship between Corporate creators and Fan creators is a complex one.  Some, such as Zag, appear to actively encourage fan-artists: the official Miraculous Ladybug account here on Tumblr regularly reblogs and applauds fan-made artwork.  Some companies have taken strong legal action against fan-creators:  look up “Axanar” for an example.  

That is not our fight.  We stay out of those.  Our mission is to help the “little person”, the solo fan-artist or writer who has no one else to speak up for them. 

Why Is Asking Everyone To Report A Video A Bad Idea?

The situation that inspired this post involves fan-fiction that was allegedly taken and used as the script for a YouTube video.  

YouTube has a procedure in place to remove videos that infringe on someone’s intellectual property rights.  By law, they are required to.  Everyone involved has to follow the law.

Now, the law does not care how many friends you have.  It does not care which side has the more popular argument.  The law–when it works as it should–only cares about what is true, what is just, and what is legal.

YouTube doesn’t care how many friends you have either.  They care about the law, because if they follow the law, they don’t have to worry about getting in trouble alongside one of their users.  

We use the terms “creator”, “rights-holder”, and “owner” fairly interchangeably around here.  To be honest, that’s actually playing a little fast and loose with the terms.  We aren’t lawyers, and we aren’t dealing with things on the level of a lawyer.  Lawyers will use those terms far more carefully and precisely.  

At the level of fan-art, we can usually (not always!) use “creator” and “owner” and mean the same thing with each.  “Rights-holder” gets more complicated:  if you draw a picture of Batman, you own that picture of Batman, but that’s it: it does not mean you own Batman!  DC Comics owns Batman, and even though you own that picture of Batman, DC can cause trouble for you if you use that picture in certain ways, because DC has certain rights over all pictures of Batman.  We aren’t going to follow this part any further:  you’d be better off asking an attorney.    Still, you do have some rights over that picture of Batman.  Even DC Comics cannot use that picture without your permission.  

That’s the important thing: you, the creator of the picture, have rights.

That means that only you, or someone who is a properly authorized agent (think “Power-of-Attorney” here), can report it as stolen.  

Your friend cannot.  We cannot.  A thousand people who were recruited online most certainly cannot.  

That can actually make things worse!

How Can It Make Things Worse?

Let’s take this off the Internet for a few minutes and talk about Garden Gnomes. Specifically your Garden Gnomes.

You have some very nice Garden Gnomes on your front lawn.  You made them.  They are pretty popular among your friends and neighbors.

Somebody down on Main Street, who gets a lot more traffic by their house, saw your Garden Gnomes and decided they really liked them, too.  So they stole one of them!  Put it in their own yard!

And now they are telling people they made it, and that they have never heard of you!

Well, you have proof that you made them.  You have pictures of that gnome in your garden next to other gnomes of the same style that you have made. You even signed the gnome.  

Option A:  Contact the police.  Fill out a report of stolen property.  Wait for the legal system to work.  Maybe, if you think the legal system is going to need to be pushed a little, get a lawyer.   Also, tell all your friends what happened, and tell them to make sure everyone knows that that is your Gnome, don’t believe this other person.  

So far, you are in pretty safe territory.  That last bit might get a little out of control, but if everyone behaves, you’re OK.

Option B: You are not satisfied with Option A. You ask all your friends to fill out police reports as well.  (But the police already have a report, and it’s not your friends’ property!)  Ask all your friends to call and email that person on Main Street and tell them what a horrible person they are for taking your Gnome.  Somebody goes and spray-paints “THIEF!” on the side of their house.  Somebody steals their Yard Flamingo, because after all it’s only fair.   They start getting death-threats….

The Law does not just protect your rights as the owner of that Garden Gnome.  The Law protects everyone’s rights equally, at least in theory.  As it happens, that Gnome-stealer up on Main Street has rights, too!  They have a right to due process, to a fair trial, and they have a right to protection from harassment.  

In fact, taking a Garden Gnome may not be viewed by the law as being as serious as telling someone to go kill themselves for stealing a Garden Gnome.  

So Option B: everybody gets hauled in front of the Judge.  The police, having had to deal with two hundred reports of the theft of one Garden Gnome, plus vandalism, Grand Theft Flamingo, harassment, incitement to harassment, possibly inciting a riot, threats of bodily harm, and who knows what-all else…

Well, the police are not sympathetic witnesses.

The Judge is not going to say that our friend up on Main Street was in the right by taking the Gnome to begin with.  That’s the Law.  But they are going to rightly point out that all this other stuff violated the rights of the accused, and so now you are in trouble too,  and so are any of your friends they can identify and lay hands on who did something to violate the rights of the accused.  The Judge thought they were going to deal with a simple case of theft, and now they are in a Very. Bad. Mood.  Judges have all kinds of nasty–and perfectly legal!–ways of dealing with people who get on their nerves.

Option B was not a very good idea at all.

Bringing it back to the Internet:  unless you have gone straight for the Lawyer option (and the Lawyer is going to tell you “Let me handle it!”), you are dealing with YouTube Customer Service.

YouTube Customer Service is not a Judge.  They are not a Lawyer.  They are probably like anyone in any Customer Service job anywhere:  trying to do the best they can on a low wage while keeping the Supervisors happy.  YouTube is spending money on this problem, and they want the fastest resolution possible with the best possible outcome for YouTube.  

If they are dealing with Option A, even if it is twenty different rights-holders properly using Option A, they are more likely to give the rights-holders a positive outcome.  In fact, if you can find 19 other people that have had their content stolen, that channel is probably going to be shut down, and if they monetized, the money won’t be paid.

This is why we have this blog.  We notify the creators so they can exercise their rights.

If that YouTube Customer Service employee is dealing with Option B, they are going to see clear cases of harassment, threats, reports-not-by-the-rights-holders, and other violations of the YouTube Terms of Service, and they are going to act on those–that’s what they are paid to do.  They might catch the valid and legitimate complaint by the actual rights-holder in all that, or they might not.  It’s a gamble.  

And thus we come around to a restatement of the Mission Statement of Art-Defense:

“The Art-Defense Tumblr Blog will be the home of a small group of volunteers dedicated to notifying artists in the Miraculous Ladybug fandom (and possibly other fandoms) of accounts on this and other platforms that appear to have stolen, reposted, misattributed, and/or monetized artwork.  It will not confront reposters directly, nor will it engage in or condone any form of harassment or bullying. [Emphasis added.]  Above all, it will practice and encourage respect of Artists’ rights over their own creations, and defer to the Artists’ wishes regarding those creations.”

That’s what we do here.  

[wakor]

Reposting is fucking evil.

I saw this while browsing tags and I liked it; I checked on it later to reblog and saw that it was tagged “not mine”

So I went to find the original. Turns out that it belongs to mydreammagic on deviantART.

If you look at the repost, it has 331 notes. Wanna see how much the original got? 

5 favorites. The one comment is me telling the artist that someone stole their work. 

Oh, and the reposter? They have a tipjar, as if they worked for this. 

Reposting hurts artists. Reposting takes exposure and attention away from artists. Reposting is theft.

[lairep]

I have a dumb question. If I use a reference to draw does that make me a reposter? Now I'm too afraid to post my art because I just googled head placements for hugs. Am I a reposter? What do I do?

Hello, anon! Sorry for the late response. This isn’t a dumb question at all. c: It’s easy to confuse these things, so it’s totally okay to ask questions to things you don’t understand! (੭ˊᵕˋ)੭

Using references doesn’t make you a reposter at all, don’t worry! Never be afraid to use references when doing art, that’s part of the learning process. Lots of artists have used references, and still do. Be not afraid, young artist. Using references is not bad.

If you just googled photos to see how to get those danged heads to look natural when drawing a hug, then you’re good. You can use multiple references to make sure your art looks “right” to you. And when you’re done, be proud and post it! You made a thing, and that’s great, GO FOR IT!  (b ᵔ▽ᵔ)b (I should listen to my own advice rly >_>)

However, if you copied or traced over someone else’s work/photo, then that’s a whole different thing altogether. Sometimes copying or tracing helps you improve some facets of your art (tracing can help train you in making cleaner/better lineart, for one) but it can hinder the development of your own art style. Also, it is considered art theft/plagiarism/reposting if you post that, so… :c

I know it sounds confusing now that I added copying/tracing into the mix, and I’m bad at explaining, so here are some links to help you understand the differences better:

What is COPYING, TRACING, REFERENCING, and INSPIRATION? by @adezu

Tracing & Referencing by @whatiscredit

References vs Tracing by @riningear

I hope my answer and those links helped you, anon! @miraculousblackout protest may be over now, but that doesn’t mean we’re stopping from trying to clear things up about this issue or trying to educate. Don’t be afraid to send an ask if you’re confused about anything else. c:

I HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT DAY, THANK YOU FOR THE ASK! °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖° Happy drawing, anon!

[wintermoth]

Sooo, um, did you know there are apps on the google play store with arts I'm 90% sure are stolen? Search "Miraculous Wallpaper"... I'm sorry, have a good day pls!

Do your thing y'all

[miraculousblackout]

Hey, do we have a count or list of the creators that have pulled out of the fandom? I know it's one thing to say 'there are a lot that aren't coming back' but knowing who's gone dark for good may have a little more of an impact.

I'm not sure a definitive list exists tbh. If someone would care to give a better response then by all means.

[lairep]

I was wondering if I reblog your work, will you be mad? Is it the same as reposting because I am confused about the Miraculous Ladybug blackout. Thank you. By the way, your art is really good. - khai (simplyagreste)

Hello, khai! Thank you so much for sending in your ask! c: I understand there will likely be confusion, so I’m glad you came to forward with your concern. And also thank you so much for complimenting my art! (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)

Important thing first: Reblogging and Reposting are NOT the same.

I definitely won’t be mad if you REBLOG my work! In fact, I’ll be really happy if you did. I highly encourage reblogging for every artist/content creator out there too. Reblogs make us happy, my friend. Reblogs make us feel appreciated, supported, and inspire us to keep sharing. c:

The thing with reblogs is, we encourage it because it comes directly from us. When you reblog something from me, no matter what kind of blog has it, it will link back to me. This means, those who look at your blog and can find me as the source of the work you posted, and they can easily click my name to find me. Which is great because it means you not only shared the one work you reblogged, you also indirectly shared the rest of my work too. And that’s super awesome! (╯✧▽✧)╯

The reblog button down there is all the permission youneed to properly share the work on tumblr, so make sure to utilize it.

So never be afraid that a content creator will be mad if you reblog our work from us. We won’t! I promise. c:

As for REPOSTing, to really hammer in the difference and help you understand the purpose/source of the blackout more, I’ll tell you about what’s bad about it.

Reposting means you either take a screenshot of the post/save the post and reupload it either on another tumblr account or another social media account. Under a different name. Now, with permission of the creator and proper credit/linkback, reposting to other social media isn’t so bad, but the main problem is this:

There are people out there who simply take without asking and reupload other people’s works as their own. Often, they remove the watermarks/credits of the creators and put their own, thereby linking back to their own page, instead of the person who actually made the work. In essence, they are taking credit for something they did not make.

There are reposter accounts out there that have up to 60,000 followers, and they have done absolutely NONE of the work they’ve uploaded. Imagine that. Imagine all that work the artist did, and some other person just takes all the credit for it. Hours/days spent on a comic/artwork, and another person takes it as their own. And the original artist? Lost in the background, no recognition for their hard work to share with us something great.

Now that you know this, you can see why a lot of creators are sick of it. :c

Even if there were people who properly credit, there will be people who will take from THEM and not credit/remove credit altogether. That’s why there are a lot of creators who discourage any kind of reposting whatsoever.

Overall, reposting gets way too complicated in comparison to simply reblogging. And annoying, besides. A lot of creators have left/are leaving the fandom, electing to stop creating ML fanart, because the problem has gotten so bad that people are even making MONEY off work the artist did for FREE. And that’s why we have this protest going on. To raise awareness to this sad fact. :’c

Content creators are human too—they’re not fanart/fanfic robots for people to take from whenever. Make them feel like they matter as people too. Support the creator! Show them you care. Show them you love their work. Support them against reposters and art thieves! It’ll be worth it. c:

TL;DR— Reblogging = GOOD! Reposting = BAD! Directly support creators by REBLOGging. Ask permission before REPOSTing. Pineapples on pizza. Eggs on toast.

Thank you for your wonderful ask!Again, another lengthy answer, but I hope it was informative. If you or anyone has any more concerns or need more information, go ahead and visit @miraculousblackout or feel free to send another ask either to me or other people in the protest! We’re here to guide you. Just remember to be respectful!

Have a super awesome day, khai! (/^-^(^ ^*)/ ♡

[portentous-offerings]

That there is what a youtuber ‘earned’ using one of my comics without permission, and without credit.

*Being stolen from is not a mark of how talented an artist I am.

*Being stolen from does not benefit me in anyway.

*Being stolen from is not flattering.

When artists complain about reposters, it isn’t just whining.  It hurts us emotionally and hurts our livelihoods.

So if you like free fan content, be considerate of where you get it from.

Reblog and share from artists instead of reposters.

And hey! Sometimes we accidentally share from a reposter. It happens. But we can always delete it and find the real artist to reblog from.

It matters.

Keep reading

[miraculousblackout]

Hi sorry I just needed to know/make sure that there IS a difference between reblog and repost right cause i reblog any beautiful art bc I fell in love with it , it is not considered stealing right? Sorry I am just new to this and I needed to know😅.

Reposting is re-uploading something. Reblogging is tumblrs version of "share" from Facebook or "retweet" from Twitter.

[miraculousblackout]

The end draws near

Today is July 15th and, thus, the final day of the Miraculous Content Creator Blackout. Now is the time to make your final remarks and submissions, if you have any.

Thank you to everyone who participated and supported the protest. There were a great many of you and the sheer support I’ve seen for the movement has been uplifting. And if the angry anons many of our participants received are any indication… we had an impact. How it affects things going forward remains to be seen but no one can deny that our message was heard.

That being said, I am so sorry to the people who had to suffer through the hateful messages from anons. Remember: they’re cowards. Bratty, entitled, cowards. You’ll always be better than them even on your worst days.

So what now?

Come tomorrow, resume your regular blogging activities. (Or don’t. It’s up to you.) I know some people are feeling a bit odd after two weeks of nothing and I encourage you to take it slow. Don’t just dive back in, let your queues do their things. It’s been pretty quiet around here lately and it might be a bit weird if there was a sudden tidal wave of content.

To those of you unsure whether or not you’ll resume posting ML art, don’t worry. Your decision is respected. You don’t owe anyone anything and you shouldn’t do something if you don’t enjoy it.

To the people who learned reposting was wrong from the event - good job. Make amends as you see fit and go on with your lives as better members of fandom and society in general. Admitting your mistakes was the hardest step and you did it. :)

To the people pissed off about the blackout - …yeah you’re part of the problem here, mate. Go step on a lego.

The Miraculousblackout blog will remain up for the time being. I will continue to reblog things that appear in the tag and any other related posts that float across my dash. The ask box will also remain open. I will be keeping the url, regardless of what happens to the blog layout. It may be prudent to hold another blackout in the future and, if so, the url will be here and waiting.

Remember, this protest was not a solution to the problem. I doubt there will ever be a solution, as frustrating as that is. There will always be people who feel entitled to others work and always people who need to learn that their actions are wrong. We made a point, we got a message across, but it’s up to everyone to continue pushing the message. To remind people that theft isn’t okay and to stand with your fellow creators when they’re struggling.

Use the knowledge that was put forth during the blackout to your advantage. Remember that you have rights to your work, more than any reposters ever will, and that at the end of the day, any sight under the jurisdiction of USA copyright law will always be on your side. Even if you have to get forceful about it.

Stay Miraculous guys.

Unless you sent anon hate/threats to blackout participants. You can go sit on a cactus.

[miraculousblackout]

Fun fact about youtube's monetization system

I myself monetize on youtube (with permission, rest assured) and it’s given me an inside look at the system, it’s pros and cons, and there are two things in particular that work in artist’s favor:

One: a channel cannot monetize until it hits 10k views. This is a new rule but, in short, it means people can’t just immediately start monetizing. This works in an artists favor because it means that a thief cannot simply begin anew immediately after being taken down on another account. They must first build a following, which takes time. Sometimes not a lot but it’s still time they’re not monetizing.

Two: If a video uploaded by a monetizing youtuber is taken down for copyright infringement, they do not get the earnings from that video. At least, not those that have been accumulated since the last payout date.

Youtube monetization has a minimum payment threshold of $100 USD per month, meaning if you do not make $100 every month, the amount rolls over to the next month and is added to that total until you make the minimum. It’s not easy, per say, to meet that mark if you’re not extremely popular. Every ad viewed is only worth a few cents. More if someone clicks the ads. It adds up over time but it takes a LOT of impressions to make that money.

So some people aren’t making the mark every month and it takes longer for them to get a payout, giving the artists more time to catch them. And if you catch them, you can stop monetizing thieves from profiting from your work, or at least stop them from profiting from it in the future.

In other words: someone could make $1000 off your video but if you get the strike on them before the payout, they don’t get a single cent of it.

[hchano]

@ryuusadesu just pointed out a clarification in discord: “It’s $100 minimum for all the videos together. So if you have 20 videos each making $5, you still get paid. I’m starting to understand the bot accounts a little better. A lot of the bot channels seem benign at first when you find them because they’re not monetizing so it makes you wonder what the purpose is. But it’s because they haven’t hit the view count they need to monetize. I imagine whoever is running them turns the monetization on after they get enough views and they just sit back and make money from copied videos.” D: ….

[miraculousblackout]

Yes this is 100% true and also a good reason why you should not just ignore the clearly obvious bot channels.

[miraculousblackout]

hello! i hope it's okay to ask you guys about this! i was wondering if there was a discord chat for ML content creators? if not, do you think people would be interested in one? i think it would be nice for creators to have a safe space to share their work within the fandom. what do you guys think?? (ty and sorry if this doesn't go here////)

I know of several but I cannot provide links to them.

[alazic02]

in all seriousness, finding reposts of your art is such a surreal experience

it’s like

that there. that’s mine. I made that. and yet it is in a place where I did not put it.

and it hurts

[amynchan]

For the countless artists who’ve ‘gone gray’ because of theft.  Who have lost their colorful spark of creativity for this fandom–whether they’ve stopped creating art or never started for fear of the problem–this is for them.  We hope you find joy in your craft again.

Done for the @miraculousblackout.

[qookyquiche]

Lesson in reality

Hey guys, this is going to be a bit new for me because I’m taking a big step and going to be addressing something a little..sensitive.

This is in response to @australet789​‘s rather…riling anon:

Blanket punishment is nothing new.

More broadly, collateral consequences.

The idea that it is unfair to punish a group for the actions of a few individuals is something even I had come to support for the longest time. Even now, I still think it is unfair. But this world is broken. Reality, in a sense, has been unfair from the beginning. In these last few months, I’ve been slowly realizing that in this broken world, the whole concept of group punishment is something we need to learn to accept. Yes, I’m being bold in stating that but it’s something I’ve come to realize. 

At this point, people might put words into my mouth and say that I’m inadvertently justifying a lot of societal problems linked to bad rules or laws enforcers or even just societal concepts. That is not my point and I am not justifying any of that.

My point is that in response to what a lot of content creators have been going through, we need to stop victim-blaming the artist or the writer for choosing to stop what they’re doing and causing their fans to suffer (I’d go as far as to say…simply inconvenienced).

What that anon did in Austra’s post shouts all kinds of entitlement. 

-Legal users suffered because rules were implemented in order to combat piracy. I don’t blame the authority for trying to clean up the mess. 

-Teachers punish the class because one student mucked up. I don’t blame the teacher for trying to prevent other students from making the same mistake and to teach a lesson in consequences. REMEMBER: Consequences are real. And fyi they tend to affect more people than the perpetrator would intend to or even consider. Just look at families with certain members who’ve committed crimes.

So why should anyone blame the content creator for stopping what they’re doing because they got tired of all the bad stuff that’s been happening to them? Shouldn’t we be blaming the people who mucked up in the first place?

TL;DR. Stop blaming the content creator for something they had every right to do just because the rest of you had to suffer the consequences for the actions of a few individuals (and in this case, the consequences were really inconveniences).

P.S. Consuming fan art and fanfiction isn’t even a right. It’s a privilege. You aren’t even being punished when they decide to stop making fan art or fanfiction. If anything, the artist punishes themselves.

[miraculouseyracat]

Let‘s say you bake some cookies and bring them to school/work on a basket; you want to share them with every one so you put them in the lunch room and put a sing that says “free cookies“ with your name at the bottom

what would you feel if you found someone took the basket full of cookies, took them somewhere else, erased your name and put their’s instead? (this is reposting)

what would you feel if that someone else took the cookies and were selling them? (this is monetizing)

both are stealing

stop lying to yourselves saying you wouldn’t mind it, that you wouldn’t be angry

and since you wouldn’t like it being done to you, then have the decency not to do it to others

for more info on the @miraculousblackout visit here

[miraculousblackout]

Fun fact about youtube's monetization system

I myself monetize on youtube (with permission, rest assured) and it's given me an inside look at the system, it's pros and cons, and there are two things in particular that work in artist's favor: One: a channel cannot monetize until it hits 10k views. This is a new rule but, in short, it means people can't just immediately start monetizing. This works in an artists favor because it means that a thief cannot simply begin anew immediately after being taken down on another account. They must first build a following, which takes time. Sometimes not a lot but it's still time they're not monetizing. Two: If a video uploaded by a monetizing youtuber is taken down for copyright infringement, they do not get the earnings from that video. At least, not those that have been accumulated since the last payout date. Youtube monetization has a minimum payment threshold of $100 USD per month, meaning if you do not make $100 every month, the amount rolls over to the next month and is added to that total until you make the minimum. It's not easy, per say, to meet that mark if you're not extremely popular. Every ad viewed is only worth a few cents. More if someone clicks the ads. It adds up over time but it takes a LOT of impressions to make that money. So some people aren't making the mark every month and it takes longer for them to get a payout, giving the artists more time to catch them. And if you catch them, you can stop monetizing thieves from profiting from your work, or at least stop them from profiting from it in the future. In other words: someone could make $1000 off your video but if you get the strike on them before the payout, they don't get a single cent of it.