To ask about posting on you tube...

[Gorgeousweather145]

I want to ask about posting on you tube.
Basically, am I ok to post excerpts of myself playing a pop song on an instrument. The excerpts would just be 20 seconds or so.
Have never posted on you tube before. Do I need to worry about crediting the original artist etc?
As I say, just me on an instrument, no background music and just 20 seconds max of a song each time. Thanks!

YouTube's Content ID system means you should be fine. Just post your video.

Thank you for replying. Much appreciated!

Feel free to play an entire song. If you want to be crystal clear about the rights to the song, you can provide the information in the video's description. Artist, who wrote it, producer, etc. Have fun!

Thanks Aquamarine! So I guess because it’s just me and an instrument I’m not breaching anything.

I play guitar, and YouTube has millions of tutorials for songs I want to learn. Go ahead and record what you want. The entire song should be fine.

You need to be careful if you are monetising your content.

@ProfessorSlocombe

You need to be careful if you are monetising your content.

That is the purpose of the Content ID system. It automatically identifies use of copyright material, including people making covers of songs. The copyright owner is then alerted and can block the video or take some or all of the income from the video. That is why many people who regularly post covers get their income from Patreon rather than YouTube.

Whilst the copyright owner could make a claim against the OP for breach of copyright, in reality the worst that is likely to happen is that her videos get taken down.

Whilst the copyright owner could make a claim against the OP for breach of copyright, in reality the worst that is likely to happen is that her videos get taken down.

The worst that can happen is YouTube simply remove a channel (with all it's associated content, followers and history) leaving the owner with a sudden - possibly catastrophic - loss of revenue.

Not applicable in the OPs case I imagine. But it's happened.

Thanks very much for the replies. So it looks like I’m ok to play entire songs. I don’t intend on making money from it unless I got so many views- unlikely- that adverts are put before my videos.
Don’t know how that works but I think it would be a long time before it got to that stage!