Copyright Claims

Have you recently licensed music from the IMLC and received a copyright claim against your video?

We know this can be frustrating, but there is no need to panic. Copyright claims are surprisingly common and are usually straightforward to solve.

Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube use a recognition software that scans the music in your project to ascertain whether or not you have used copyrighted material. The Independent Music Licensing Collective does not register tracks in this system, so if you have received a copyright claim, it will be because of one of two reasons:

  1. The software has confused a specific track with other similar sounding tracks on the music content ID system and returned a ‘false positive’.
  2. Someone has infringed on the rights of one or several of our artists by illegally changing the artist or track name, and claiming it as their own.
  3. There may be occasions where an IMLC artist has registered a track with a national collection agency outside of the UK, but has retained the right to sell licenses for their work. In these rare situations, a copyright strike may be brought up on any YouTube video using the track, and will require documentation from the artist to get it removed. This is a simple process and will be taken care of by the artist and the IMLC. Please email contact@imlc.uk immediately so we can quickly get it cleared.

In the majority of cases, it will be the second reason that has created your claim. If an individual illegally steals music from any IMLC artist(s) and registers it to music vendors such as Tunecore, CD Baby, Spotify, iTunes or Landr, it creates a digital ID of the music. Once Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube detects the music (digital ID), your project will be claimed by the vendor on the behalf of those who have illegally uploaded it.

In most cases, appealing the claim by following the instructions below should solve the problem. However, if you’re having difficulty, please email us directly at contact@imlcollective.uk or reach out through our contact page.

The IMLC takes Copyright Claims very seriously

If you have information about any artists, labels, or music vendors claiming work from an IMLC artist(s) as their own, please contact us so that we can address the issue directly. Not only will we aim to have the issue eradicated immediately, but we’ll do all we can to have the offender removed from all platforms and vendors.

Here's how to fix copyright claims.....

Select your platform

Content ID

A content ID claim is generated by an automated system on YouTube, so your video may still get a claim even though you properly licensed the music.

You can dispute the claim by following these guidelines: Dispute a content ID claim

Once you arrive at the box that asks you to explain your claim, copy/paste the contents of your license pdf, which you can download from your My Account page.

NOTE:  A Content ID Claim is NOT a Copyright Strike. Copyright Claims do not affect the status of your YouTube channel in any way.

The very first thing you should do is appeal the claim!

In most cases, simply appealing the claim is all you need to do with instagram. Remember, you have a license to use the music, so there’s nothing to worry about. Once you have appealed, the claim will be dropped and your project will be restored.

If you receive a warning from Instagram informing you that your video is muted because you may be using copyrighted content, you should select “Restore Audio”. 

The very first thing you should do is appeal the claim!

  • If your content was removed because of a copyright report, you can submit an appeal. You’ll receive instructions about how to appeal in the message they send you.
  • If Facebook ask you for a reason, type the following and submit: “I have a license and written permission from the proper rights holder to use this material. Please contact the rights holder to verify via the Independent Music Licensing Collective (imlcollective.uk).

If you receive a warning from Facebook informing you that your video is muted because you may be using copyrighted content, you should select “Restore Audio”.