Avoiding Copyrighted Music for your Camp Videos

You may have found the perfect summer jam for your camp on the radio, but is it the right song for your YouTube and Facebook videos?

Both sites are hyper-vigilant when it comes to copyright infringement and all public and private videos shared with your camp community are subject to strict enforcement. With advanced audio-scanning technology, YouTube and music companies can easily identify any copyrighted songs in your videos and have them removed.

Even if you purchase the song and give credit to the artist you are still violating copyright law and must “face the music.” YouTube and Facebook will usually delete the audio or remove the entire video. For repeat violations on Facebook you could lose your privileges to upload any videos on your account. In extreme cases, copyright holders may file lawsuits that could cost you as much as $150,000 per song and time in jail.

If you are looking for legal ways to add music to your videos, YouTube has some great tools available to help you out. Last September the site launched their Audio Library with 150 royalty-free songs in a wide variety of genres that can be downloaded for free. The site also provides an audio-swapping service that can replace all the audio in your video with certain licensed music. However, when using this service be aware that any dialog in your clip will also be swapped and certain songs will come with display ads on your video.

While it is very tempting to add the latest catchy pop songs to your camp videos, know that your videos may not last online too long and you could face some very serious consequences. So forget Katy Perry and One Direction and let your camp speak for itself.

This post was written by Social Summer Camp intern, Stephanie Gonzalez.