"They target all the big videos": Sidemen's Zerkaa calls out music labels claiming YouTube videos for background songs

Sidemen member Joshua Bradley, aka Zerkaa, is going viral for calling out music labels who have claimed the YouTube group’s videos for their background songs. For those who are unaware, YouTube videos can be claimed by music labels if they contain songs or even parts of tracks attributed to them. This diverts the revenue stream from the content creator to the music label.

In a recent livestream, Zerkaa expressed his frustration with these copyright laws and claimed that big Sidemen videos, especially very old ones, are being targeted by music companies. He even named some of the videos that had been claimed:

Naturally, Zerkaa's rant has gone viral on social media, with users on websites like Reddit and X talking about it. The streamer, who recently celebrated the release of the Sidemen Netflix documentary, made it clear that he did not like the current copyright laws.

He said songs playing for even 10 seconds in the background of videos that are hours long had been claimed, giving all revenue generated to the music labels:

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Zerkaa acknowledged that while he loves YouTube, the platform's music copyright policy is not great:

The clip from the Sidemen member's Twitch video went viral on the subreddit r/LivestreamFail, with people giving their varied opinions on music labels using copyright to claim YouTube videos. Here are some general reactions:

Copyright abuse on YouTube is quite a big issue, with many smaller creators regularly accusing more influential streamers of abusing their rights by claiming their content.