Investing your time and energy into the scripting, shooting and editing of your video, only to get that dreaded ‘Your video has been claimed‘ email 20 minutes after you hit ‘Publish’, and now your revenue is frozen. There’s nothing worse, especially when the music you used was listed as ‘royalty free’ or ‘no copyright’. However, these terms only tell half the story, and mean you won’t pay any recurrent royalties, but offer zero protection against Content ID’s automated, revenue-freezing system. We’re posting this for all creators who have battled a Content ID claim. We’ll run through exactly why these claims occur, and introduce Claim-Safe Licensing from RouteNote Licensing – the only solution built to stop content ID in its tracks before it can cost you views, trust, and money.

The problem

A lot of people in the creator space misunderstand the phrase ‘royalty-free’. It can sound like your ticket to freedom, but is often the top reason channels (even major ones) get claimed. It simply means you paid a fee to use it without paying further performance royalties to a collection society. It does not mean the music is unregistered. In fact, the track’s owner (often the composer or the music library) has almost certainly registered that music in YouTube’s Content ID system.

The automated trap

If you’re unsure about how Content ID works, here’s a brief rundown of the process that leads to your content being de-monetised;

  1. Registration: The composer/writer/producer/library will register the tracks unique fingerprint into the Content ID database.
  2. The Upload: You publish your video.
  3. The Match: Content ID then automatically scans your upload, and when it finds a match, it will simply trigger a claim.
  4. The Consequences: Your revenue is instantly held, pending redirection to the claiming party. You then HAVE to file a dispute, which can take up to 30 days to resolve.

The first 48 hours after your video is published are usually the most crucial in terms of YouTubes algorithm – you could be losing views, revenue and audience momentum, all because of an automated system.

You are always at risk of a claim if a track is registered in Content ID, regardless of that wonderful PDF license you have on your desktop. Really, what you need is a silver bullet that gets Content ID to step down even before you publish your video…

The Claim-Safe solution

The automated Content ID bots don’t know you have a lovely PDF license on your desktop – so how are you able to pre-emptively bypass the machine entirely?

RouteNote Licensing understands that lost time = your lost revenue. That’s why we’ve built two foundational pillars that guarantee monetisation for every creator, every time:

Pillar 1: Proactive Pre-Clearance

Unlike those ‘generic’ music libraries that label everything in their catalogue as ‘Royalty-Free’, every track in the RouteNote Create catalogue comes with guaranteed, locked-down rights:

100% Rights Ownership: We hold full control over both the Master Sound Recording (the sound file) and the Publishing/Composition (the underlying song, melody, and lyrics). This eliminates the biggest cause of third-party claims.

Original Music: Our music is sourced and/or created under strict agreements. Our experienced moderation team ensures that all music that hits our platform contains no uncleared samples, loops, or hidden rights owners waiting to issue a surprise claim.

Pillar 2: The YouTube Whitelisting Guarantee

This is really where it all comes together, and it will remove the need for you to manually dispute claims. It’s a simple automated process that automatically tells YouTube you are authorised.

Your License ID: When you license a track on our site, you receive a unique License ID and/or a download link.

Channel Registration: Enter your YouTube Channel ID into you RouteNote Licensing dashboard.

The Whitelist: RouteNote Licensing automatically adds you to our whitelist, ensuring that when our registered music is uploaded to your specific channel, the Content ID System sees your content and thinks, “This user is authorised. Do not claim. Allow full monetisation.”

These pillars are our way of turning the painful, revenue-freezing 30-day dispute process into a seamless, claim-free one.

Steps for immediate peace of mind (Get claim-free today)

You don’t need a month-long wait to get claim-free. You just need a clear and definitive, claim-safe source for your music.

Here are 3 steps you can take today to ensure you can hit ‘Publish’ on your next video without a single Content ID claim:

Retire the Risk: Stop using any music from generic, unlabelled “royalty-free” or “no copyright” sources.

Join the Guarantee: Head to RouteNote Licensing and sign up. Find your perfect track

Whitelist Your Channel: Before you upload your video, follow the simple steps in your dashboard to register your YouTube Channel ID. This links your channel to our pre-clearance system, giving you peace of mind.

This results in complete creative freedom, no legal worries, and 100% control over your revenue.

Stop risking your channel’s revenue and momentum on a flawed system.

RouteNote Licensing guarantees that the music you license is protected from Content ID claims, allowing you to focus on what you do best: creating great content.

Click Here to Start Your Claim-Safe Journey Today!