How to dispute a YouTube Content ID claim

Before you dispute

Do the provider's step first. A dispute is the slow route, and most licensed music has a faster one:

• With a subscription that safelists channels, connect the channel in your account. Epidemic Sound, Artlist, Musicbed and Storyblocks all release claims that way.
• With music that needs a credit, add the credit to the description. Incompetech claims are released once it is there.
• With a per-video code, such as Bensound's, paste this video's own code.

Dispute when that step is done and the claim is still there.

The steps

1. Sign in to YouTube Studio and open Content. For Shorts, go to the Shorts tab.
2. Click the filter bar and choose Claims.
3. In the Restrictions column, hover over the claim and click See details.
4. Under "Content used", find the claim and click Take action, then Dispute.
5. Choose the reason that fits. For licensed music, that is having a licence.
6. Write the note and submit.

What to put in the note

Providers ask for slightly different things, so follow yours. Epidemic Sound asks for "a contact email address" and "any relevant license or subscription information". Envato asks you to use your licence certificate. In general, give the claimant what they need to find you in their system: the provider's name, the account email, the track name and any licence code or certificate text.

What happens next

YouTube notifies the claimant, who has 30 days to do one of three things:

• Release the claim. Your monetisation settings are restored automatically once all claims are released.
• Reinstate the claim. Your dispute was rejected. You may be able to appeal.
• Let it expire. No answer in 30 days means the claim is released.

YouTube does not mediate. It passes the dispute to the claimant and applies the result.

The 5-day window

Dispute within 5 days of the claim. YouTube then holds all revenue from the first day of the claim. Dispute later and it only holds revenue from the day you dispute.

What not to do

YouTube says to dispute only if "you're confident that you have all the necessary rights to use the claimed content." The claimant can file a removal request at any point in the process. If that request is valid, the video comes down and the channel gets a copyright strike. YouTube also warns that repeated or malicious abuse of the dispute process can bring penalties against your video or channel.

If your Short is longer than one minute

YouTube blocks a Short over one minute while any claim is active, so 30 days of waiting is 30 days offline. If the provider cannot clear it faster, Studio's own tools may be quicker than a dispute: erase the song, trim the segment or replace the song with one from the Audio Library.