
I have a niche video site thats doing really well, I have a legal question
I have been getting a few requests of late from the people associated with some of those videos or channels for me to take the videos down. Good to note here thats its not always the original sources of the video or creators sometimes its a third party other times its an associate or just a random nut case giving me his two cents.
I usually explain that I have not uploaded the videos and I do not host them, I simply embed them with the share codes I get from the source site, nothing illegal in that and that they are benefiting by getting plenty of views and even some more subscribers through my site which means more business for them.
Most of the people that engage me are fine with this after we have the discussion (and one or two are even interested in my direct ads) although some linger claiming all sorts of things. I have not been sued thus far but was just wondering on what peoples thoughts were on this topic. Would they have a case against me etc?
Some background info: all the videos I upload are the source video almost all of the time, in the case its not I figure it out pretty quickly and delete it until I can find the source. I upload my own content along with the video, usually a title and a brief explainer or a 'my 2 cents', alt tags, keywords etc...
I monetize with Adsense and some direct advertising using native ads and I guess some people are just pissed off that I can share in earning money with other peoples content and my own efforts. The way I see it is that it is no different to affiliate marketing. I am getting the traffic, I have built my brand, I do all the research, pay for hosting, update my fans, write the content and essentially offer thousands of hours of a particular style of content to my viewers who would otherwise not see most of that content or spend a great deal of time searching for it.
Also as far as I can tell You Tube themselves are pushing for these types of niche channels and websites to be created as they could not and do not want to do it themselves. I cant find the article but there was one from a few years ago were they were actively pushing these types of sites.
If it turns ugly I will definitely seek legal advice but thus far nothing of the sort only some lingering legal threats.
Just curious on others opinions?
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