FAQ

‘Royalty-free’ means that you don`t have to pay any royalties once you have purchased a license. A one-time payment is enough, so you can use the track in your project forever without any additional payments. That’s why this type of license is so popular these days. Please notice that ‘royalty-free music’ is not the same as ‘free music’!

It’s very easy, quick and affordable! Just visit the shop (Jamendo) and browse my portfolio until you find the track you want. Then, just click on “BUY NOW” or “ADD TO CART” buttons. If you are watching one of my YouTube/Vimeo videos or listening on Soundcloud, the direct link to that track will be in the description.

No, the license is required if you want to use my music in your project legally. However, no one can stop you from using the free preview (with the ‘Jamendo’ watermark) or to download the music from my own videos. If this is the case, you must credit ‘Serena Giannini’, include a link to buy the music track (copy the link from the video description) and send me a link to your project or video. You also must know that you will receive a copyright notice (not a strike!) and monetization will stop for that video.

All information about copyright, copyright notice clearance, and why you should always purchase royalty-free music protected with content ID.

If you have received a ‘copyright notice’ (also know as a ‘flag’ or ‘claim’) on your YouTube video, please don’t worry! As my entire portfolio is protected with Content ID, this is normal and expected. Clearing such notices is super common, very easy, and takes just 2 minutes! 

To ‘clear’ your video (that is, to remove a copyright notice), click HERE and select “Release a HAAWK Claim on a video”, then enter the link to your video, your name, email, and copy and paste your license information in the message part of the form together with following text “I have purchased a license to use the music track [Title of the Track] by Serena Giannini from the website ‘jamendo.com’, and have the right to use the track on YouTube. I am pasting my license information below as proof.”

The claim should be released within just a few hours after you click SUBMIT. 

Why did I get the message ‘includes copyrighted content’?

If your video has been identified as matching third party content or “flagged” as it’s often called, please do not worry or panic! This is simply a security message that YouTube uses to communicate that it has noticed you are using music with a copyright belonging to myself (Serena Giannini). IMPORTANT: A flag is not to be confused with a “strike” which is when action has been taken against your account to forcefully remove content that has been illegally used. While a strike will negatively affect your account, a flag (or notice) will not.
All videos that match third party content (shown as “HAAWK for a 3rd party”) are immediately flagged because YouTube doesn’t yet know that you have the rights to use the music legally. It’s important to note that while a video is flagged, Ads may still run, but monetization will be disabled. To enable monetization again, you must first ‘clear’ the video.

How to ‘clear’ my video BEFORE it goes public on YouTube?

Step 1) Upload the video, set to “unlisted” and wait for the copyright notice to appear…

Just upload your video to YouTube as normal but when you reach step 5 of the upload process (the “visibility” tab), please set it to “unlisted”. When you select this option, the video is uploaded as usual and a YouTube link will be generated, however the video will not yet be “live” for your subscribers to see. Wait a few minutes and go to your video manager of your YouTube account (the “videos” section of your YouTube studio). You will received a copyright notice (also known as a “flag”) saying that the music is copyrighted. Please don’t worry! This is normal, expected and happens all the time everywhere. This is simply an automated security message that YouTube uses to communicate that it has detected music with a copyright protection (also known as content ID). A notice (or flag) is not to be confused with a “strike” which is when action has been taken against your account to forcefully remove content that has been illegally used. While a strike will negatively affect your account, a notice will not.

Step 2) Fill the HAAWK form and wait for the copyright notice to disappear…

The quicker way to clear a video with a music copyright notice is via the Identifyy (HAAWK) form directly. It’s quicker than doing it via Youtube. Just click on the link below and select “Release a HAAWK Claim on a video”. Then enter the link to your video, your name, email, and copy and paste your license information in the message part of the form. The claim should be released within just a few hours after you click SUBMIT. Sometimes it can take up to 24 hours. But usually it’s much quicker! Link

Step 3) Go public…
Now that the copyright notice has been removed, just set your video’s visibility setting from “unlisted” to “public”. That’s it!

What is ‘Content ID’ and ‘Rights Manager’?

Content ID refers to the technology of adding a “digital fingerprint” to online content, in this case music, for recognition and tracking across YouTube (and places that YouTube content is used and embedded). Without this “digital fingerprint”, tracking legal and illegal use of copyrighted content would be impossible. “Rights Manager” works in the same way but for Facebook and Instagram.

What is Identifyy?

Identifyy is a platform that utilises “digital fingerprint” technology to track, manage and administer copyrighted material on behalf of content creators and copyright holders. Identifyy is part of HAAWK (created by the same founder of “AdRev”) and it is a YouTube/Facebook/Instagram fully verified and certified partner.