Chilled Cow isn't the biggest name on YouTube, yet its channel managed to create a video that hit 218 million views this week. So just what happened here?
It has been running for quite a long time and amassed a sizeable following. A glance through the chat from the live stream can give you a hint to its popularity, and often the strange sense of community it creates. However, it has recently run afoul of YouTube's copyright takedown algorithm.
This caused the stream to finally end, and create an epic-length video in its place. While the stream has since been restored, it does point towards one potentially disastrous element. This opens up the possibility that it could cause more takedowns in the future.
When a YouTube channel is taken down mid-stream, the stream must finally come to a close. After this, the stream is made available as a regular video for viewers to watch. In the case of a video that was continuing indefinitely like Lo-Fi Hip Hop Beats, the stream was pretty big.
The resulting video clocked in at 541 days. This is an epic-length, and definitely long enough for even the most devoted listener to listen without fear of hearing the same section too many times.
Yet, the removal of the channel still brought some outcry. Fans took to social media to voice their displeasure.
This all begs the question of why the stream had been banned. After all, it had been running pretty popularly for quite some time. So why now? The stream has had similar problems in the past with triggering YouTube copyright detection.
Major Lo-Fi streams were taken down previously because of their images, not their music. ChilledCow itself currently uses a public domain gif a girl studying, after a previous takedown notice from
Studio Ghibli for using a gif from one of their movies.
In addition to the visuals though, none stop lo-fi originals and remixes are played. Lo-Fi artists do work with channel produces to get their music on the air and solicit submissions. However, a never-ending stream takes a lot of work and needs a lot of content. This makes fully sourcing songs an issue, especially when Lo-Fi hip hop has a habit of dropping in voice clips from other media.
This is largely fine when artists don't notice or appreciate the exposure from their music appearing. However, the constant need for fresh beats is bound to lead to unauthorized samples making an appearance, or even a lo-Fi artist upset with the unauthorized use.
Fans of the stream were relieved when YouTube realized their error and restored the channel. It is now back to broadcasting. However, these types of issues may arise again. ChilledCow switched their images after problems in the past. To be completely secure in its broadcast though a lot more oversight would be needed in what is broadcast.
This all straddles the line of what is fair-use and what user-created content can be used completely freely. Increasingly, it is down to
platform providers to decide what is and is not okay when it comes to copyrighted material, and the popularity of a stream is no indication that it will get special treatment.
