YouTube censorship and false copyright claims

Ok folks, it's official: YouTube has finally "jumped the shark."

I received a message today that YouTube is claiming a COPYRIGHT VIOLATION on my rendition of the 150 year old Christmas hymn "Silent Night" on behalf of an entity entitled "Music Publishing Rights Collecting Society," which is not even a real legal entity as far as I can tell. Here's the video in dispute:




This is BULLSHIT. First of all, "Silent Night" was composed over 150 years ago, and is well within the realm of "public domain" in any jurisdiction on Earth. The music was written by Franz Xaver Gruber in 1818, and the English language lyrics were written by John Freeman Young in 1859, so any copyright on the musical composition expired a long time ago.

In my rendition, I used my own arrangement, comprising of an acoustic guitar track and a harmonica track (a Hohner Blues Harp in the key of A). All music was performed, recorded, mixed, and mastered solely by me in my home studio, and the three vocal tracks were all my vocals.

I suspect the reason why YouTube made the copyright claim was due to the fact that my video was flagged by their automated "Content ID" software, and no human even looked at it. So, to that extent, it might just be a software error. Nevertheless, my rights to free speech as an American citizen should not be infringed upon due to YouTube's inability to write software that actually works properly. As far as I can tell, it is a violation of the DMCA to make a false copyright infringement claim, with substantial statutory penalties, and I reserve all rights to take appropriate future action along those lines.

Of course I am contesting this claim. If you agree that this is a completely ridiculous action on the part of Youtube, please post a message of support below.

Thanks, and Happy Holidays!