copyright dmca youtube
Whistling copyrighted music on youtube
<p>Without going into too much detail as to the why's and wherefore's of the question (I'll put it at the bottom, question first), I am curious about the copyright laws regarding whistling copyrighted music in a youtube video. It wouldn't be the focus of the video, but it would be a passing part of the video. I'm wondering about the ability to monetize such content.</p>

<p>As for why I'm curious about this, I've recently been thinking about starting a youtube channel. I have no delusions of grandeur, and I don't want to be presumptuous, but it serves to be prepared. I tend to whistle, and without trying to sound cocky, I'm quite good at whistling music. The channel would be man-cave workshop type content, among other things, and I would like to include bits where you can hear me whistling or singing along with the music that I'm listening to (the video music would be non-copyrighted, but I would quiet it to hear the whistling or singing). It would be short snippets, no more than 5 or 10 seconds, and you wouldn't hear the music that I'm hearing because I use headphones. If I ever got to a point where I <em>could</em> monetize my channel, would this prevent me from doing that?</p>

<p>Yes it's illegal. Just like singing/whistling happy birthday in public (used to be) illegal. You could be sued for untold amount of damages that could ruin your life forever (in theory).</p>

<p>If you whistle a mashup remix then it's legal as long as it's different enough from the original that you can't tell that they are the same song anymore.</p>

<p>Yes anyone can sue you if you piss them off. Disney doesn't sue all the people who sing covers of their songs because it's bad for business to piss off your fans, but they can sue if they feel like it.</p>

<p>This is more common sense than anything else but I suggest you look into fair use copyright law since there is a lot of misconception about it.</p>

<p><a href="https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/what-is-fair-use/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/what-is-fair-use/</a></p>
