A billion dollar media company just placed a copyright claim on a recent video I posted on FB/IG.
I pay to license every clip and song I use. I make $0 from any of these platforms. I make videos at a loss because I love telling stories. But a giant media company is claiming ownership over a free video that i paid a giant media company for the right to make.
Meta's notification was beyond unhelpful. It doesn't say which video was claimed. Doesn't say which song or clip in that video was the basis of the claim so I can replace it. It doesn't say how to appeal the claim, only that I have 7 days to do so.
It doesn't say what will happen if the claim is successful. Presumably they'll just claim ad revenue from it, which would be unfair, but also meaningless because THE PLATFORM ALREADY DOESN'T PAY ME.
They can't steal what they already weren't giving me. But there's something profoundly insulting about me paying a company money so I can make something I don't get paid for, that they'll lie about to another company that isn't paying me, so they can take the money I would have been paid if anyone involved in this process cared at all. And the process is automated to give the illusion that I have any say in it at all.
The truth is that I do not matter to these companies. The giant media company doesn't know I exist. An unsupervised AI was installed to print them free money by filing auto-generated content claims that have zero repercussions for false positives. Meta already isn't paying me, and I'll eat my hat if they reply to my message with any meaningful solution.
I am lucky that my followers do care. I am lucky that when the system is reminding me how little I matter, I get comments and DMs and emails from people who believe in the value of what I do. That's why I haven't left this platform, and why I'll probably keep making videos for the benefit of giant companies who don't know I exist but are still making money from it.
So I guess this is me saying thank you for treating my stories like they matter. Most days I believe that they do, and it's because of you.
D&D IS A RIDICULOUS GAME FOR SILLY PEOPLE AND I LOVE IT!
I've been playing D&D for 25 years! To celebrate, I've designed pins inspired by the ridiculous situations that come to life around the gaming table: from player shenanigans, to unlikely dice rolls, to half-baked party plans that go disastrously wrong, to half-baked party plans that go improbably right!
Take a look at all the designs, stretch goals, and free bonus pins on BackerKit!
I got to work with some of my favourite webcomic artists on my new D&D pins campaign and I'm so excited for you to check them out!
Thanks so much to @shencomix, Megan McKay, @swordscomic, @mrlovenstein, and @awoocomic/@yourdndstories for their incredible work on these guest designs!
The project runs for 3 weeks on BackerKit, but you can get up to 5 free bonus pins for pledging early and hitting other incentive goals! You can pledge right here!
I'm doing a 10-30% off sale in my shop today only!
When you order from an indie artist or small business, you're helping people pay bills, take their pets to the vet, keep the car running, or grow their career. I appreciate all the support! ❤️❤️❤️