Why did I receive a copyright claim?

Wrongful Use:

First and foremost, If you licensed music from Scott Holmes Music under the correct licensing conditions, then you’ll have nothing to worry about.

If you/the Licensee wrongfully used our music under a non-commercial license, for commercial purposes, or simply never met the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons license, you/the Licensee may be issued with a strike on platforms such as YouTube until the correct license is obtained.

We do not register our tracks within this system. However, we do work closely with a team who scan social media to see if our music has been wrongfully used.

How to resolve the claim:

If this is the case for you/the Licensee, our team (Independent Music Licensing Collective – IMLC) will contact you on our behalf with instructions on how to resolve the issue. 

To speed up the process, fill out the form below and we’ll pass this information on.

NOTE: If you’re certain you obtained the correct license that allows for commercial use but received a claim, please provide us with your license ID number. 

    Content ID systems:

    It’s common knowledge that Instagram, Facebook and YouTube use a music ID recognition software that scans music in your project to see if you’ve used copyrighted material.

    In this case, If you have a claim against your video that was not issued by the IMLC, it’s either a “false-positive” (the software is wrong due to confusing a specific track with other similar sounding tracks on the music content ID system) or someone has infringed our rights by illegally stealing our music by changing the artist name, track name and claiming it as their own (Typically, this is always the case).

    For example; If an individual illegally steals our music and registers it to music vendors such as; Tunecore, CD Baby, Spotify, iTunes, Landr, etc, it creates a digital ID of the music. Once Instagram, Facebook or YouTube detects the music (digital ID), your project will be claimed by the vendor on behalf of the “artist/thief”.

    Typically appealing the claim via following the instructions below should solve the problem. However, if you’re having difficulty. Please contact us

    If you have information of any artists, labels or music vendors claiming our work as their own, please contact us so we can do something from our side. Not only will we aim to have the issue eradicated immediately, but we’ll do all we can to have the “artist/thief” removed from from all platforms and vendors.

    Here's how to fix it... Select your platform

    •  Appeal the Claim!
      Typically for instagram, this is all you should have to do. Remember, you have a license to use the music, so there’s nothing to worry about. Once you appeal, the claim will be dropped and your project will be restored.

    If you receive a warning from Instagram informing you that your video is muted because you may be using copyrighted content, please click on “Restore Audio”. 

    • Appeal the Claim!
    • If your content was removed because of a copyright report, you can submit an appeal.
      You’ll receive instructions about how to appeal in the message they send you.
    • If Facebook ask you for a reason check, type the following and submit:
      “I have a license and written permission from the proper rights holder to use this material. Please contact the rights holder to verify – scottholmesmusic.com/contact

    If you receive a warning from Facebook informing you that your video is muted because you may be using copyrighted content, please click on “Restore Audio”.

    Content ID

    A content ID claim is generated by an automated system on YouTube, so your video may still get a claim even though you properly licensed the music.

    You can dispute the claim by following these guidelines:
    Dispute a content ID claim

    Once you arrive at the box that asks you to explain your claim, copy/paste the contents of your license pdf.

    Free CC License:
    You can access your license by going to your scottholmesmusic.com account:
    Account>Purchase history> View details & downloads.

    Commercial Licenses/All Access:
    Your unique license was sent to your email account after purchase completion.
    If you can’t find it, contact us with your receipt/order number.

    NOTE:  A Content ID Claim is NOT a Copyright Strike.