How to Optimally Utilize a Creative Commons License

How to Use Creative Commons Copyright Licenses [Complete Guide]

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

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You might have noticed that, when you post a video, you get to choose how you want to copyright it: standard license, or creative commons. You’ve also probably noticed that when you looking for royalty-free music or stock footage a lot of it is licensed through creative commons.

So, what exactly are creative commons ?

To hold the copyright to a creative work means that you own it, and anybody who wants to use your work for anything (i.e. uses a song you composed in their YouTube video) has to do so on your terms. When you license your work through creative commons you do not give up your rights to your creative work (a common misconception).

When you use a creative commons license you are outlining the terms under which other creators are allowed to use your creations in their projects for free if they credit you for your work.

If you do not want anyone using your work for free in any context, you stick to traditional copyrighting.

But if you’ve created a piece of music, a photograph, or a clip that you wouldn’t mind other people using, potentially as a way to get your name out there, you might want to consider creative commons.

There are 6 different creative commons licenses. Which is right for you will depend on your answers to these two questions:

Are you okay with a creator making money off of something they create using your work?

Are you okay with a creator producing a derivative of your work?

To say ‘no derivatives’ is to say ‘I’m okay with people using it, so long as they don’t change it’. One example of a derivative is a techno remix of a song. If you are alright with other creators making derivatives of your work, you may also want to require them to ‘ShareAlike’. ShareAlike means that the creator of that techno remix of your song has to use the same creative commons license you used for your original to distribute the remix.

An example of a derivative someone might make of a YouTube video would be auto-tuning it to make a song or cutting up your video to make one that’s just ‘the funny parts’.

Here are the 6 creative commons licenses, and a chart you can use as a quick reference tool.

Attribution – CC BY

If you’re using music or other media with this license, all you need to do is credit the artist.

If you license your video this way, people can do whatever they like with any element of it (video or sound) so long as they credit you. I.e. if someone wanted to mute your clips and use you as stock footage in a bigger project, they could.

Attribution-ShareAlike – CC BY-SA

If you use music, photos, or any other media licensed this way, then you must both credit the artist and license your video this same way. Meaning, you can’t use YouTube’s standard license and must instead allow for others to use your work the way you are using the licensed media.

If you apply this license to your video, you’re saying you don’t mind people using all or portions of your video for their project so long as they allow others to use their work in the same way.

Attribution-NoDerivs – CC BY-ND

This one can get tricky.

Essentially, you can use media licensed this way so long as you don’t alter it or create a different version. For example, you can’t take a song licensed this way and use it in a mashup with another song. That part is clear. Where it gets tricky is when you want to use a song in your video.

Under normal copyright rules, using a royalty-free song in the background of your video would not count as creating a derivative. The definition of derivative according to creative commons is a bit broader and includes ‘syncing’. This means you can’t take an ‘Attribution-NoDerivs’ song and create any kind of music video for it.

For example, you can’t edit clips of yourself snowboarding so that they’re in sync with a song that has this license.

Whether or not you can play the song in the background of your vlog while you are speaking can be a bit of a grey area. In theory, it shouldn’t be a problem, but if you’re accessing the music through a social site like SoundCloud then it might be best to ask the artist first.

There’s no reason to license your YouTube videos this way. If people cannot alter your video, all that’s left is for them to repost it. Even though they’d also be crediting you, they’d still essentially be stealing views and ad revenue from your original video.

Attribution-NonCommercial – CC BY-NC

If you’re using stock footage, music, or stock photos licensed this way then you should still be able to monetize your video. YouTube monetization and commercial use are different things. However, there is a lot of confusion about this issue, and chances are the rights holder intends for this license to mean ‘no monetization’.

What you definitely could not do with a NonCommercial license is to use the song/other media in an actual commercial for a product, including product placement that a brand is paying you for.

If you license your video this way, people can use it in whatever way they like so long as they credit you and don’t try to make money off of it. Once again, that doesn’t mean they can’t use it in a YouTube video which they monetize because, technically, they’d be making money off of the ad that ran ahead of the video and not the video itself.

The thing to be careful of with this license is that it’s not ‘ShareAlike’. So, if you license your video this way somebody could use your clips as stock footage and then provide them - as part of their project – for free to a third person to use in a project they were making money off of.

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike – CC BY-NC-SA

Music and other media with an ‘Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike’ license can be used in and altered for your videos, so long as you aren’t making money off those videos. You must also use this same license for the video you create using elements licensed this way.

If you license your video this way, people can use it or a portion of it in their project if they credit you. They must also use this same license for their video if they do. This protects you from the situation where a third person who never licensed your original content is making money off of it.

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs – CC BY-NC-ND

There aren’t many situations where you would be using media licensed this way in your YouTube videos. You can’t alter it, sync videos to it, or make money from any video that uses it.

You also probably shouldn’t use this license for your videos. ‘NoDerivs’ means there are not many ways people could use your content, except to repost full videos and steal your views.

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Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

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The Ultimate Tutorial for Spreading Playlists

YouTube has become the most popular video-sharing platform on the internet, with users from all over the world uploading and watching videos daily. You can find content on just about any topic you can think of on YouTube, making it an excellent resource for entertainment and education.

But what if you’ve created a playlist of your favorite videos and think your friends or family would enjoy it? To help you with this, we’ve put together an extensive guide on how to share a YouTube playlist on your computer and mobile devices.

So, let’s get started with our guide without any further delay!

Why Doesn’t The Share Function In The Playlist Work?

Firstly, let’s figure out why the “Share” function doesn’t work. The “Share” function in the playlist does not work because it is set to “private,” and YouTube doesn’t allow you to share them. To fix this, you must first change the privacy settings of the playlist to “public” in the following way:

Step1 Head to the YouTube website using a browser on your PC and sign in to your account.

Step2

• Click the three-line “Menu” icon at the top-left of your screen.
• Go to “Library.”
• Scroll down to the “Playlist” section.

Step3 Select your playlist labeled as “Private.” On the next page, click the “Private” option in the playlist details section and select “Public” to change the visibility of your playlist.

Once the privacy setting has been changed, the “share” function will work as intended.

How To Share The YouTube Playlist?

If you want to share the playlist on YouTube using your computer or mobile device, read the instructions below carefully:

1. For Computers

Here are four different ways to share your YouTube playlist using your laptop or desktop computer:

How To Share Your Own YouTube Playlist With A Link To View?

Sharing your YouTube playlist is a perfect way to increase the number of views and subscribers, allowing your viewers to see all the videos in one place.

This is especially helpful if you have a series of videos that you want viewers to watch. Here are the step-by-step instructions for achieving this task:

Step1 Visit the YouTube website using a browser on your computer and sign in to your account. Click your Profile in the top-right of the screen and select “Your Channel” from the drop-down menu, which will take you to your YouTube channel’s dashboard.

Step2 Next, go to the “Playlist” tab and click the “View Full Playlist” option under your playlist to access it.

Step3 Finally, click the “Share” icon in the playlist’s details section, and a window will pop up. From here, you can either click “Copy” to save the link to your clipboard or share the playlist directly to WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, Email, KakaoTalk, Reddit, and more platforms.

How To Share Someone Else’s YouTube Playlist With A Link To View?

If you want to share someone else’s YouTube playlist with a link, do the following steps in sequence:

Step1 In the first step, launch your preferred browser, visit the YouTube website, and sign in to your account using your credentials.

Step2 On the left side of the website’s main interface, click the “Library” option and scroll down to the Playlists section.

Step3 Under the “Playlists” section, click on the playlist you want to share. Now, click the “Share” icon in the playlist’s details section, and a pop-up window will appear. In the “Share” section, copy the URL and paste it into an email, message, or social media post to share.

That’s all there is to it! Anyone you’ve shared the link with can watch the entire playlist.

How To Share The Playlist While Watching?

We all love using YouTube for research or just scrolling through videos to pass the time, and we often share our favorite videos with others. What if you wish to share a whole YouTube playlist while watching it?

Fortunately, there’s a simple and quick way to do this, and here are the step-by-step instructions for this method.

Step1 In the first step, head to the YouTube website using a browser and use the search bar to access the playlist.

Step2 Click the playlist to start watching it. Next, click the playlist title in the grey box on the right-hand side.

Step3 On the playlist page, click the “Share” icon in the details section, and a window will pop-up. Click “Copy” to save the link or directly share the playlist to social platforms.

That’s it! The recipient will now be able to watch the entire YouTube playlist you’ve shared.

How To Share A YouTube Playlist With A Link To Collaborate

Through the “Collaborate on playlists” feature, YouTube allows you to add friends to your playlist, who can then add videos to it.

Here’s how you can share a YouTube playlist with a link to collaborate with your friends:

Step1 In the first step, go to the YouTube website using your preferred browser, and sign in to your channel’s Gmail account using your email address and password.

Step2 Click your “Profile” icon, choose the “Your Channel” option from the drop-down menu and go to the “Playlist.”

Step3 In the next step, click the “View Full Playlist” option under your preferred playlist. This will take you to your playlist page.

Step4 In the details section of your YouTube playlist on the playlist page, click the three dots (ellipsis) icon and select the “Collaborate” option.

Step5 A pop-up window will appear on your screen. Toggle on the “Collaborators can add videos to this playlist” option to enable it, and the “Allow new collaborators” option will appear.

Toggle on the “Allow new collaborators” option, click “Copy” to save the URL to your clipboard, and click “Done” to apply the changes.

That’s about it! You can now share the playlist link with your friends, who can now add videos to it.

2. For iOS and Android

If you want to quickly share a YouTube playlist using your iOS or Android device, follow these instructions step-by-step:

Note: The method of sharing the YouTube playlist on an iOS device is the same as mentioned above.

Step1 Since most devices have YouTube already installed, locate the YouTube app in your device’s app drawer and launch it.

Step2 On the app’s main interface/Home screen, tap the “Library” option at the bottom right corner of your device’s screen.

Step3 Now, scroll down to the “Playlists” section and open the playlist you wish to share with your friends.

Step4 In the playlist’s details section, tap the “Share” icon above the “Play All” button. Now, tap the “Copy” icon to save the playlist’s URL on your clipboard, or use other available options to share the playlist directly.

Bonus: Do You Want To Create Your Own YouTube Videos?

We hope you have found the solution to share your YouTube Playlist. Supposing you are a common YouTube user and like to share the fantastic things you found on this platform, are you interested in making a YouTube video by yourself? If yes, please watch the video below to start editing your own videos with a user-friendly video editor - Wondershare Filmora . With it, you can create your video with ease:

Free Download For Win 7 or later(64-bit)

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

Conclusion

In this comprehensive guide, we’ve explored why the share function in the playlist is not working and how to share a YouTube playlist using your computer and mobile device.

Step1 Since most devices have YouTube already installed, locate the YouTube app in your device’s app drawer and launch it.

Step2 On the app’s main interface/Home screen, tap the “Library” option at the bottom right corner of your device’s screen.

Step3 Now, scroll down to the “Playlists” section and open the playlist you wish to share with your friends.

Step4 In the playlist’s details section, tap the “Share” icon above the “Play All” button. Now, tap the “Copy” icon to save the playlist’s URL on your clipboard, or use other available options to share the playlist directly.

Bonus: Do You Want To Create Your Own YouTube Videos?

We hope you have found the solution to share your YouTube Playlist. Supposing you are a common YouTube user and like to share the fantastic things you found on this platform, are you interested in making a YouTube video by yourself? If yes, please watch the video below to start editing your own videos with a user-friendly video editor - Wondershare Filmora . With it, you can create your video with ease:

Free Download For Win 7 or later(64-bit)

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

Conclusion

In this comprehensive guide, we’ve explored why the share function in the playlist is not working and how to share a YouTube playlist using your computer and mobile device.