If you’ve heard this story before, stop me … The YouTube channel featuring music, covers or remixes of classic songs from popular Nintendo games has been forced to remove content after being approached by Nintendo’s army of lawyers. Well, it’s happening again. A new channel now claims to be the latest accident of the ongoing war with some of Nintendo’s most dedicated and passionate fans.
As NintendoLife first reported, the club’s newest member is SynaMax, a YouTube channel dedicated to music. The user behind the channel, who says in the channel’s bio that he has been composing music since 2004, had previously uploaded high-quality entertainment and covers of some Metroid Prime songs. However, it seems to have caught the attention of Nintendo and its legal team.
In a video uploaded yesterday, the channel maker claims that he was contacted by Nintendo’s lawyers on May 31 and asked to remove nine videos containing Metroid Prime music cover or remix.
SynaMax said in a new video, “I’m really disappointed at Nintendo that they will force me to remove this video because they want mandatory licenses.”
He further clarified that these videos are now gone for good; His research videos on Metroid Prime’s soundtrack and other similar videos are safe, as they do not contain copyrighted music. Further, they may not produce any covers or remixes of Metroid Prime or other Nintendo game music without obtaining a “mandatory” license from the company.
Kotaku has contacted Nintendo and SynaMax about the removed videos.
SynaMax acknowledges that the songs are owned and copyrighted by Nintendo, and that the publisher “has a legal right to remove this content.”
However, he questioned why the company was aggressive, instead of simply monetizing relevant videos and continuing to produce and share Nintendo-inspired creations to fans. SynaMax said it doesn’t mind losing revenue; They just want to share their songs with other fans. SynaMax, his frustration was palpable, saying he had created Nintendo-related content “for a long time”.
We have seen the same situation over and over again in the last few years. Nintendo fans work hard to create new, entertaining content related to the game, or provide other fans with easy ways to listen to Nintendo music that publishers do not make accessible, and “Big N” responds by sending legal threats to some of its most passionate and dedicated fans.
Earlier this month, Nintendo filed more than 500 copyright claims against a channel, forcing the creator of that YouTube channel to remove all Nintendo-related music. In the process, it has become very difficult to listen to many of the songs they have uploaded to YouTube, which is a really crude deal for passionate fans who want to relive their childhood or celebrate a game they especially love.
Of course, Nintendo has every legal right to do so. But the thing is, nowadays many other gaming companies are working with fans and developers to allow them to create great content in a legally safe way. Many publishers also offer legal, readily available ways for aspiring players to play their back catalogs. As we said before, Nintendo doesn’t have to. And yet, as it continues to do so, the publisher’s long history and the beloved franchise are becoming harder and harder to celebrate and enjoy.