Identifyy, Adrev, Elite Alliance, Epic Elite, Haawk etc… ?
What are your experiences with the different Content ID service providers?
Which company would you recommend in 2022?
Best
CT
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I have used AdRev for many years now, and they always pay on time, and revenue has mostly gradually increased (with some bumps). They are easy to talk to and release claims very fast.
They pay 80% instead of 70% (Identifyy), which adds up to a lot of money when you get thousands of dollars per month (would have been several thousand dollars less for me per year with the same videos).
I know others really like Identifyy (Haawk, same thing) for some reason, even though there has been lots of talk about problems over there.
I think one reason is that they say that Identifyy finds more videos, which is hard to prove, since you’re not with two services at the same time, but I guess it could be true…
I have found videos that AdRev missed, but I would assume that’s a Content ID problem, not AdRev/Identifyy… But I’m not sure. After all, they all use the same YouTube system.
One advantage with Identifyy - they are working on Facebook Content ID, but it never seems to get going… When I asked AdRev they said they are not planning on working with Facebook soon.
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Some authors have claimed adrev stopped searching for new videos, or were even rejecting Audio Jungle authors. So there seem to be some problems with them and for that reason most authors here seem to have switched to Identifyy. There are some threads on it here somewhere.
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Yes, “claimed”. It is YouTube that “searches” and finds matches. AdRev, Identifyy and everyone else all use the same matching system, which is YouTube’s Content ID. They don’t have their own fingerprinting systems.
Have I found videos that AdRev missed? Yes, I have. But that is a Content ID miss. Would it have been missed by Identifyy? I don’t know…
I have new videos every month so they definitely have not “stopped searching for new videos”.
Then there are manual claims - and that’s where there could be a difference. Impossible to know exactly what, but I do have plenty of manual claims (meaning, done by AdRev manually) in my account.
Well, that’s a totally different issue which of course could make it hard for new applicants. 
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I am one of those authors.
I was registered with AdRev for a few years. After some time, I realized I had no new detection and I was always seeing the same 50 detections month after month. There was simply no new detections. My earnings took a dip from several hundreds to less than $20 month.
I asked AdRev why there was no new detection on my account, and why my monthly total detection number was always exactly 50. They never gave me a satisfactory explanation that was more than evasive deflection.
When I switched to Identifyy, they initially detected hundreds (if not thousands) videos that AdRev had not. After a couple years with them, I feel I’m having the same issue I had with AdRev. Barely any new detections, and a communication that’s getting more dismissive.
Now, I now the system is the same ContentID and it makes little sense that two different service provider would get different results.
I think it all comes down to so called “manual claims” and the effort the service provider is willing to put in for those.
In my case, it looks like Identifyy, like AdRev before them, is not doing the manual effort for my account. However, I lack the insight to pinpoint exactly what’s going on there.
It’s also important to note that not all authors have had their account put in “limbo” by AdRev. For those authors there never was a need to switch.
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Hi PurpleFog!
This all sounds strange indeed. But since it has happened to you twice now - wouldn’t it suggest even more that it’s a Content ID thing, or your music? Not AdRev/Identifyy.
Maybe they received large numbers of complaints from buyers? After all, there’s a reason they stopped accepting AJ authors. I don’t know, just guessing here. Maybe many mismatches due to loops?
I test my own tracks very often, and they are mostly recognized with a few exceptions here and there. Some of the misses get recognized a while later. It’s an automated system after all, but I’m sure YouTube could “red flag” certain tracks if there are complaints or something…
Are any of your tracks released on Spotify etc.?
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The thing is I don’t what’s going on, and I don’t understand why authors should be left in the dark on this subject.
Identifyy still has way more detections than AdRev had in the last years I was with them. I’m not sure if I’m having the same issue I had with AdRev, maybe the dwindling sales on AJ play a big role too.
As for my tracks being red flagged, I don’t see a reason why. I never received any complaints from buyers. A few of them contacted me to know what to do, that was taken care of swiftly. I don’t usually use loops, and when I do, it wouldn’t be in a way that would be problematic regarding ContentID. My tracks are not released on listening platforms, I never had conflicting matches… so I don’t know.
My guess is that it has to do with how well my account is performing. If it’s not worth their putting the time in the manual process, then they just don’t. They told me they don’t claim videos with under 10 000 views. It doesn’t really reflects the detection data I have, but it must mean something.
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Yes, that could be a reason. I would also GUESS that they would prioritize music that is released, since by default, any use of AJ-only music would ideally not need claims anyway (of course, only in an ideal world).
But in the case of regular released music, the default position would be that no YouTube video at all is allowed to monetize it.
Just thinking out loud here, but maybe that could be part of it?
Much of my music is also released, although I get new detections from unreleased music all the time, so it’s not a waterproof theory…
I have had very good performance though (thousands per month), so maybe that helps, and they feel like it’s worth keeping the account alive…
Pretty important stuff, as I’m now relying more and more on AFTER-THE-SALE royalties (PRO + YouTube, Spotify etc.) now that licensing has dropped so much.
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Never thought of this, but it makes sense. This would also go in the same direction as AdRev no longer accepting so called “RF authors”.
Do those service providers know whether a track is released or not, though?
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Well, Content ID is Google after all, and they know everything.
When you release a track you usually have the option to also automatically create a YouTube music page, so that is definitely one easy way for them to know that a track is released, since the system will recognize the fingerprint, and see that it’s an official release, even if the name is different.
But I don’t know, it’s all just guessing. I think it’s more likely that the general performance of the account would play a role.
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And of course, the general performance of your AJ (or other sites) sales would of course matter a lot for ongoing video finds. If you only sell 10 tracks a month, and AJ is the only place people find your tracks, it’s not likely that many videos would pop up…
With any service, when you first enter your tracks, it will find lots of videos because no one has had the change to release the claims yet. So a decrease in videos is natural.
When you moved from AdRev to Identifyy, you started again, and it’s likely that many of the claims were double claims for users that had already cleared the claims from your AdRev account. And some time later, everyone has caught up, and you don’t see that many videos once again.
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I had never seen those vids in any AdRev reports. Moreover, Identifyy assured me then that they would not double claim any video. Claims previously released with my former service provider would not be reinstated. From what I observed, that’s indeed what happened. So, I really don’t think that’s what explains the discrepancy between AdRev and Identifyy’s performance.
Most of my claims do not come from my AJ sales. They come from users who rip my YT promotional videos. Licensed user simply clear them right away. So I don’t how much of a role, my decreasing sales play there.
I mean we can guess, but not much more. I don’t think this is acceptable. Our music, our creative assets are at the center of this whole ecosystem. It’s not reasonable and quite unfair that we are left in the dark. Why the automatic ContentID process not work on 100% of videos? Why should we rely on manual claiming third-parties may or may not be willing to do?
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I see, that’s good to know, thanks! I just thought it started over again (which could be what you want if someone illegally registered your tracks, and now you have control).
Yeah, it’s a bit of a mystery then. Some tracks of mine are “difficult”, meaning they sometimes don’t trigger claims when I test myself. Other tracks always trigger claims right away, even if it’s a new YouTube channel with 0 subscribers and 0 views. I have not been able to recognize a pattern yet.
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Now Winamp has opened a similar service. Has anyone used it before and knows what it is?
“Sign up in a few minutes and start collecting the copyright royalties many creators are missing. If you were wondering how much this can mean: check out your yearly revenue from your digital distributor and take 25% of that amount. These are your estimated copyright royalties.
So if you make 100€ with Distrokid, Bridger can collect an additional 25€ for you.”
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Well, it’s not the same thing as YouTube Content ID revenue, but something composers should of course be aware of anyway.
This is collection of mechanical royalties, and of course you don’t need Bridger/Winamp to do this. Just like your PRO, there should be a mechanical royalty collection service in your country.
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I was with Adrev for 6-7 years. Now switched to Haawk. The reason is simple. Adrev just wasn’t looking for my music. Yes, there were system payments, but… I just took and checked all the reports for many years. It turned out that they only pay for 4 tracks. I asked them in support - where are all the other several hundred tracks? They replied - You sell on Audiojungle, and other sites - this may cause complaints from customers, so we are simply not looking for such music. I was in shock. That is, their main task is to look for matches, then for all claims there is a white list for both one video and a channel, that is, everything is solvable and they just have to search and no more. It turned out like this. Many years have been wasted. Then they said - ok, we can include all these tracks and we will search - but then I already decided to change the provider and work with Haawk. So far, only a month has passed and there are no reports and the nearest thing I will see is January 2023. But. I have a lot of YouTube channels. I also work as a videographer, shoot and edit videos for many channels of millionaires, and I have never searched for Adrev before. Now for a month I see how almost all videos have received warnings from Haawk, that is, it works and searches. I think you can work with any platform of your choice, you just need to carefully monitor the reports and immediately talk to the support service so that they do not set their personal desires, but look for everything according to the contract.
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And what is the best PRO to register?
The P.R.O you register is the one that is within your country
Can I register in any PRO? Not only in the country in which I have citizenship.
Yes, Any PRO. It’s your choice.