Jimmy “MrBeast,” a multimillionaire philanthropist and content creator, has sparked debate on Twitter by claiming that YouTubers should be able to use music without facing a copyright strike.
MrBeast went on to say that major record labels should stop suing YouTubers who can get their signed artists “tens of billions of impressions” on their songs.
Top Twitch and YouTube streamers and content creators have long held this view. Other popular influencers, such as Nicholas “NICKMERCS” Kolcheff, have previously expressed dissatisfaction with copyright strikes, claiming that artists should “stop acting like Drake” and be grateful for their songs being used in videos.
MrBeast has brought up the subject once more, over a year later. Once again, the responses were mixed. Some fans agreed with MrBeast, while others wondered why the millionaire refused to pay for the music rights he wanted to use.
“While that’s probably the most financially profitable route for mid-sized music labels,” one follower wondered, “what’s stopping big YouTubers who make millions of dollars from licensing their music properly or reaching out to musicians to create custom content themselves?”
MrBeast responded to critics with a sarcastic rebuttal. MrBeast clearly believes that because of their large audience, big content creators should be able to use any music they want.
MrBeast’s videos have tens of millions of views, which means a lot of people are watching them. However, this detracts from an artist’s impressions because attention is diverted to the streamer rather than the artist’s music video. Using the songs for free is still considered “stealing,” regardless of the size of the influencer, making it a form of exploitation.
However, fans of MrBeast and other well-known content creators are perplexed by the situation. Why is it that video games can be streamed without issue but a song cannot? The simple answer is that video game publishers have allowed the streaming of game content, but record labels and artists have not.
This is because watching someone else play a game does not imply that you should buy and play it yourself. If anything, it may encourage fans to purchase the game. However, even if you believe that music should be free to use, it is currently illegal to stream it without permission, regardless of the size of the content creator.
