spell check changed monitzation to minimization.  Got to watch that!

It is possible that it is the music in your video that they are wanting proof of ownership. It is also possible that since you are using established puppets that are more recognizable that it has triggered something. Normally they would give you a link to a page explaining it or a way to verfiy you are owner.  Nothing like that?  I am checking http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrusted_dlcp/www.youtube.com/en/us/yt/creators/medias/pdfs/yt-creator-playbook.pdf to see if there is anything in it.

I don't think it cost anything to be a partner. You just have to follow the rules. http://www.youtube.com/yt/creators/partner.html  In fact I think you may already be one.

Having at least one video approved for monetization makes you a YouTube partner, which provides you with opportunities to improve your skills and build your audiences.

They have accepted most of my stuff, even with Charlie McCarthy in the credits in one. However could Popeye in the audience be it? They rejected my Whitney Houston tribute.  I ended my song with the last four notes to "I will always love you", but deleted them in another version. My other sites have had more issues.  When they ask for documentation I really don't have it.  My stuff is not officially copywritten. I usually come up with an idea, turn on my mac open up garage band program and pump out a tune.  I believe to a degree I become self published but not sure how to prove it. That creators link you posted does not open but it looks interesting. Actually I'm surprised they have accepted most of my work without question.  They do eventually check every video and can reject later.

I agree with you Shawn. It takes a long time to build a  fan base, and it takes maintaining. You have to enjoy the process. You will get criticism, and you  will slowly build your viewer base. I have not found any formula to having puppets watched. Any puppets I have  uploaded get very low counts, but having them in Spanish  might have alot to do with that.

I spent some time trying to come up with why perhaps some of your video's got rejected and what recourse you may have. Unfortunately I don't know that you have much recourse other then submitting something to YouTube in writing. Remember though you are fighting the decision to gain money off your video's not the right to have them on YouTube.  A lot of rules change when you want to make money. From what I have read you really need to make sure you are listing sources and credits if you happen to use anything, yes anything, that is not created by you personally. Youtube is always going to play it safe when it comes to this issue. Also don't forget that even if you are singing a song it does not mean you have the right to do that. If the song was not composed and written by you then you need to gain the right to perform it and pay the original writer money. This is kind of an interesting video on this subject.

This might be of some help to you also. http://support.google.com/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1311196

This entire process seems to be automated from what I can tell so that means a computer is reading what you say to determine if you hold the right. Try to follow closely the suggestions they give you. Notice also that on the video that I posted above there are credits at the end of the video. The video itself was uploaded to YouTube not by the original creator but if you view the video on YouTube you see in the description that the source of the video was stated and a link to the original video was given that shows proof that the YouTube user could upload it.  In fact here is the link to the original source. http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/blog/2007/03/fairy-use-tale

I realize I am getting a bit off topic from the original subject but I found this lecture by Lawrence Lessig on the subject of copyright and free speech very interesting. The video was actually blocked by YouTube so I am linking to another source. http://blip.tv/lessig/webside-chat-3303245  Lawrence Lessig is very familiar with copyright and the way to get content cleared on YouTube yet this presentation of his was blocked.  The lecture is about 43 mins long and at first it is not clear he is talking about free speech and copyright but if you can hang in there I think it is very enlightening.

Daryl, I think you are right in what you are saying. The whole internet thing is still developing and it will take quite a bit of watching to see where it is headed and how trends will go. When I was young,live puppet performances were in vogue, I did some 'tours' in  South America, where it was not uncommon to have audiences of 500 to over 1000. But then getting back to NZ live  performances were dead, and TV was where it was at (and  movies), with muppets at the peak, then Jim Henson died and puppet TV took a dive. Then recently from my perspective anyway, internet, although available,did not start to take off until old muppet stuff started getting  posted. Disney realized there was an audience, and now  movies are coming back to help the whole deal out.
   The 'rules' or understanding of audiences in live , TV, and Movies have been well thought out over the decades. Internet is very new in comparison, so getting to understand the dynamics of it all, will take some time and effort. Live performances seem to me to have the same dynamics as usual. TV is a screen similar to internet, but the dynamics are quite different. TV is transmitted in a stream, that the audience has to sincronise with. Programmers know the habits of their audience, which is usually fairly local. They know for example that preschoolers have a nap after lunch, so it is pointless transmitting to them at 1-2pm. Internet... seldom does the internet audience sincronise with schedules, as it is 24 hours, global, varying time zones etc. Connection speeds,timezones, location, language, age, and tastes, all affect. Generally all of us here on this site, have a connection, and we may loose sight of the huge multitude of those who still do not have a connection. Last stats for Colombia I saw, was that only 6% of Colombia have access to a computer, let alone internet. Everyone, except the government in Cuba, do not have internet at all.... that's a whole country. China is similar. So those who use internet have only a certain income and cultural profile. In 6-8 years we have had only one person use our e-mail address transmitted at the end of every program we transmitted...kids in Colombia who have TV do not seem to have much connectivity to internet... preschoolers zero, as only parents can do it for them. The BBC realize that, and market to parents on that one, to get parents involved on behalf of their kids. Christian/homeschoolers with connections tend to have a high parental involvement in content viewed. What Daryl says about the age range I think is true.
    Language is a problem. I started my youtubes in Spanish, but reverted to English with Spanish subtitles as English is more widespread. There are now more Spanish speakers in the world than English, but they are not connected to internet.
   There are about 6 billion youtube views per day at the moment. I get the feeling that people go to youtube to get information more than anything, and so tutorials or information based vids seem more poular. Younger people (13-25) seem to plug into the entertainment stuff, but it has to be via routes that connect to youtube from outside youtube. Facebook twitter mobiles etc( 9% of my viewers are mobile). people advise to use facebook, but it is limited by the size of your 'friend' base , and whether they are likely to share your stuff in other facebook 'friend' networks.
   The thing is, you will have to do a lot of different things with a lot of different connections and it all takes work. It can get to what Na seems to have arrived , thousands of possible  connections all competing for the attention of the viewer.
   A trend I am seeing on my youtubes, are the people who have channels where they only have playlists. They have subscribers who feel in sinc with that channel operator, and let the operator burn the internet time looking for material that they are likely to like.
   It seems to me that youtube is a must to at least upload and store your content; however the markets you are looking for, you will have to start going looking in other places to promote your wares, and connect a thousand outposts back to the same youtube content.
   As far as what your content will be, I am chewing over how puppets go on youtube. Puppet fans I have here, look specifically for educational puppets like Sesame Street stuff. Parents, if they are going to search on behalf of their children will look for educational content. Teens seem to look for  'silliness'  'random' as they put it, as entertainment. Our  youth here are becoming more accustomed to well produced , but very querky content. Adults.. as far as puppets go...anything I have done ,I seem to have to take it directly to them before they will look at it. 
   There is a lot more to be said, but  another day.

Thanks Shawn for taking the time.  Lots to mull over.  Yes I think youtube try s to play it safe.  pagestep, I'm really surprised about the Spanish thing.  Hispanics love puppets and eat this stuff up  I've seen some sites like this one with thousands of hits


I wish I knew Spanish so I could introduce a hispanic character. I did try putting some Spanish and Japanese tags on a few videos to see what would happen.  There is some Korean puppet stuff out there as well.   I also think that when you post an embedded video, the hits do not get recorded by youtube and it is recommended to post whole sites.