The Trouble with YouTube (and Alan Chan)
If you do a YouTube search for one of the pieces in the ABRSM syllabus, invariably, the first thing you will come across is a video by Alan Chan. That is not to say that his videos are better, but that he has a monopoly on YouTube in this niche, because he has been there one of the longest. Also, when a new syllabus comes out, he will publish the complete syllabus within a week or so, the speed of which cannot allow for any quality in performance. The result is that by"gaming the system", his videos appear first in search and the unsuspecting student will assume that this is how to play the piece, which is usually not the case. On the contrary, many times his performances would not even pass an exam.To help students be more discerning, I recently uploaded a video about how NOT to play the Bartok Dance for Grade 3.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aziXKOHFMEg
It is clear from the video and sheet music attached (which in itself is of dubious copyright standing), that the articulation and tempo for this piece are completely wrong. However, I was shocked to find that subsequently ALAN CHAN then claimed copyright for this video, but within the terms of YouTube, he had marked his video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aziXKOHFMEg CREATIVE COMMONS - REUSE ALLOWED and my channel has received a copyright strike and the video was taken down on account of this. If he doesn't want his work copied it should be marked so. For those of you who SUPPORT QUALITY please go to the above video of his and leave your thoughts there.
Since then, Alan Chan has removed the "Creative Commons" attribution to his video, so I have deleted mine, even though there would be grounds on "fair use", because it is of educational value, in that I had added commentary to it, explaining why it would not be a good example to follow for a student preparing for an exam.
I have made a counterclaim to YouTube on the basis of what I have explained above, which now requires that he proves within 10 business days that he initiated legal proceedings regarding his copyright, or the claim and my "copyright strike" will be annulled. I don't fancy his chances if he decides to go down this route as YouTube automatically, took down my video while it was still under creative commons attribution, and I have since deleted it completely from the platform. I'll keep you posted.
I am grateful for the support of those who seek quality tuition, such as from the following
https://www.music-online.org.uk/p/blog-page_6.html?showComment=1545035771689#c3677397447953853953
Pot Calling the Kettle Black
Since the original post above there have come to light, numerous examples of the "Pot" calling the "Kettle" black, meaning that Alan Chan himself is quite happy to steal other people's content (NOT marked "Creative Commons) and pass it off as his own, without any mention of the original uploader. A few examples can be found in THIS POST and if you find anything else that contravenes someone else's copyright, please leave a comment below and we'll do our best to notify the rightful owner.
Update
The following short playlist will take you through the whole story, from original copyright claim, counter claim and YouTube's final verdict.
