Another YouTuber removes all Nintendo music after strikes: ‘It’s clear they don’t want it on YouTube’
A prominent channel says it receieved ‘500+’ copyright strikes from the company
Another prominent video game music YouTuber has chosen to remove all their Nintendo music after allegedly receiving over 500 copyright claims from the company.
DeoxysPrime, a Canadian user who uploads video game soundtracks and has over 165,000 subscribers, announced on Tuesday that they’ll be removing all Nintendo music from their channel.
“Effective immediately I will be removing all Nintendo music from my channel,” they stated. “With 500+ claims and more than a dozen soundtracks blocked over the last week it’s pretty clear they don’t want their music on YouTube.
“Some of you may have already noticed these soundtracks beginning to disappear but I thought I’d give you all a heads up about what’s going on. This isn’t the first time I’ve dealt with this issue on my channel but it will be the last. I’m sorry to everyone who enjoys their music but I don’t have much choice.
“I have no intention of deleting my channel and the rest of my non-Nintendo soundtracks will remain up for the foreseeable future. It’s frustrating but as I’ve said before it’s ultimately their choice to have their music blocked on the platform.
“Once again I’m sorry for the inconvenience this will cause, as I enjoy listening to Nintendo music on here just as much as you all do, but it just doesn’t make any sense to continue on like this.”
DeoxysPrime has been dealing with this issue for a number of years. In 2019 they posted a message claiming that Nintendo had blocked Splatoon 2, Xenoblade and Bayonetta 2 music from their channel, forcing them to take down those soundtracks.
Despite this, they do explain that as contentious as Nintendo’s decision may be, the company is within its rights to protect its copyrighted material and shouldn’t be abused online for it, but instead should be petitioned to make its music available online officially.
DeoxysPrime is the latest YouTuber who’s been forced to take drastic measures following increased pressure from Nintendo to remove its soundtracks.
GilvaSunner, a popular YouTuber whose channel boasted almost half a million subscribers, closed the channel down in February after Nintendo allegedly sent them over 3,500 copyright blocks.
Unlike many game publishers, Nintendo does not distribute its music through digital service providers such as Spotify, Apple Music or Amazon Music. Any music from Nintendo games you can find on these platforms will have been licensed for covers or arrangements, or illegally uploaded.
The demand for physical versions of Nintendo soundtracks has led to a booming bootleg vinyl scene, where video game music fans regularly pay upwards of £100 for unofficial pressings.
“Nintendo has every right to issue copyright blocks,” wrote journalist Mat Ombler in a VGC column earlier this year.
“The company owns the rights to its music and is free to dictate how it can and can’t be used. But by removing YouTube uploads of Nintendo soundtracks, the company is leaving the millions of fans that want to listen to its music with no viable ways of doing so.
Further reading
Nintendo, it’s time to release your music properly
“In fact, Nintendo’s fierce protection of its IP is actually having a counter-intuitive effect, as it’s worsening the issues of accessibility and aiding music piracy, rather than preventing it.”
In February 2022, The Pokémon Company uploaded the official soundtrack for Pokémon Diamond & Pearl to YouTube, and also created a site called the Pokémon DP Sound Library where users could listen to it all. However, as of today, the entire site has now been removed and shows a 404 error.
