YouTube Creator Vrs. Creator: Channel Strikes and Their Impact On Young Channels

Recently, I became semi embroiled in some YouTube drama. You see I have a strong opinion on channel strikes given by creators to other creators on the YouTube platform.

As a free speech advocate, I believe that there is almost absolutely no reason to turn someone into the YouTube police. I believe that unless a channel is showcasing actual physical or sexual assault, they should be left alone to be themselves.

I was aware that not everyone felt this way, but I was not aware of how many seem to accept creators striking other creators so nonchalantly. My eyes were opened. The 'no drama' narrative is alive and well.

This summer I became involved in a live stream put on by RantJamz called RantJamz Live. When I say involved, I mean I was a part of the audience and my videos were often featured during the live stream. My channel also more than quadrupled from all the fellow YouTubers' support who were also a part of RantJamz's audience.

I was having a good old time and then all of the sudden a wrench was thrown into the spokes. This wrench was a fellow YouTube Channel called Pusa Studios.

Pusa Studios decided to issue a complaint for copyright strike against RantJamz that was upheld by YouTube because RantJamz had used Pusa Studios' logo in a satire piece during a live stream. if you're willing to sit through the show you can hear it from the horse's mouth here:

Admittedly, this satire did cause some trolls to filter into Pusa Studios' live streams, causing them some discomfort. Pusa Studios later told his audience during a live stream in which comments were disabled that he was being bullied by RantJamz, and this led to him believing he had no other choice but to take the action that he did.

*Note: Pusa Studios is actually ran by a married couple, but I'm saying 'he' because the husband decided to go solo during the livestream, and he mentioned that he wanted to keep his wife out of the 'drama'.

After RantJamz lost his ability to live stream I was following Pusa Studios to hear his side of the story, and so I caught this live stream in its entirety. I was angered that he chose to disable the chat because I had a lot to say. I tweeted during his live stream.

Here's a screen capture of the first tweet I sent out that day regarding this event.

Here is the monetized video that Pusa Studios made to explain the copyright strike:

Needless to say, I was annoyed. I wanted to ask Pusa Studios why they thought it was all right to issue a copyright strike to a fellow YouTuber who is just trying to get by. I also wanted to know why his major complaint of bullying was not the reason for the strike. If that is what he was having his issue with (although to be fair, he did also mention that he was not wanting his logo to be used in the way it was because it was making his business look bad), then why did he chose the copyright route. Pusa Studios never asked RantJamz to quit or else, they just issued the blow.

I had unanswered questions. But I also did tell him that if he were to retract the copyright strike, that I was a loyal person who would not hold it against him, and all would be forgiven. I also asked him to reach out to me to give me his side of the story which never happened, which I didn't expect. I told him I would be writing this article.

I was pretty pissed, and after the live stream I livestreamed the next day giving all my opinions as to why creators should not be copyright striking each other. I'll leave it at that. I don't think I really need to justify my opinion, after all it's just an opinion.

I'm writing this article as an entry into RantJamz's latest competition that will go down on his livestream on October 15th. Normally I would be doing something more creative, but I did say I'd be writing this article so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. And I'm always looking to multitask.

Pusa Studios ended up coming around to my way of thought, and decided to have mercy and remove the strike. I'm not saying that he sees things the way I do, but for the most part after hearing his livestream explaining the retraction, our disagreement on the semantics of the situation are moot points.

I was very happy that he decided to remove the strike. So, I decided to take down my live stream in which I called him Judas among a variety of other not so flattering things. I do not feel bad for what I said because what I said was right, but I did believe that since he did the right thing, I didn't need to keep that energy out there. Although, I do second-guess my decision from time to time. After all, I am a major believer in drama.

Keep creating drama and your channel will live on. Because drama adds the spice to life and without it we would all be bored out of our minds, and nobody would be tuning in to anybody's YouTube channel.

Join us on October 15th for the live stream at 5 p.m. eastern time to 7 p.m.. You can join in by making a video for the contest to win a free t-shirt. Watch this video to learn how, or just show up and vote for my video, or just show up and hang out and have fun. Hope to see you there.