My name is Pedro Zappa. I am a Berklee College of Music student and run a Youtube Channel where I play songs on the bass to help educate musicians of all levels as well as offer them my transcriptions of the music for free.

On Apr 20th 2015, YouTube terminated my account after I received a copyright strike on my "Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Multi-Love (Bass Cover) [Pedro Zappa]" video. I have over 260 similar videos from many different artists that I've been creating and uploading for over 3 years and in this time, a copyright strike never occurred. My videos are merely the offshoot of the research and practice I willingly do and share with people for free educational purposes. I believe my use of all this copyrighted material falls under the "Fair Use" clause of the copyright law in section 107:

§ 107 · Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair Use

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include— (1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes; (2) the nature of the copyrighted work; (3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and (4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.

Normally, a situation like this would require that the video be deleted. But instead my entire account was terminated, I believe by mistake. The current Youtube Copyright policy states that "A copyright strike will expire in six months as long as you complete Copyright School and receive no additional copyright strikes during that time." I have not had any copyright strikes on my account for about 8 years.

8 years ago there were 3 copyright strikes on the following videos:

"Muse - Hysteria (version 2) US" formerly at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFHRqK-Shhw
Removed due to a copyright claim by Viacom International Inc. on 02/22/2007

"Stockholm Syndrome US Version" formerly at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi_BMvZUtLM
Removed due to a copyright claim by Viacom on 02/23/2007

"Muse - Starlight" formerly at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE7nzcv750o
Removed due to a copyright claim by Warner Music Group on 10/01/2007

These strikes occurred before I was running a channel and had gained a large following. I was simply a teenager that wasn't aware of copyright issues. I did not know how to properly navigate the turbulent waters of copyright law. Since those incidents, I have not had a single problem until now.

I am more than willing to remove the "Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Multi-Love (Bass Cover) [Pedro Zappa]" video. I only resist that 3 years of my work and dedication be removed and made no longer accessible to the many subscribers and followers that have come to rely on me. I do what I do for the sake of sharing the love of music and helping people. When I started to play bass and had a chance to go on youtube I would spend hours looking up how to play my favorite songs on channels just like mine. After many years of practicing for hours every day I became the person on the other side of the screen. I wanted to finally give back. Sharing my transcriptions of the music I learn by myself, which coincidentally is the music I love, this is the greatest acknowledgment I could give to my favorite artists. It is in no way an attempt to steal their fame or infringe upon what is rightfully theirs. Rather, my wish is to only spread the love of their music and garner additional appreciation.

I do not know what the next steps in this process entail. YouTube hasn't given me a clear answer to this (I believe) special situation, so I'm resorting to the community to make my request heard.

If you or anyone you know has ever benefitted in some way from listening to or learning from my music or transcriptions please take this opportunity to ensure you can continue to do so. Please sign this petition to show YouTube that my impact is meaningful to people and my channel is worthy of reinstatement. I dearly wish to expunge any of the errors I have made and continue to share my work with everyone on one of the web's greatest sharing resources, YouTube.

Thank you for your support!

Pedro Zappa