Stop me if you’ve heard this story before… A YouTube channel that featured music, covers, or remixes of classic songs from popular Nintendo games was forced to remove content after being contacted by Nintendo’s army of lawyers. Well it’s happening again. A new channel is now claiming to be the latest victim of Nintendo’s ongoing war against some of its most dedicated and passionate fans.
As first reported by NintendoLifethe newest member of the club is SynaMax, a YouTube channel dedicated to music. The user behind the channel, who says in the channel’s bio that he’s been making music since 2004, had previously uploaded high-quality recreations and covers of some Metroid Prime Songs. However, this seems to have caught the attention of Nintendo and its legal team.
in the uploaded a video yesterdaythe channel’s creator claimed he was contacted by Nintendo lawyers on May 31 and asked to remove nine videos that were featured Metroid Prime Music covers or remixes.
“I’m really disappointed in Nintendo that they would force me to remove these videos because they want compulsory licenses,” SynaMax said in the new video.
They further explained that those videos are now gone for good; his research videos about Metroid PrimeThe soundtrack of and other similar videos are safe as they do not contain any copyrighted music. Also, they are unable to create more covers or remixes of Metroid Prime or other Nintendo game music, unless they acquire a “mandatory” license from the company.
my box contacted Nintendo and SynaMax about the removed videos.
SynaMax acknowledged that these songs are owned and copyrighted by Nintendo and that the publisher “has the legal right to remove this content.”
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However, they questioned why the company is becoming aggressive instead of just demonstrating relevant videos and letting fans continue to produce and share Nintendo-inspired creations. SynaMax said it wouldn’t mind losing that revenue; they just want to share their songs with other fans. SynaMax, his frustration evident, said they’ve been done creating more Nintendo-related content “for a very long time.”
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We have seen the same scenario play out again and again and again in recent years. Nintendo fans are working hard on it Create new, interesting content related to the games or provide other fans with easy ways to listen to Nintendo music that the publisher doesn’t make available, and the “Big N” responds by sending legal threats to some of its most passionate and dedicated fans.
Just earlier this month Nintendo sent over 500 copyright claims to a channel, forcing the creator behind this YouTube channel to remove all Nintendo-related music. A lot of the songs they uploaded to YouTube have become a lot harder to hear in the process, which is a real bummer for passionate fans who just want to relive a bit of their childhood or celebrate a game they particularly love.
Sure, Nintendo has every legal right to do so. But the thing is, many other game companies these days are working with fans and developers to allow them to make cool stuff in a legally safe way. Many publishers even offer interested players legal, easily accessible ways to play their back catalogues. As we’ve said before, Nintendo doesn’t have to do this. And yet it keeps doing it, making it increasingly difficult to celebrate and enjoy the publisher’s long history and beloved franchises.
