A YouTube content creator has said that Nintendo’s lawyers contacted them over the phone, reportedly forcing them to remove a series of game covers and remixes.
YouTuber SynaMax uploaded a video earlier this week (June 14) about Nintendo coming after his remixes and covers of tracks from the Metroid Prime series. The video itself was transcribed and reported by VGC.
“On May 31, a lawyer representing Nintendo called me and asked me to take down nine videos off the channel,” said SynaMax. “A recreation cover, or just a cover in general or any sort of remix, that, unfortunately, cannot be [uploaded] without compulsory licences.”
SynaMax added that they would be fine with Nintendo issuing a copyright strike, as they own the music licence, instead of the company removing the covers and remixes entirely.
“Why can’t Nintendo go down this route? Why can’t Nintendo do this like everyone else? Why does my recreation cover have to be removed when the song it’s based off of has never seen any sort of official soundtrack release?”
SynaMax added that their videos about the making of the music in Metroid Prime were “okay because that’s not copyrighted Nintendo music.”
SynaMax isn’t the first content creator to be targeted by Nintendo, although they appear to be one of the first to publicly say that the company’s lawyers have been in contact. In January of this year GilvaSunner was required to remove over 1000 of Nintendo’s songs they had uploaded to their channel.
Then in June YouTuber DeoxysPrime reacted to their own strikes from Nintendo, calling for the company to find a way to give fans these soundtracks in their own way.
“So many of those soundtracks have never gotten official releases,” they wrote. “But like how bigger channels than mine have gotten hit before eventually those who take their place will end up like this too.
“Be respectful of their right to do this but also please continue to push Nintendo to release their music in official formats, because there’s no reason these soundtracks should have to disappear forever.”
In other news, a new survey of over 500 games industry workers says 79 per cent of them support unionisation efforts.
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