YouTube king Felix ‘PewDiePie’ Kjellberg might be the most-subscribed creator on the platform, but that doesn’t mean he’s above being copystriked by major companies.
Why is PewDiePie speaking up about copy striking on YouTube?
PewDiePie spoke out on the issue during a video on April 5, where he bemoaned the financial state of videos in which he commentated over episodes of Dr. Phil – and even raised the possibility of going to court over the matter.
“I wanna make Dr. Phil videos, but all of them get claimed by copystrike,” he said of the issue. “I mean, I should probably go to court. I mean, that’s probably hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue.”
MrBeast’s copyright troubles
PewDiePie isn’t the only major YouTuber struggling with the site’s copyright system, either; Jimmy ‘MrBeast’ Donaldson has been outspoken on the problem via Twitter, claiming that he has had to push his merchandise in order to remain profitable.
“My ad rates are pretty terrible and with companies taking so much of it, I’ve kind of been getting screwed recently,” MrBeast wrote. “I don’t want to scale back my videos so I’m going to have to promote my merch a lot more so I can keep spending what I do.”
My ad rates are pretty terrible and with companies taking so much of it, I’ve kind of been getting screwed recently.
I don’t want to scale back my videos so I’m going to have to promote my merch a lot more so I can keep spending what I do. pic.twitter.com/HuTTr2493g
— MrBeast (@MrBeastYT) April 2, 2019
That’s not all – one of his videos had even been demonetized due his crew merely humming a song, although the claimant didn’t even own the tune in question.
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PewDiePie’s supposed YouTube income
Despite PewDiePie’s major loss in revenue, the YouTuber recently opened up about his income, appearing to hint that he made around $3,400 per hour in a video on March 29.
[Timestamp: 6:00 for mobile users]
He even gave hints as to his net worth, noting that he was “definitely” worth more than $20 million.
Despite these major numbers, Kjellberg had an enlightening outlook on his personal wealth, claiming that he attempts to live modestly to avoid being “changed” by his monetary success.
“I obviously didn’t start YouTube to make money,” he said of his wealth. “…Considering how much I make, I try to live modestly, because I don’t want to – I want to live a normal life. I don’t want the money to change my life.”
Following this message, PewDiePie reached yet another record-breaking subscriber milestone, gaining 93 million subscribers ahead of T-Series after the release of his ‘Congratulations’ diss track on March 31.